Shock for Bayern Munich: Jamal Musiala faces a long injury 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 Jamal Musiala sustained on Saturday evening in the USA's Club World Cup match against Paris Saint-Germain were almost unbearable: His right foot was completely twisted, and the player had to be stretchered off the pitch. On Sunday night, Bild reported that Musiala had broken his left fibula. The 22-year-old will likely be out for four to five months. Several ligaments were also affected. FC Bayern Munich initially provided no specific details about the injury.

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 Italian pulled his shirt over his face and hid it, paralyzed for a moment. The fact that PSG ultimately 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. He also urged Donnarumma to first go to Jamal Musiala and offer him comfort and apology. 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.

Now, such a reaction from a captain is entirely understandable when a teammate has just been seriously injured. For the long-time German national goalkeeper, 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 Neuer uses in response to this incident contradict each other – people who react emotionally are generally incapable of acting – doesn't bother Neuer.

Max Eberl took a somewhat more measured approach. The 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. Just last February, Bayern extended the 22-year-old's contract by five years. This puts Musiala at the top of Bayern's salary pyramid, with its top players receiving more than €20 million. Bayern celebrated the signing of the contract with considerable fanfare: Musiala was portrayed as the boy wonder he is. In a specially produced video, he even sat at a grand piano . The Horowitz of the pitch—that was the message from Bavaria to the football world.

His talent truly justifies such bold comparisons. The midfielder is expected to become a star of a new, great Bayern team in the coming years. Such plans could quickly prove futile if the diagnosis many fear is confirmed. The German Press Agency claims to have learned of a fracture. If this scenario proves true, Musiala faces a break that could even jeopardize his participation in the World Cup.

To describe Musiala's recent career as unlucky would be a gross understatement. The appearance against Champions League winners PSG, who had beaten Inter Milan 5-0 in the final in Munich at the end of May, was his first appearance in the starting lineup for the Munich club 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 actually 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 neither to Munich nor 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 has publicly estimated the player's value at €80 to €100 million. Figures that are currently not welcome in Munich.

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.