Bayern Munich’s goalkeeping options: Who will play if Manuel Neuer, Jonas Urbig and Sven Ulreich are injured?
With Manuel Neuer and Sven Ulreich injured and Jonas Urbig still recovering from concussion, Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany could be without his three senior goalkeepers against Atalanta in the UEFA Champions League last 16 second leg this week.
It is a freak situation that may hand an opportunity to one of Bayern's young - and so far untested - stoppers.
A goalkeeping crisis that began with Neuer and Urbig being out of action at the weekend has deepened after news broke that third-choice stopper Ulreich had now also torn a muscle.
The 37-year-old suffered the injury in his right adductor during Bayern’s 1-1 draw with Leverkusen, and will now be out of action “for the time being”.
Watch: Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Bayern Munich - highlights
With a UEFA Champions League last 16 second leg to come on Wednesday 18 March, thoughts are now turning to who will play in goal for the Bundesliga champions – with all three first-team keepers currently sidelined.
Neuer and Ulreich are definitely out, and while Urbig may be able to feature against the Italian side, it’s far from certain at this stage. All of that begs the question: who will play in goal for Bayern against Atalanta?
Head coach Kompany is facing an unprecedented problem. Should Urbig not be fit in time to play, the responsibility is set to fall to one of the club’s youth goalkeepers.
The most obvious candidate is the man who appeared on the bench for Bayern in Leverkusen: 16-year-old Leonard Prescott. Should he start against Atalanta, the American-born stopper would become the club’s youngest goalkeeper, and their second-youngest ever player behind Paul Wanner.
Prescott was also among the substitutes in the first leg against Atalanta, having shone for Bayern’s U19s this season. Despite being a New York City native, he is also a Germany U17 international, with six caps to his name to date.
To put a 16-year-old between the sticks, with no senior experience, would be a bold step from Kompany, but with Bayern 6-1 up on aggregate in the Champions League tie, they do have some leeway to experiment.
However, if Kompany wants to play a slightly more senior goalkeeper than Prescott, then he may turn to Jannis Bärtl. The 19-year-old has been a regular starter for the club's reserves in the Regionaliga (fourth tier of German football) since the turn of the new year. Since becoming the side’s regular stopper, he conceded 11 goals in 11 games, keeping four clean sheets.
While Bärtl may not have experience at the top level of football, his familiarity with the senior game could be a deciding factor that sees him get the nod over Prescott. Last month, he also featured on the Bayern bench for the first time in the side’s 3-2 away win against title rivals Borussia Dortmund. Both he and Prescott, it seems, are trusted by Kompany to feature in a matchday squad.
Unlike other positions, clubs in the Champions League have much greater flexibility to use more goalkeepers who were not originally in their List A for UEFA competitions. Both Prescott and Bärtl would be eligible on their List B in any case.
Barring a stunning upset, Bayern’s place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League is almost assured, meaning the stakes for whoever plays in goal against Atalanta are not quite as high as they normally would be.
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