German Manuel Neuer, French Kingsley Coman, Corentin Tolisso and Englishman Omar Richards have tested positive for the coronavirus, Bayern Munich informed in a statement, published on its website. German assistant coach Dino Toppmöller has also been infected with the coronavirus, the club added. All “are doing well”, but “are isolated at home”, according to Bayern.
Consequence: players who test positive “will miss the first training session of the year”, scheduled for Monday. Initially scheduled for Sunday, this training has already been postponed by one day, because of “changes made (…) to hygiene measures due to the current pandemic situation”, said Bayern.
Resumed January 7
All players and supervisory staff will notably have to undergo PCR tests on Monday morning, before the start of training, the club detailed. The Rekordmeister had already had to deprive himself throughout the month of December of his midfielder Joshua Kimmich, unvaccinated and contaminated by the coronavirus at the end of November.
The German player had to miss three matches of the championship, due to physical consequences of the disease. Kimmich’s choice not to be vaccinated had sparked endless debates in Germany. The Minister of the Interior had even urged him to be vaccinated.
This announcement comes a few days before the resumption of the Bundesliga, which is due to start on January 7 in Germany. The virulence of the epidemic pushed the new German government, led by the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, to impose a closed door for Bundesliga matches, from the start of the school year.