Will Sadio Mané be back in time to face PSG on February 14? Injured in the fibula in November with Bayern Munich and forfeited for the World Cup which he was to play with Senegal, the striker is engaged in a race against time to be restored for the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League in Paris. For the time being, the trend is rather towards an absence, even if the Bavarians remain hopeful.
“If everything goes ideally, he could play against Paris, but everything would have to go very, very well. There is still a small risk. We will see what the current recovery process is. He ran at 70% yesterday (Editor’s note: Wednesday). He is already faster than we expected, ”his coach Julian Nagelsmann said Thursday at a press conference.
“No plans to play him this match”
“I will not give exact forecasts because I am not in a position to do so either,” continued the technician. We’ll have to see how it reacts to 100% workload. There is a small chance that he can play the first leg against Paris but, in my head, I have not planned to play this match yet. Just not to put pressure on him, like I always do with injured players. »
If the former Liverpool player, second in the 2022 Ballon d’Or ranking, is uncertain for the first leg, his goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is out for the rest of the season. Bayern deplores the withdrawal of the German international, victim of a broken right leg in ski touring, until the end of the season. An absence which forces the Bavarian club to be active in this position during the winter transfer window.
“In my opinion, we have an obligation to sign another goalkeeper,” Nagelsmann said, “regardless of who will be number one and number two.” In the absence of Neuer, it is for the time being his usual replacement, Sven Ulreich, who must take the place in goal.
Trapp in Bayern’s sights?
According to some media, the Bavarian club have their sights on Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer. But the sporting director of the North Rhine-Westphalia club said that “we will not let Yann Sommer go and we have told Bayern”.
Another possibility would be to sign Kevin Trapp from Eintracht Frankfurt, who was part of Germany’s 2022 World Cup squad along with Manuel Neuer. But the former PSG keeper said on Thursday that he was not concerned by media reports linking him to Bayern. “I didn’t really pay attention to it. I read it of course, but we are in the middle of the season, ”he simply blurted out.