Shock for Bayern Munich: Jamal Musiala faces a long break

Some football scenes are so dramatic that you don't even need a diagnosis to appreciate the enormous damage that has been done. When Toni Schumacher, the legendary German goalkeeper, ran over Patrick Battiston at the 1982 World Cup , it was immediately clear that the Frenchman had been seriously injured.

The images of the injury sustained by Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala in the quarterfinals of the Club World Cup in the USA on Saturday were almost unbearable: His right foot was completely twisted, and the player had to be stretchered off the pitch. Musiala suffered a fracture of his left fibula and an ankle injury. He is expected to be out for around six months.

Teammates and opponents alike could hardly believe it. Gianluigi Donnarumma, the famous Italian goalkeeper playing for PSG, had tried to pry the ball off Musiala's feet. Everything was within the rules; there was neither a foul nor particularly risky play on Donnarumma's part. The goalkeeper pulled his shirt over his face and hid it, paralyzed for a moment. The fact that PSG won the high-class match 2-0 was, at least from Munich's perspective, a minor matter, as was the fact that Thomas Müller, a late substitute, was playing his last game for Bayern.

Bayern, in the form of their captain Manuel Neuer, quickly identified the culprit: Gianluigi Donnarumma. Neuer accused the Italian of accepting the injury to his opponent by intervening. Neuer also claimed that he had asked Donnarumma to go to Musiala in the first place, offer him comfort and apologize. Such accusations are quite significant. For one thing, Manuel Neuer is a goalkeeper who doesn't shy away from taking risks – just think of the scene from the 2014 World Cup final when he ruthlessly brought down Gonzalo Higuaín.

On the other hand, such a reaction from a captain is entirely understandable when a teammate has just been seriously injured. For Neuer, it doesn't matter that Donnarumma reacted with the same shock as his other teammates. After the game, Neuer said: "I don't know. Italians are very emotional. Whether you believe him now is something everyone has to decide for themselves. Fairness is always part of it. I would have reacted differently." The fact that the two stereotypes he uses in response to this incident contradict each other – people who react emotionally are generally incapable of acting – didn't seem to bother Neuer.

Max Eberl took a somewhat more measured approach. The FC Bayern sporting director spoke of the high risk Donnarumma had taken, but emphasized that he explicitly did not want this to be taken as an accusation. What Eberl does have a sense of, however, are the problems this injury poses.

After all, Musiala isn't just any player for Bayern. They just extended the 22-year-old's contract by five years in February. This puts Musiala at the top of the Munich salary pyramid, with their top players receiving more than €20 million. They celebrated the signing of the contract with some fanfare: Musiala was presented as the wonder boy he is. In a specially produced video , he even sat at a grand piano . The Horowitz of the pitch, that was the message to the football world.

Musiala's talent truly justifies such bold comparisons. The midfielder is expected to become the star of a new, great Bayern team. Such plans can quickly prove futile if a serious diagnosis is confirmed.

To describe Musiala's recent career as unlucky would be a gross understatement. The appearance against Champions League winners PSG was his first in the Munich starting lineup in three months. Musiala had just recovered from a torn muscle.

Against this backdrop, it must be particularly painful for Bayern Munich that they lost out to Liverpool in the signing of Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz . While it's certainly debatable whether the two would have gotten along as well on the pitch as the Bayern players had hoped, an injury like the one Musiala has now sustained is extremely rare. No one anticipates such an event when considering signing a player.

Especially since Bayern's attempts in the transfer market have so far yielded little success. Nico Williams, the Spanish winger, preferred not to move to Munich or Barcelona, ​​instead extending his contract with Athletic Bilbao for ten years and setting the release clause at just under 100 million euros. Currently, Munich is pursuing Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade , a wily attacker who would be a great fit for Munich in this situation.

A dispute has erupted between Bayern Munich's Uli Hoeness and Lothar Matthäus over the signing of Woltemade. While Bayern would like to sign Woltemade for €40 million, Matthäus publicly estimates the player's value at €80 to €100 million. Figures that Munich doesn't like to hear.

Club World Cup in the USA. Final quarterfinal. In East Rutherford, New Jersey: Real Madrid vs. Dortmund 3-2 (2-0). – Semifinals (in East Rutherford / 9 p.m. Swiss time). On Tuesday: Fluminense vs. Chelsea. – On Wednesday: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Real Madrid.