European champions Bayern Munich trained on Monday for their Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid with player management their top priority.
Bayern have already made it to the last-16 as winners of Group A. And now, their main focus is giving rest to key players.
The European champion’s key men have been playing almost non-stop for months, and it is beginning to show.
Their game against Stuttgart on Saturday brought a 3-1 victory but also four new injuries of varying severity for Jerome Boateng, Corentin Tolisso, Lucas Hernandez and Javi Martínez.
Manager Hansi Flick could rotate the squad for the Atletico game on Tuesday, but that would mean risking Bayern’s 100 per cent record in Group A. Bringing in new faces did not work too well against Salzburg last week, when midfielder Marc Roca was red-carded in his first European game for Bayern.
There is another area of concern. Their win over Stuttgart was the third consecutive league game they had to come from a goal down and they have now conceded 13 goals in nine games, their worst defensive showing since the 2008/9 season under Jurgen Klinsmann.
Flick has been forced to rotate the side constantly due to a busy schedule and a string of injuries, and they have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last seven consecutive games in all competitions.
"We are in a phase where things don't just work by snapping our fingers," said Thomas Mueller. "We constantly need to reach our limits. But we are still top of the table."
