Bayern has received another injury boost as the season enters the CRUNCH phase.
Bayern Munich has some good news regarding injuries! Sadio Mane and Noussair Mazraoui returned to Die Roten team training for the first time since their respective injuries and health issues on Thursday. Mane had been sidelined since suffering a knee injury in Bayern’s 6-1 win over Werder Bremen in early November, which prevented him from representing Senegal at the World Cup in Qatar, while Mazraoui had been suffering from pericarditis since returning from the World Cup with Morocco.
The two players were greeted warmly by the rest of the squad at Sabener Strasse as they prepare for Sunday’s massive Bundesliga clash against Union Berlin, which will have major title implications. That game may be too soon for either player to return, but resuming team training is a huge step in the right direction for the pair of long-term absentees.
Julian Nagelsmann will be relieved to have both players back for the crucial part of the season, as he is already dealing with not having Lucas Hernandez and Manuel Neuer for the rest of the season due to their respective injury problems.
Special welcome for Mazraoui and Mané by the team [🎥 @FCBayern] pic.twitter.com/hlgSj96SrS
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) February 23, 2023
Not to mention, Benjamin Pavard will be unavailable for the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 after receiving a second yellow card in the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain for a second-half sliding tackle on Lionel Messi in which he did not make enough contact with the ball. As a result, Nagelsmann is faced with the difficult decision of whether to simply slot Mazraoui in at right back or to do something else, given that he now has Joao Cancelo to choose from.
Nagelsmann has been using a back three system with two wing backs in recent weeks, so both Mane and Mazraoui can play in that configuration depending on who else Nagelsmann chooses to field in any given starting eleven. For him, it’s all about finding the right balance and rotations ahead of a difficult fixture list that includes Union Berlin, leg two against PSG, two back-to-back league and DFB-Pokal matches against SC Freiburg, and league matches against both Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen.
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