Vincent Kompany's influence as coach is a key reason Bayern Munich is in the Champions League semifinals. Now Bayern will have to manage without him.
Bayern is preparing for arguably its toughest game of the season so far with its head coach suspended and assistant Aaron Danks reportedly due to take over.
Kompany was still involved in training Monday before Bayern's departure for Paris, but he'll be barred from the team's locker room and bench at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday.
“We’ll miss him on the touchline. He’s our boss, a coach who’d love to be out there with us,” Harry Kane has said.
It's all because Kompany was booked in Bayern's thrilling quarterfinal win over Real Madrid for disputing the referee's decision to allow Madrid to play on and score after a hard tackle on Bayern defender Josip Stanisic.
That was Kompany's third yellow card in what was Bayern's 12th Champions League game of the season. He argued UEFA should relax the rules now there are more games than ever.
“It’s an extended format and it’s the strictest-ever ruling with a lot of interpretation from referees, where sometimes you can get a yellow card wrong as well. So what happens then?” Kompany said after the game.
“I’m not happy because of this, but it’s not important. The team can do it and I’m there for the return game. I have total faith in the team, the staff, to not just continue but also gain strength and motivation out of it.”
Danks is one of Kompany's three main assistants and has head coaching experience. Just not much of it.
The 42-year-old English coach is a set-piece specialist who oversaw two games for Aston Villa as caretaker coach in 2022, beating Brentford 4-0 then losing to Newcastle by the same score.
Preparations haven't exactly been easy, either.
With the Bundesliga title wrapped up, Bayern had hoped to rest key players against Mainz on Saturday, but Kompany had to bring on Kane, Michael Olise and Jamal Musiala after slipping 3-0 down before coming back to win 4-3.
Musiala's facing PSG for the first time since his badly broken leg against the French team at last season's Club World Cup.
The attacking midfielder didn't return until January but has recently looked back on form with two goals and four assists in his last five games, including setting up Luis Diaz's crucial third goal in the second game against Madrid.
Lennart Karl got his break in the Bayern team during Musiala's injury absence but the 18-year-old is likely to miss Tuesday's game with a muscle issue which has sidelined him for the last three weeks. Forward Serge Gnabry is out with a muscle tear that's ruled him out of the World Cup too.
The Champions League isn't just part of Bayern's quest for a triple. An even rarer achievement is possible.
Bayern is in the hunt for a triple-double of league, cup and Champions League for both its men's and women's teams. The Bayern women's squad has already won the German league, is in the final of the German Cup and is level at 1-1 with Barcelona in the Women's Champions League semifinals.