Kompany’s FC Bayern squad was thin due to illness, injury and suspension, but they got the job done in Heidenheim
Bayern Munich ended 2025 with a comfortable 4-0 win at Heidenheim to further cement their place at the top of the Bundesliga table heading into the holiday break period. Goals from Josip Stanišić, Michael Olise, Luis Díaz and Harry Kane rounded out the three points for Vincent Kompany’s side in what was, for most of the match, domination from the German Rekordmeister.
There was a spell towards the beginning of the second half where Heidenheim showed some promise and hope, but Bayern was able to do enough to keep them out of the back of the net and limit the amount of credible chances the created. Jonas Urbig really only had to make one key save all match, which was when he denied Stefan Schimmer’s volley in the 78th minute from close range when Bayern were on their heels in defense after Jonathan Tah’s untimely slip.
To start the match, Kompany was without Joshua Kimmich, Kim Min-jae, Aleksandar Pavlović, Konrad Laimer, Manuel Neuer, and Sacha Boey in addition to Nicolas Jackson having left to join up with the Senegal squad for the African Cup of Nations and Jamal Musiala still not being back fully fit. The absentees were unavailable for a mixture of injury, suspension, or illness, but after the win, Kompany said it felt like peak COVID times with the sickness bug that seemed to be working its way through the squad.
“This week felt like a COVID week. The guys were getting ill one after the other. The other guys trained well and did a very good job today. I’m proud of the team because it’s not a given to come here and put in such a performance. The young players have been training with us for some time and it was clear that we would need them at some point,” Kompany explained (via @iMiaSanMia). His bench was pretty thin with the amount of players he had unviable and was able to give appearances to youngsters David Daiber and Cassiano Kiala in addition to using both Serge Gnabry and Alphonso Davies off of the bench.
Even Lennart Karl was reportedly still feeling the effects of the viral bug that’s been working its way through Bayern’s squad, but he was able to complete 63 minutes before being replaced by Gnabry. In a way, Díaz having to sit out last week’s draw vs. Mainz was a blessing in disguise as he was that much more fresh to go the full 90 minutes in Heidenheim, which proved to be important since he scored Bayern’s third goal of the match that effectively killed things off.
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Category: General Sports
