Manuel Neuer has missed the past two Bundesliga matches for Bayern Munich, despite playing in the 2-2 Champions League draw with Arsenal last week. The veteran goalkeeper has been dealing with tendon irritation and fluid accumulation in his foot, which caused him to miss the 3-1 win at SC Freiburg and the 6-1 victory over RB Leipzig. Jonas Urbig took his spot in goal for those two occasions, having also started the 3-3 draw at Viking FK in the Champions League two weeks ago.
As for Neuer’s current status, Bayern board member for sport Max Eberl—who is taking on additional media duties while Vincent Kompany rests and recovers from last week’s collapse—provided an update on the goalkeeper. Eberl himself missed the trip to the London Palladium for the Ballon d’Or ceremony due to a cold.
Eberl stated that Neuer “should resume training at some point this week,” though he remains a doubt for the midweek, second-round DFB-Pokal clash against FC Magdeburg, as per Tz (via @iMiaSanMia). A decision on whether Neuer will play in the Pokal match is expected shortly before kickoff. Urbig would deputize if Neuer is not deemed fit enough to feature. The club ideally wants to avoid taking unnecessary risks with Neuer ahead of this weekend’s match against Borussia Dortmund, as rushing him back too quickly has proven costly in the past.
It makes sense to give Urbig the Pokal match against Magdeburg, as he also started the first-round win over VfL Osnabrück. The club had already planned for this season to be transitional, with Neuer continuing to mentor Urbig. Kompany has made it clear that Urbig will receive more matches this season, making a midweek appearance logical. This would allow Neuer to continue regaining full fitness before returning to the goal for the Dortmund match—unless the club opts to give Neuer minutes for the sake of continuity ahead of Der Klassiker.
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