Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann wants to exercise great caution with the ailing national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer a few weeks before the World Cup in Qatar. The 36-year-old captain missed the 5-0 win of FC Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga against SC Freiburg again on Sunday evening due to a painful bruise on the shoulder joint. In the DFB Cup game this Wednesday at SC Freiburg, Neuer should again not be in the Munich goal.

"With Manu, the question is how restricted he is. I don't want him to take painkillers all the time and then have to play. Because then it will always get worse," said Nagelsmann after the Freiburg game on the DAZN streaming service. The coach doesn't want to take any risks. "We still have a lot planned for Manu - this year and next. So we just have to see how quickly the shoulder heals."

Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidzic said with regard to Neuer's cup appearance in Augsburg: "We're looking at it from day to day. I don't think it will quite work out."

Neuer had paused for the first time last Wednesday in the 4: 2 in the Champions League against Viktoria Pilsen because of the injury. Due to the World Cup starting on November 20th, the schedule is extremely tight this season, and the pressure on the top players is correspondingly high. Neuer definitely wants to contest his fourth World Cup tournament in Qatar as the German number one after the finals in South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018). Last month he missed the international matches against Hungary (0: 1) and England (3: 3) in the Nations League due to a corona infection.

Bayern squad Bundesliga schedule Bundesliga table squad Freiburg with season statistics Schedule DFB-Pokal