Ulreich is now happy he changed his mind

– Sven Ulreich (right) considered quitting Bayern Munich in the summer due to a lack of chances, but Manuel Neuer’s latest injury has propelled his understudy into the spotlight.

Germany standout and Bayern captain Neuer is out until January after undergoing surgery this week – his third operation in six months for a fractured foot.

The same day, Ulreich made only his eighth Bundesliga appearance in three seasons during Bayern’s 3-0 win at Schalke, with Wolfsburg up next tonight at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

“You feel for Manuel, the whole team is of course disappointed and we hope he comes back soon,” said the 29-year-old Ulreich.

Both the Schalke and Wolfsburg games are mere warm-ups for Bayern’s biggest test so far this season – next week’s trip to Paris St Germain in the Champions League group stage.

It is all a far cry from just a few weeks ago when Ulreich said: “It’s not my aim to sit on the bench as a No 2 for the rest of my career.”

Now, he has Neuer’s considerable boots to fill with only Bayern’s third-choice keeper – 17-year-old Christian Fruechtl – as back-up.

There are three players Bayern can ill-afford to lose for a long time – goal machine Robert Lewandowski, playmaker Arjen Robben and Neuer.

Ulreich has only made a total of 14 competitive appearances, mainly when Neuer was injured, since joining from Stuttgart in 2015.

He faces his toughest challenge next Wednesday at the Parc de Princes against PSG’s star-studded attack of Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Neymar.

“I am looking forward to testing myself against such a world-class team, but we are a world-class team,” Ulreich said confidently.

The stats are both a help and a hinderance when trying to ascertain how Bayern will fare with Ul- reich as their last line of defence.

They have lost only one of the eight German league games he has played over 90 minutes.

However, his lone two Champions League group stage outings were last November’s shock 3-2 defeat at Rostov and a meaningless 2-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb in December 2015.

Likewise, against arch rivals Borussia Dortmund, he experienced highs and lows.

He saved two penalties in August’s 5-4 penalty shoot-out win at Dortmund to win the German Super Cup after being in goal for last season’s 3-2 German Cup semifinal home defeat. –