FC Bayern in the Champions League: Can coach Kompany sit on the bench against Arsenal?

On Tuesday evening it was at least known from where Vincent Kompany would once again not be watching the game. He won't be in a laundry basket in which he can be smuggled into the stadium, as legend has it his fellow coach José Mourinho once did.

"I'm 1.92 meters tall, I don't fit in this laundry box," Kompany said with great seriousness in April when he was recently unable to stand on the sidelines at an FC Bayern game. At that time it was against Paris Saint-Germain, Kompany was suspended - and he was represented on the pitch by his assistant Aaron Danks.

When the Munich team host Arsenal on Wednesday evening (9 p. ), Kompany will not be banned, which is why the idea of a laundry basket is out of the question anyway.

It was still not clear on Tuesday evening whether he would actually be able to sit on the bench. Apparently a very stubborn one that has been bothering his immune system since the beginning of last week.

And in the 6-1 win against RB Leipzig on Saturday, Kompany watched the game mostly sitting down and left the coaching and shouting to assistant Danks. It was Danks who represented Kompany at the press conference the day before the game and made it clear to his listeners that Kompany handles an illness like this like Lisa Simpson the day before a math exam: When in doubt, he treats himself too briefly rather than too long.

"It's very important that he rests. But it's very difficult to get Vincent to rest," Danks said.

Kompany "will have his role," he said. Whether in the arena or from home, we'll see.

"He couldn't feel his legs at times," said Danks, describing his boss's health restrictions, "but it's just a virus." As in the game against Paris, Danks assured that he would "be in contact" with Kompany if the worst came to the worst. Because when Kompany was suspended in Paris, Danks was forbidden from communicating with his boss after entering the stadium.

That's exactly why, according to legend, Mourinho came up with the laundry basket trick.