Bayern Munich Faces Injury Crisis in Telekom Cup

Pre-season is supposed to offer rhythm, minutes, and quiet answers for a new coach. Instead, Bayern Munich walked out of the Telekom Cup with a win over RB Leipzig and a mounting injury list that turns a gentle warm-up into an early-season alarm.

Within 10 minutes, the tone of the afternoon changed. Konrad Laimer, facing his former club, went into a challenge with David Raum and came off worse. He had to leave the pitch, Bayern’s midfield plan already ripped up before the game had even settled.

The problems didn’t stop there.

As the heat rose and the tempo dipped into stop-start phases, Min-jae Kim was the next to go. He exited during the second hydration break around the 66-minute mark, another pillar of Vincent Kompany’s spine forced off in what was meant to be a controlled friendly, not a survival test.

Then came the most worrying scene of all.

Just four minutes after scoring Bayern’s third goal, Jamal Musiala went down, appearing to collapse from heat exhaustion. Medical staff rushed on. A stretcher was nearly required. On a day designed to fine-tune fitness, one of Bayern’s most important attacking players lay on the turf, drained by the conditions.

As if that wasn’t enough, even the final whistle brought no relief. Sacha Boey cramped up after full time, another body pushed to the limit in the oppressive heat.

Kompany’s early headache

The timing could hardly be worse. The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup is on the horizon next week, and Bayern still have a friendly lined up against Heidenheim in the coming days. Every one of the players who picked up issues against Leipzig is a first-team regular, central to Kompany’s plans for the 2026/27 campaign.

Pre-season is meant to build a platform. For Bayern, this tournament has instead raised a blunt question: how much more can they risk before the real games begin?

Kompany now faces that dilemma with a squad already feeling the strain, hoping the diagnoses bring relief rather than another blow before the season even kicks off.