Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany has revealed veteran goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will be sidelined for Tuesday night’s Champions League trip to Viking.
Neuer’s omission comes just three days after the 40-year-old produced two uncharacteristic errors in his side’s 2-2 Bundesliga draw at Augsburg.
However, Kompany insists Neuer’s absence is a precautionary measure due to a minor foot issue, with Jonas Urbig coming in for his third start of the season.
Kompany said: “Manuel can’t train today. He’s felt something in his foot. So that quickly answers the question of who will be in goal tomorrow.
“We heard after the Augsburg game that he’d felt something. You never know how long it’ll take, but given he couldn’t train yesterday or today, it makes no sense to take any unnecessary risks.
“I don’t want to call it an injury, but when you feel something and it doesn’t get better. At some point you realise we need to do something, and we’ll do that by taking no risk if he doesn’t feel 100 percent.”
The 23-year-old Urbig joined Bayern from Cologne last year and is widely tipped as Neuer’s eventual successor, having recently made his senior debut for Germany in the 2-0 win over Serbia.
“We started our process with Jonas when he arrived from Cologne,” added Kompany. “We’re going according to plan. He’s got the minutes we wanted to give him for his development. And every minute is good for his development.”
Bayern started this season’s Champions League campaign with a thumping 5-0 win over Viking’s Norwegian rivals, Bodo/Glimt. And Kompany is not fazed by the prospect of playing on an artificial surface in Stavanger.
“It’s not a big issue for us,” added Kompany, who is still without thigh Jamal Musiala due to a thigh injury. “We’ve come early to do the right preparation. Tomorrow is only about football.”
