Jonas Urbig is in a race against the clock to be fit on time for Bayern Munich to start in goal for the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Atalanta at the Allianz Arena. At the moment, he’s one of the three senior keepers in the squad that are all currently out injured as both Sven Ulreich and Manuel Neuer are out injured as well, the most recent of which having been Ulreich feeling something in his thigh after the 1-1 draw at Leverkusen, which was the first time he played in a competitive match in roughly 18 months.
Vincent Kompany has revealed there’s a chance Urbig could play vs. Atalanta, but the final decision will be purely medical; if he’ deemed fit enough, he’ll get the green light, but if he’s not, then he won’t. One of the youth goalkeepers will wind up getting the nod if Urbig is unable to go and it will likely be Leonard Prescott from Bayern’s U-19’s, who was on the bench for the Leverkusen draw.
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In the press conference previewing the second leg against Atalanta, Tom Bischof was in high spirits and willing to have a laugh when he was asked about the current state of the German Rekordmeister’s goalkeeping situation. “We made a few jokes about it. We joked with Rodyse about the photos [of him as a goalkeeper]. It was funny. I don’t know who will start in goal tomorrow. But I’m happy with anyone, even if it will be a young keeper,” he explained with a smirk on his face (via @iMiaSanMia).
The images Bischof was referring to of Bayern assistant manager Rodyse Munienge are comically matched by the images doing the rounds on social media of Harry Kane playing goalkeeper for Tottenham Hotspur back in the 2014 Europa League after keeper Hugo Lloris had been sent off and Kane had already bagged a hat-trick himself against Greek side Asteras Tripolis. While it would certainly be a story, Prescott getting a chance while Bayern is 6-1 up on aggregate makes far more sense than Kane going in goal for the Bundesliga champions even though there have been other examples of outfield players temporarily going between the sticks a la John Terry for Chelsea or even Kyle Walker for Manchester City.