Bayern’s Hummels faces anxious Atletico wait

BERLIN: Mats Hummels is facing an anxious wait to see whether he is fit to face Atletico Madrid on Wednesday after limping out of Bayern Munich’s 1-0 win at Hamburg.

Atletico host Bayern at Madrid’s Vicente Calderon Stadium with both sides having won their opening Group D matches in the Champions League.

But Hummels is an injury concern after being forced off after 50 minutes of Bayern’s German league win on Saturday which kept Carlo Ancelotti’s Munich top of the German league table with five wins from five league games.

“I got a blow on my knee just before the half-time break,” the Germany defender told Sky after the win which left Bayern as the only team in Germany’s top flight with a 100 per cent record. “We had hoped it would get better as long as I moved, but it just got worse.

“We’re assuming that it was just a knock as the first tests haven’t shown up anything, but there are no guarantees.”

Under Ancelotti, Bayern have won all of their eight matches so far this season in all competitions.

Joshua Kimmich’s late winner in Hamburg came after Thiago Alcantara’s sublime pass freed Franck Ribery on the left wing and the Frenchman’s cross beat the defence.

Victory leaves Bayern three points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who beat Freiburg 3-1 on Friday when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his fifth goal in their five games.

HARD AFFAIR “It was a very hard affair, which at the end was settled by an incredible moment from Thiago and Franck,” said Hummels. “Hamburg are always an unpleasant team to play against.

“We were a bit slow and unprecise in our play.”

The match winner agreed that Bayern were slow to react in the firsthalf and need to raise their game for Atletico. “We were uninspired in the first half and didn’t have many chances,” said Kimmich.

“We were better after the break and had three or four fat chances, but at the end we were lucky to have got the goal.”

Ribery, a second-half replacement for Kingsley Coman, lived dangerously with a patronising pinch of Mueller’s cheek following a tussle midway through the second-half which escaped the referee’s attention. LABBADIA’S OPEN FUTURE It’s the latest in a string of off-theball incidents involving the Frenchman which had earned him a ticking off from Ancelotti at the start of the season.

“It’s always questionable when the hand touches a face,” said Hummels after watching replays of the incident. a bit