Coach Vincent Kompany from FC Bayern Munich had to compete at 1. FC Heidenheim at the end of the year with a severely weakened selection. This brought back memories of a dark time for him.
“It was a bit of a strange week. It felt like the Corona period,” said Kompany before the final game of the 15th matchday of the Bundesliga DAZN.
Nine Munich players had to miss the game, which was ultimately won quite confidently 4-0, for various reasons: captains Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich as well as Min-Jae Kim were injured, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Tom Bischof and Sacha Boey were ill, Konrad Laimer was suspended, Nicolas Jackson was at the Africa Cup and Jamal Musiala is still working on his comeback.
In his 121st game for Bayern Munich, Harry Kane had a first: the goalscorer led the Munich team onto the field as captain.
FC Bayern in Heidenheim: six teenagers on the bench
“Luckily it’s nothing serious. All the players who aren’t there now will be back very quickly,” said Kompany. Musiala, who has been training with the team for a few days now, should also be able to play again relatively soon after the short winter break.
With Sven Ulreich, Alphonso Davies and Serge Gnabry, there were only three established professionals on the bench in Heidenheim – plus six teenagers in Cassiano Kiala, Wisdom Mike, David Santos, Felipe Chávez, Javier Fernández and Deniz Ofli. The youngest among them: defender Cassiano Kiala, who is only 16 years old and yet is already being chased by numerous top clubs.
So some Bundesliga debuts are not out of the question. “The boys who are playing today have had a very good week and are fit,” said Kompany and added: “Luckily we still have eleven boys who are fit, they are really fit.”
