Immediately before the start of the second half of the Bundesliga, infections with the corona virus pile up, especially at Bayern. The crowd even shakes the start of the second half of the season. Other clubs are also badly affected, while others are not at all. An overview.
Before the start of the second half of the season on Friday, it is not only the Bundesliga soccer team’s coaches who decide on their squad, but increasingly also the employees of the local health authorities: The Omikron variant has long since arrived in the Bundesliga. And in some locations so massive that the first game of the 18th matchday is still on the brink, even if the statutes of the league do not yet allow for a postponement.
FC Bayern was by far the hardest hit, but the record champions still have enough players to play against Borussia Mönchengladbach – or rather: to have to. But there are also failures at other locations. An overview that is constantly updated due to the dynamics of the infection process. All listed players are unlikely to be available to their clubs over the weekend. The overview is from Thursday, 9 p.m.
Bayern Munich: Manuel Neuer, Kingsley Coman *, Corentin Tolisso *, Omar Richards *, Lucas Hernandez, Tanguy Nianzou, Leroy Sane, Dayot Upamecano
* Tolisso and Richards have already tested themselves free. But a mission against Gladbach comes too early. * Coman could also be released from domestic isolation during the night. But even here it won’t be enough for a mission, especially since the Frenchman is still in Dubai. In the press conference on the game, coach Julian Nagelsmann emphasized several times that the returning players should be slowly introduced to the squad. “It’s about the health of the players,” said Nagelsmann, who demanded a cancellation through the flower, but prepared his team for the game. Lucas Hernandez was seen on Instagram in isolation on a beach in the Maldives. It remains complicated. Also in Munich. Until Thursday afternoon it was not yet known whether Alphonso Davies, the ninth and so far last Munich professional who tested positive, had the Omikron variant. If this is the case, isolation of other professionals or the entire team would be inevitable because the Canadian had trained with his remaining colleagues until Wednesday.
Borussia Dortmund: Dan-Axel Zagadou, Marius Wolf
Sc freiburg: no case
Bayer Leverkusen: no case
The last infected Ecuadorian international Piero Hincapie has now made it to Germany. He had tested positive in his home country. A use against Union Berlin on Saturday is unlikely.
TSG Hoffenheim: Ermin Bicakcic
“My influence is zero. I can only influence what happens here. We hope that cases like the one at Bayern do not arise so often and that the competition remains fair,” said coach Sebastian Hoeneß before the Kraichgau team started the second half of the season against FC Augsburg.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Jesper Lindström, Danny da Costa
Those that tested positive at the start of training in December Jens Grahl, Kristijan Jakic and Goncalo Paciencia got back into training after corona infections. All three players completed negative PCR tests and returned “in good health,” according to the club. “We’re used to improvising again,” said Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner on Thursday and admitted: “It’s a bit short-term.”
Union Berlin: Pawel Wszolek, Sheraldo Becker
Rani Khedira is back with the team after surviving the corona infection and could work in Leverkusen. Pawel Wsozlek is still in Poland and could possibly stay there. He should be handed in. Meanwhile, President Dirk Zingler caused almost traditional outrage with an interview in “Sport Bild”. He accused politics of using football. “Politicians often use symbols during the pandemic. According to the motto: We have to do something visible. Football stadiums are of course a good choice,” he said, referring to the lack of spectators in the stadiums.
1. FC Cologne: no case
1. FSV Mainz 05: Moussa Niakhaté
Mainz captain Niakhaté tested positive on Tuesday and is in domestic isolation. The club announced that he had no symptoms.
RB Leipzig: Nordi Mukiele, Benjamin Henrichs, Dani Olmo, Solomon Bonnah.
Christopher Nkunku, who tested positive on vacation, took part in the training session as planned on Thursday after his return from France and is an option for the second half of the season opener on Saturday (3.30 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) against FSV Mainz 05. Striker André Silva, who also tested positive while on vacation, was already training with the team again. “Basically it is not an issue that gives us extreme headaches. We are affected, players are infected. We have to accept that,” said coach Domenico Tedesco.
Hertha BSC: Santiago Ascacíbar, Lucas Tousart, Linus Gechter, Frederik André Björkan
The defenders Dedryck Boyata and Deyovaisio Zeefuik, who recently tested positive, will “in all probability be able to train individually again soon after their successful tests,” wrote the club.
VfL Bochum: Kostas Stafylidis
VfL Wolfsburg: Aster Vranckx, Daniel Ginczek
The 19-year-old Vranckx, who currently has to pause team training anyway due to back problems, had a positive result of the corona test, the club said. Daniel Ginczek is also in quarantine. The 30-year-old is considered a contact person due to a corona disease in the home environment and must also be isolated according to the currently applicable regulations.
When Kevin Mbabu tested positive on vacation, “the medical department and the health department gave the green light after the negative tests,” said coach Florian Kohfeldt on Wednesday. He also said that he had “not yet written off Dodi Lukebakio, who also tested positive in December” for the Bochum game.
Borussia Monchengladbach: Denis Zakaria, Keanan Bennetts, Mamadou Doucoure, Joe Scally
One or the other of his four infected players would still have “the opportunity to come back,” said coach Adi Hütter. “You can’t say exactly yet, because it’s also related to the health authorities. If the CT value fits, you can go back, but as long as it doesn’t match, you can’t train and play with it.” However, they are not back yet.
FC Augsburg: Tomas Koubek
VfB Stuttgart: Wahid Faghir, Silas Katompa Mvumpa, Naouirou Ahamada, Mateo Klimowicz, Konstantinos Mavropanos
Faghir, Katompa Mvumpa and Naouirou Ahamada are still in domestic isolation until January 9 after their positive Corona tests and will definitely miss the game in Fürth, as coach Pellegrino Matarazzo announced. Mateo Klimowicz, who also tested positive, will travel back to Stuttgart from Argentina on Friday and then “be built up”. Konstantinos Mavropanos is already out of isolation after his positive results, but according to Matarazzo “most likely not an option” for the second half of the season because of his training deficit.
Arminia Bielefeld: no case
SpVgg Greuther Fürth: a case (name not disclosed)
The DFL will decide whether a game takes place or is postponed. “The basis for examining an application is a list of playing eligibility between each club and the DFL, which lists all the players who are eligible to play in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 for the club,” writes the DFL. Before the start of the season, the clubs can have all players written on this list that they consider suitable for a mission. The lists are not public, who the clubs have reported is therefore only known to the club and the DFL.
“If, under the above-mentioned conditions, the examination of an application for a game cancellation shows that no more than 15 licensed players and / or amateurs / contract players eligible to play in the licensed team are available within the meaning of the statutes, the application will be granted”, writes the DFL, “as already happened with the 17 game postponements during the past 2020/21 season.”