Wednesday 20th October 2021
Bayern coach not in the stadium
Nagelsmann is out for the game in Lisbon
Without Julian Nagelsmann, FC Bayern goes to the stadium in Lisbon. The 34-year-old logs out at short notice before the Champions League group game due to an infection, the assistant coaches represent him. Nagelsmann missed the anniversary of his team captain Manuel Neuer.
In normal working life, it is seldom anything special when an employee logs out at short notice. In professional football, it is especially worth reporting if an important player notices, either in the final training session or even during the warm-up, that an operation will not work. On the other hand, it is much less common for a trainer to call in sick. But that is exactly what happened to FC Bayern on Wednesday evening: Julian Nagelsmann has a “flu-like infection” and is therefore absent from the away game at Benfica Lisbon, as the German record champions announced shortly before kick-off.
After the clear 3-0 victory in the Champions League opener at FC Barcelona and the convincing 5-0 win against Dynamo Kiev in the home arena, the Munich team in Portugal has the chance to take a big step with their third win in their third game to make early reaching the last sixteen.
Nagelsmann will be represented by his co-trainers, Dino Toppmöller and Xaxer Zembrod, in the Estádio da Luz – incidentally the stadium in which the Greek national team with coach Otto Rehhagel was sensationally European champion in 2004. According to his club, the 34-year-old, who moved from RB Leipzig to Munich before the season, did not even go to the stadium and will probably watch the game in front of a screen instead of watching it live.
Nagelsmann missed the 100th Champions League game by Manuel Neuer, who led his team in the duel of the record champions of their respective leagues as captain on the field. For the first time Marcel Sabitzer was on the starting line-up, like Nagelsmann from Leipzig. He represents Leon Goretzka, who did not even travel to Lisbon, and Benjamin Pavard also played for the ailing Alphonso Davies. Kingsley Coman also moved into the first team for Serge Gnabry.