It has been a scintillating season for Bayern Munich, thus far, who have conceded a mere nine goals in 18 Bundesliga games, thanks to their exquisite defence (not to forget the assistance of world number one, Manuel Neuer). However, with some tough fixtures looming, Bayern have seemingly hit a sticky wicket.

Loss of Jérôme Boateng

A true icon of consistency, Boateng has been as instrumental as ever for the German champions since arriving from Manchester City in 2011. Such importance to Bayern is shown through the statistic that the towering centre-half has been involved in a very impressive 15 clean sheets out of 26 games (in all competitions).

This all builds up for the incredibly disappointing news that the German international is out for "a long time", according to Bayern. Estimations suggest he'll be injured for at least three months after suffering a groin injury in the win over former Bundesliga side, Hamburger SV.  

Hammer blow 

Along with their unsung hero out for months, Bayern also have to live with the fact two other crucial centre-backs are also on the sidelines. Bayern fans will be fairly unsurprised to hear Medhi Benatia and, more recently, Javi Martínez continue to illustrate their injury-proneness, but even the most stubborn of fans would have been in disbelief to hear both are out for a while.

Benatia may have picked up a muscle injury in the away win to Dinamo Zagreb in early December, but has recently participated in rehabilitation training, alongside the returning Franck Ribéry and is expected to make his comeback to the squad soon.

As for the Basque giant, the persistent left knee injury which Martínez had suffered from in August 2014, has come back to haunt him yet again. He has since undergone successful injury and is expected to miss just four weeks of football, including both legs of Bayern's UEFA Champions League crunch tie with last year's finalists, Juventus.  

Joshua Kimmich wins the ball. | Photo: Sport1 de
Joshua Kimmich wins the ball. | Photo: Sport1 de

Irony and solace 

It is suitable that in such a crisis, the epitome of irony steps forward in the form of Holger Badstuber to save the day seeing as the triumvirate of Boateng, Benatia and Martínez have succumbed to their respective injuries.

To elaborate on such rich irony, Badstuber is widely considered Bayern's most injury-prone player of the entire squad, having just played 26 Bundesliga games over the last three seasons.

This, by no means, diminishes Badstuber's defending qualities. He more than stepped up in a mixed defence against Hamburger SV and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim demonstrating his composure and ability to break-up play.  

Comfort for Bayern Munich comes in some forms. 20 year old, Joshua Kimmich, who has played well as a midfielder all season, played very well in a back four alongside Badstuber in Bayern's last match, the 2-0 win over Hoffenheim.

Philipp Lahm and David Alaba remain as faithful and solid as ever, wherever they may play in defence. Rafinha and Juan Bernat made the bench in the win over Hoffenheim, the latter coming on as a substitute.

There's also the added relief from the loan of Serdar Tasci, until the end of the season, from Spartak Moscow. Despite being injured 15 times in the last 5 years, a big advantage from bringing Tasci in, is that he already has priceless Bundesliga experience having played 7 successful years for VfB Stuttgart.

He won the Bundesliga title in the unforgettable ending to the 2006/07 season and reached the final of the DFB Pokal in 2007 and 2013 (losing both 3-2), as well as captaining Stuttgart for a season and a half.  

It just goes to show that things are not always as bad as they seem.

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