Following Vincent Kompany’s collapse, questions are also being raised at FC Bayern as to whether the coach was given sufficient rest in recent days. The 40-year-old had already been struggling with health issues before the Champions League match against Arsenal, but was still on the sidelines on Wednesday. Sports director Max Eberl has now explained why the Munich club did not prevent their head coach from taking the field.
Kompany collapsed on Friday afternoon at the training facility on Säbener Straße and had to be taken to a hospital. His condition is now stable, and the exact cause is still under medical investigation.
At the press conference ahead of the Bundesliga match against SC Freiburg, Eberl was asked whether the club should have intervened sooner. The 53-year-old defended the club’s handling of the situation but also acknowledged that Kompany must be protected even more closely in the future.
Eberl Defends Bayern: “We Protect Our Coach”
The sporting director made it clear that the Munich club had by no means ignored their coach’s health issues. “The fact is: We protect our coach wherever we can. If a coach says he feels ready to do something, then we’re not going to say—if we don’t know what’s going on—‘We won’t allow that.’”
Kompany had taken two days off before the Arsenal game and missed, among other things, the final training session and the press conference. According to Eberl, he subsequently felt fit to play again. “We held him back for two days because he wasn’t feeling well. Then he recovered well and felt fit. He has his own voice and his own rights. He wanted to play and felt good. That was fine.”
At the same time, Eberl pointed out that the player himself must also recognize his physical limits. “Now that this has happened—it’s also everyone’s own responsibility to say, ‘I can’t go on anymore.’”
Bayern plans to protect Kompany more in the future
Eberl described the Belgian as an extremely ambitious and hard-working coach who demands a lot from himself. “Vinnie is a hard worker. If you don’t listen to the subtle signals your body sends, eventually your body will scream. We have to accept that.”
The sporting director made it clear that the club intends to learn from this situation. Kompany is to be given sufficient time to recover and will be protected even more rigorously from potential overexertion in the future. “Vinnie will get the time he needs, and we’ll continue to try—even more than before—to protect him from himself.”
Whether the heavy workload was actually a cause of the collapse has not yet been medically determined.
While Kompany remains in the hospital, assistant coach Aaron Danks is taking charge of the team. Eberl hopes that Bayern can at least bring their head coach a little joy with a successful performance against Freiburg. “The greatest joy for Vinnie is that we’re playing tomorrow and maybe even playing well—that’s the best aid to Vinnie’s recovery.”
It remains unclear when Kompany will return. Eberl had previously stated, however, that the record champions expect him to be sidelined for several weeks.