Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller – pillars of the Germany national team over the last decade – are battling to prove their fitness with barely three weeks remaining until the World Cup begins.
Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann confirmed in a press conference on Friday that neither player will be fit enough to feature in Saturday's Bundesliga game against Mainz.
Goalkeeper Neuer remains troubled by a shoulder issue, while attacking midfielder Muller has a hip problem, and Nagelsmann could not say with conviction when both will be back in club action.
The news will inevitably be a worry for Germany boss Hansi Flick, as the former Bayern head coach finalises his plans for the Qatar 2022 finals.
Muller played for half an hour as a substitute in Bayern's 3-0 win at Barcelona on Wednesday, but the 33-year-old will not be risked at all against Mainz, and almost certainly will also sit out the Champions League meeting with Inter next Tuesday.
"He has irritation in his hip again, in the pelvic area," Nagelsmann said. "He won't be able to play, probably not even on Tuesday. We'll probably have to take him out for a week to give him a break.
"Thomas is in good spirits. We talked to a couple of medical professionals yesterday and tried to get a better picture of everything, but the picture didn't really change.
"It's not something that goes away with pain medication either. It feels blocked, and it's difficult to define how the pain is manifesting itself. I decided it would be better just to take him out of action for the time being.
"[Saturday] is the type of game where even for 10 or 15 minutes you have to give absolutely everything, so if we give him that 10 or 15 minutes, he's ultimately going to have to drop out potentially for the next game. We've got to see how it develops and how it reacts.
"The key right now is instead of blindly testing it out constantly, to give it a bit of calm and see how it reacts to that and then see how his recovery goes."
Neuer, the 36-year-old captain of Bayern and Germany, has played no active part since Bayern's 2-2 draw at Borussia Dortmund on October 8.
It is obvious to Nagelsmann that having Neuer fit is not only a priority for Bayern but a matter of national interest.
There are no promises at the moment, but Nagelsmann is hoping Neuer may be able to return next weekend at Hertha Berlin.
"I'm not a mystic that can see into the future," Nagelsmann said. "We put him in the game against Dortmund and maybe that was a game too early, and now he's sat out a couple of games.
"It's very difficult for me to know how the pain will be managed. It's a structural area of the body that needs time to heal and a joint that needs a bit of calm as well, so if you're constantly testing it and putting a burden on it, it can be tough.
"I'm anticipating he will be ready for the World Cup, but I'm not a psychic. We're going to do everything we can to help him be there for the World Cup."
Bayern are the hosts on Saturday against a Mainz team who led at the Allianz Arena last season before slipping to a 2-1 defeat.
However, Mainz have beaten Bayern twice in the past two seasons, both times when having home advantage.
Among sides currently in the top flight, only Augsburg have also taken six points from their last three matches against Bayern – no teams have managed more.
Heading into this meeting, Bayern and Mainz have both won their last two games, each scoring seven goals and conceding none – a league high in this timeframe.
Mainz are also top of the away form table this season with 12 points from six away games, marking them down as a threat.
Bayern nevertheless head into the weekend programme just one point behind early leaders Union Berlin, who must wait until Sunday before tackling Borussia Monchengladbach.
"We're in a good rhythm right now," said Nagelsmann. "Against Barcelona, we looked like a solid unit who all had the same goal in mind. The team have a great connection with one another."
Simeone takes positives but Oblak slams 'pitiful' Atletico performance
Jan Oblak hit out at a "pitiful" performance from Atletico Madrid after their 4-0 loss to Benfica in the Champions League.
Benfica recorded their joint-biggest victory in a Champions League home match (alongside 5-1 vs Club Brugge in March 2023), as Atletico suffered their heaviest ever defeat to Portuguese opposition in the competition.
Atletico had only four shots, failing to get any of them on target, and mustered just 0.24 expected goals (xG).
Benfica, on the other hand, had 19 shots and accumulated 4.46 xG.
While Diego Simeone believed there were positives to take, Oblak, who made six saves to keep the scoreline from getting even more humiliating, was far more scathing of Atletico's display in Lisbon.
"It's pitiful to lose like this, it's not a good image to give and there's not much more to say. We weren't good today, to say the least," Oblak told Movistar Plus.
"Sometimes games like this happen, but we can't afford it because we gave a woeful impression today. I don't have a single positive thing I can say today.
"We didn't show up and there's not much more to say. Nobody is saved from what happened today, we have to accept it and move forward."
Simone accepted Atletico "played badly", but did feel it was not all doom and gloom.
"I always like to think positively and I think it's a good opportunity to keep improving," Simeone told Movistar Plus.
"We had been doing a very good job, today we didn't play the game we expected, but we have to keep going.
"We played badly. We have to accept that. We didn't play well, the substitutions didn't give us the spark that they gave us at other times. We played badly, they were better and we have to accept that.
"There was no lack of tension, attitude or desire to run, we just played badly and when you play badly you are exposed to losses like this.
"We had been doing a very good job and today the game that you don't want to see appeared.
"Some nights are not good and we have to accept them and try to learn from what we had to go through today and recover energy for Sunday's LaLiga game [at Real Sociedad]."
Columbus Crew 2-3 Inter Miami: Messi, Suarez seal Supporters' Shield success
Lionel Messi scored twice and Luis Suarez got the winner as Inter Miami beat 10-man Columbus Crew 3-2 to claim the Supporters' Shield in MLS.
After three straight draws, Miami needed a victory to guarantee they got their hands on the shield, which is awarded to MLS' best team in the regular season, and they got over the line in frantic fashion on Wednesday.
Miami's goals came between the 45th and 48th minute, with Messi, who had not recorded a direct goal contribution in any of his last three away appearances, netting the opening two.
Having already teed up a Diego Gomez goal that was disallowed, Messi engineered space in the box to drill home and break the deadlock, before doubling his tally five minutes later with a sensational free-kick.
Diego Rossi dragged the Crew back into it straight after the restart, but parity lasted just two minutes as Suarez capitalised on an error from Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte.
Cucho Hernandez, who had a goal ruled out for offside in the first half, converted a penalty to reduce the arrears yet again, only for the Crew to go down to 10 when Rudy Camacho picked up two bookings in the space of four minutes.
There was to be more drama, though, as Miami defender Ian Fray was judged to have handled in the area, yet this time, Drake Callender guessed correctly to deny Hernandez and ensure victory for Miami.
Data Debrief: Record points total within reach
That is Miami's second piece of silverware in the bag, after their Leagues Cup triumph last year, and the Herons' focus will now switch to an MLS record.
If they win their remaining two games before the postseason, against Toronto FC and New England Revolution, Miami will set the MLS regular-season points record, overtaking the tally of 73 set by the Revolution in 2021.
Kompany: Bayern must learn from defeat to Villa
Vincent Kompany lamented Bayern Munich's profligacy and urged his team to learn from their mistakes after their 1-0 loss to Aston Villa.
Jhon Duran's superb finish at Villa Park saw the hosts claim all three points in Wednesday's Champions League encounter.
It was just the second meeting between Villa and Bayern, with the first having come back in the 1982 European Cup final, which the English team won 1-0.
Bayern had their chances, though, having 17 shots, getting seven on target and mustering 1.42 expected goals (xG), with Emiliano Martinez making a string of fine stops late on.
"We missed some big chances and they scored the chance. We've got to take the learnings from this," said Kompany after suffering his first defeat as Bayern head coach.
"When we have the ball, we're dangerous, but they're a strong team, this isn't an easy place. It wasn't a bad performance.
"If you don't take your chances, it can happen.
"We had big chances, we didn't score them. We gave away a moment and in that moment obviously Villa scored a goal.
"I understand the occasion it was for the opponent and it was a special night for them."
Villa became the second English side to win their first two Champions League games (since 1992-93), after Leicester City in 2016-17.
Bayern, meanwhile, saw their 41-game unbeaten run in the group/league stage of UEFA's elite club competition (the longest such run in the tournament's history) come to an end.
"When we have the ball, we're dangerous, but [Villa] are a strong team, this isn't an easy place. It wasn't a bad performance," Kompany added.
"We conceded very few chances. If we focus on our own work, we will win a lot of games still."
Bayern visit Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
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