Bayern will start the new campaign with no recognized right-backs available after their French defender Benjamin Pavard sustained a bad ankle injury during a training session. The 25-year-old will be forced to sit out three or four weeks of action.The latest injury setback is in tone with the disastrous pre-season the club has been enduring. The arrival of the new and exciting young coach Julian Nagelsmann was supposed to inject fresh ideas and energy into an already excellent team. But, so far, things haven’t been going smoothly. Not at all.Benjamin Pavard has injured his ankle during training and is expected to be out for three to four weeks [Kicker] pic.twitter.com/trkN1RkHKy— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) August 11, 2021 Bayern have had four friendly matches in the second half of July to prepare for the new Bundesliga campaign. They lost three of those and only drew one. A 2-2 draw with Ajax was sandwiched between defeats to two fellow Bundesliga teams, Koln (3-2) and Borussia Monchengladbach (2-0). On the last day of July, Bayern were humiliated at home with a 3-0 defeat against Napoli. You could argue that Bayern didn’t field all of their best players and that it was only a friendly, but the fact remains that the Bavarian giants lost their final preparation game in front of their fans at their stadium. Tuesday 21.30: (3.50) Dortmund (3.60) Bayern (2.05)The injury to Pavard is the last thing they needed ahead of the new season kick-off. The only player who could replace the former VfB Stuttgart and LOSC Lille man is another Frenchman, Bouna Sarr, who has so far done little to impress since arriving from Marseille last October.Pavard will undoubtedly miss the Bundesliga opening fixture as Bayern travel to Monchengladbach, the upcoming German Super Cup game against big rivals Borussia Dortmund, and league games against Koln and Hertha Berlin.Nagelsmann on transfers: “We are in daily exchange when it comes to the squad. If something comes up that suits us and we can finance it, then nobody at FC Bayern will say: ‘No, we definitely won’t’.” [@BR24sport] pic.twitter.com/WQ4njTvYXI— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) August 9, 2021 Bayern’s legendary captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who is currently working as the club’s CEO, isn’t worried about the team’s chances of reaching the tenth league title in as many years.”The chase is on. The players know that the other clubs will do their best to prevent us from finishing top for the tenth time in a row. They will try everything to get us out of there. But I think that everything will be up to us. If we use our potential, we will be champions again. The team has shown that they are always capable of surpassing themselves.”Nagelsmann would love to strengthen the squad ahead of the new season. There are rumours that he asked the club directors to sign midfielder Marcel Sabitzer from his old club RB Leipzig. Kahn wouldn’t confirm nor deny that the Austria international would be making the switch to Allianz Arena. “At Bayern, there are always a lot of names and potential newcomers mentioned. I don’t want to comment on any of this here today.”Pragmatic Bayern: Let’s bring back 38-years old legend to save money for the right backEven if no new players arrive to Bayern, they are probably still the strongest team in the country. However, Robert Lewandowski, Kingsley Coman, Thomas Muller and the others will have to improve quickly if they don’t want to give their rivals a head start in the Bundesliga.BUNDESLIGA – Round 1Friday21.30: (5.20) Monchengladbach (4.30) Bayern (1.60)Saturday16.30: (3.20) Augsburg (3.40) Hoffenheim (2.25)16.30: (2.75) Bielefeld (3.20) Freiburg (2.65)16.30: (1.88) Stuttgart (3.60) Greuther Furth (4.10)16.30: (2.70) Union Berlin (3.15) Leverkusen (2.70)16.30: (1.62) Wolfsburg (3.90) Bochum (5.60)19.30: (1.43) Dortmund (4.70) Eintracht Frankfurt (7.00)Sunday16.30: (8.50) Mainz (4.50) RB Leipzig (1.40)18.30: (2.75) Koln (3.05) Hertha (2.75)***odds are subject to change
