Bayern Munich Face Injury Woes in Telekom Cup Match

Pre-season friendlies are supposed to offer gentle rhythm, tactical tweaks, and minutes for the squad players itching for a chance. Bayern Munich instead walked out of the Telekom Cup against RB Leipzig with a win on the scoreboard – and a medical bulletin that will have set alarm bells ringing across Säbener Straße.

Three first-teamers went down before the evening was out. A fourth cramped up after the final whistle. Days before the new campaign, Bayern’s preparations have taken a sharp, unwelcome turn.

The first blow landed almost immediately. Just 10 minutes into the match, Konrad Laimer threw himself into a challenge with David Raum. It looked routine at first glance, the kind of duel Laimer has contested a thousand times. This time he stayed down, and Bayern’s medical staff were suddenly front and centre. His withdrawal so early ripped up the game plan and set a nervous tone.

The pattern didn’t improve.

As the heat rose and the tempo slowed, Min-jae Kim became the next casualty. During the second hydration break, around the 66-minute mark, the centre-back left the pitch and headed straight off, another starter gone before full time. For a side already trying to bed in Vincent Kompany’s ideas, losing the defensive linchpin in a friendly is exactly the kind of disruption Bayern could do without.

Then came the most worrying sight of the day.

Jamal Musiala had just delivered what should have been the highlight of his evening, scoring Bayern’s third goal. Four minutes later, he appeared to collapse, seemingly overcome by the conditions. Staff rushed to him, and for a moment it looked as though a stretcher would be needed. In a match that was supposed to sharpen fitness, the image of Bayern’s creative heartbeat struggling to stand told its own story about the toll of the heat and the intensity.

As if that wasn’t enough, there was one final twist after the game had finished. Sacha Boey, who had already endured an injury-hit spell since joining the club, cramped up once the final whistle had gone. It was not on the same scale as the earlier incidents, but it underlined the physical strain Bayern’s players had been under.

All of this arrives at the worst possible time.

The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup looms next week, a showpiece Bayern would dearly like to use as a statement under Kompany. Before that, there is still a friendly against Heidenheim on the schedule, another fixture that now carries a hint of risk rather than opportunity.

These are not fringe names. Laimer, Min-jae Kim, Musiala, Boey – all are part of the core group expected to drive Bayern through the 2026/27 season. To see them drop in a single outing turns what should have been a routine tune-up into a genuine headache for Kompany and his staff.

For now, Bayern can only hope the diagnoses are kinder than the images suggested. But with competitive football just days away, the new coach’s first big tactical challenge may not be about systems or pressing triggers at all.

It may simply be about who is left standing.