FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - DFB Cup - Round of 16 - Bayern Munich v Bayer Leverkusen - Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany - December 3, 2024 Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer during the warm up REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) - Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will be sidelined for the rest of the year after suffering a broken rib, coach Vincent Kompany said on the eve of Tuesday's Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk in Gelsenkirchen.
Neuer missed the Bundesliga win over Heidenheim on Saturday and joins a number of Bayern players on the injury list.
The 38-year-old was hurt in the German Cup loss to Bayer Leverkusen last week after crashing into an opponent and getting sent off with a straight red card, his first ever.
"He is nursing a broken rib. He will most likely not play anymore this year. It is important for this to heal and from January we'll have him again," Kompany told a press conference on Monday.
"It's not too bad but with so many matches it's too early for him (Neuer) to play."
Bayern are already without injured top scorer Harry Kane, Joao Palhinha, Alphonso Davies and Serge Gnabry among others but with the winter break approaching Kompany said the Bundesliga leaders had done well so far to compensate for the absences.
The Bavarians are in 13th place on nine points in the Champions League table, a point outside the top eight who automatically qualify for the last 16.
Hosts Shakhtar, who will stage the game in Gelsenkirchen, are 26th on four points, two points off the playoff places.
"The issue of injuries is that clearly we have a lot of people absent but we held on well until now," Kompany added.
"From early January we will have a big squad again. We handled it well so far."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)
