Jamal Musiala injury |  Max Eberl and Manuel Neuer offer critical takes on Gianluigi Donnarumma’s tackle | OneFootball

Bundesliga record champions FC Bayern München continue to reel from Jamal Musiala’s horror injury suffered in Saturday’s Club World Cup quarterfinal defeat. The worst fears have not officially been confirmed by the club, but Sport Bild reports Musiala will miss at least 4-5 months with a broken fibula and several damaged ligaments.

Emotions ran high in the mixed zone afterwards, particularly in the case of FCB chief personnel executive Max Eberl. Bayern’s board-member-for-sport maintained a combative tone and posture when speaking to reporters about PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s controversial tackle of Musiala at 45+3.

Donnarumma slid into Musiala after his teammate, former Eintracht Frankfurt central defender Willian Pacho, got a screen block in. The Italian national team keeper didn’t seem to quite comprehend how 4inserting himself into the fray would impact matters and showed immediate remorse.

“When a 100 kilo [player] runs into someone at full sprint, the danger that something occurs is great,” Eberl said. “It’s tragic. I don’t think at all that he [Donnarumma] did it on purpose, but he also didn’t exercise caution with someone standing there.

“That’s not an accusation,” Eberl insisted, despite sounding extremely bitter. “Please don’t let that be understood as an accusation. But he [Donnarumma] took a risk [with his move]. I don’t mean to make an allegation. I’m just saying what happened. To tackle with that intensity was in itself a risk.”

Bayern captain Manuel Neuer showed a little more understanding for his fellow keeper. Donnarumma – who immediately buried his head in his jersey received some friendly, yet stern words, from his opposite member.

“Jamal was in a situation that carried with it some risk,” Neuer said. “It would not have been absolutely necessary for [Donnarumma] to go into the tackle like that. It’s just full of risk. One can potentially hurt an opponent or a teammate. One takes that risk.

“Sometimes nothing happens,” Neuer continued. “I went to him [Donnarumma] before heading into the tunnel and said, ‘Jamal has suffered a serious injury and will likely be in the hospital overnight’. I felt it necessary for him to go over there out of respect and wish Jamal a quick sorry.“

GGFN | Peter Weis