Soccer Football - Champions League - Knockout Phase Playoff - Second Leg - Bayern Munich Press Conference - Saebener Strasse, Munich, Germany - February 17, 2025 Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany during the press conference REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth
(Reuters) - Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane was absent in training but head coach Vincent Kompany played down fears of a serious injury and was hopeful he would be available for Tuesday's Champions League playoff second leg clash against Celtic at the Allianz Arena.
The six-times European champions put themselves in the driving seat by securing a 2-1 victory over Celtic in the first leg in Glasgow last Wednesday.
The 31-year-old England captain, who has scored 29 goals and provided 10 assists in 30 appearances across all competitions for the German giants this season, suffered a facial injury in their 0-0 Bundesliga draw at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
"It's nothing bad for Harry, but we have very little time to recover. Sometimes you need an extra day, but we'll see how Harry feels tomorrow morning. I assume it's nothing bad," Kompany told reporters on Monday.
Kompany expects a tough outing against Celtic, who sit top of the Scottish Premiership.
"Tomorrow will be an important game for us and the whole club. We are very strong at home. I have seen a lot of Celtic's games - they have done very well in the Champions League so far and can always be dangerous," the Belgian said.
"We won at Celtic Park and then got an important point in Leverkusen. It's a good opportunity to do something well again in these six days, which have been very busy. When the results are right, you have that little bit of extra strength, and that should help us tomorrow."
On Saturday Bayern had to survive some relentless pressing from champions and second-placed Leverkusen to escape with a draw in their top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash and maintain their eight-point advantage at the summit.
"We have never experienced anything like what happened against Leverkusen, where we had to defend so much. It was a good experience - something like that had to happen at some point... We can take that with us into the upcoming games," attacking midfielder Jamal Musiala said.
"The mood in the team is positive. We didn't have our best day in Leverkusen - and still didn't lose, which is a good sign for the whole team. There is a lot we can do better, but the team spirit, the ability to fight, to keep a clean sheet, is something we need if we want to go far.
"It won't be an easy game (against Celtic). We saw what it was like in Glasgow. We have to prepare well, make sure we are fresh and mentally ready. We have to be playing at 100%, not let up and start strong right away - and we hope that we win," he added.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
