🤔 The three options Bayern have to replace injured Lewandowski | OneFootball

The unbreakable man is broken.

Since joining Bayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski has missed just four of the club’s 193 Bundesliga matches through injury. He has played in 151 of their last 159 league outings, starting on 143 occasions.

And now, incredibly, he’s actually injured.

The club confirmed a four week absence on Wednesday, ruling the Pole out until after the March international break.

In the meantime, Bayern will play Hoffenheim, Augsburg, Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt in the league. As well as Schalke in the DFB Pokal and Chelsea in the Champions League.

So who will shoulder the burden?

The legend

It goes without saying that Thomas Müller is in fine form. On the outskirts of the side when Niko Kovac was in charge, the Bayern legend is back in the team under Flick and is repaying the faith with fine performances.

Bayern’s high intensity pressing game is led by the German, who reads the game superbly and triggers his team-mates’ efforts to hunt down the ball.

When they’ve won it, he creates and attacks spaces. Müller opens gaps for the likes of Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman to exploit, he peels off of defenders and into dangerous areas.

And his vision is better than ever; the 30-year-old has provided a league-high 14 Bundesliga assists in 23 appearances so far this season.

Moving him up front could disrupt the team’s rhythm – Müller has linked play excellently of late – both with and without the ball. It would, though, open a space for the brilliant Leon Goretzka or the mercurial Philippe Coutinho to play more regularly.

Can Müller maybe create a bit less and score a few more to take over from Lewandowski for the next month?

The goal-getter

The other obvious option is Serge Gnabry. Nobody else in the squad comes close to the 20 Bundesliga goals the winger has netted since the start of last season. He’s in fine form, too, scoring five goals in his last three appearances.

Gnabry would offer something a little different leading the line, with his speed, dribbling and movement making up for a likely lack of hold-up play, and it could take some getting used to for Bayern. On the other hand, it would ask new questions of their opponents.

The question boils down to whether or not he would remain as dangerous when he’s not cutting in from wide areas, driving at defences, and arriving late in the box.

Gnabry has played further forward before, for both Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim, and it would mean Bayern could incorporate Philippe Coutinho on the wing.

The kids

And then there’s Joshua Zirkzee. The impressive Dutchman has made the leap from Bayern’s U23s to the first team this season and he made it with a bang, scoring crucial late goals against Freiburg and Wolfsburg on his first two Bundesliga appearances.

Though he’s just 18, Zirkzee is clearly a huge talent, able to hold up the ball, beat a man, and be in the right place at the right time. His technical ability shouldn’t be doubted but his Bundesliga career amounts to 11 minutes across three sub appearances.

Fellow youngster Fiete Arp (20) hasn’t got much more to lean on.

Though he’s played plenty of professional football with Hamburg, Arp has not yet made his Bayern Munich debut following his summer move and has recently struggled with injuries.

We can’t see him getting the nod.