Football
Mark Lovell, Bayern Munich blogger 6y

Bayern Munich's Kingsley Coman to have surgery on injured ankle, out several weeks

MUNICH -- Bayern Munich winger Kingsley Coman will have surgery on a syndesmosis ligament tear in his left ankle and will be out for several weeks, the club said on Saturday.

Coman suffered the injury just before half-time in the German champions' 3-1 win over Hoffenheim on Friday, and had to be helped from the pitch.

"Coman will require surgery and will be out for several weeks," Bayern said in a statement.

Bayern, chasing an unprecedented seventh league title on the spin, had to work hard to overcome Julian Nagelsmann's tricky Hoffenheim side on Friday.

Thomas Muller headed the champions in front midway through the first half, but Adam Szalai drove in an unstoppable equaliser 10 minutes after half-time past a helpless Manuel Neuer.

In a game marred by VAR controversy, Bayern needed a twice-taken Robert Lewandowski penalty and an Arjen Robben volley to seal the three points.

However, the win was spoilt by Coman suffering a reoccurrence of the injury following a tackle by Nico Schulz -- six months to the day that the former PSG and Juventus winger hurt the same ankle in February's goalless draw against Hertha Berlin.

Bayern coch Niko Kovac, in his first postmatch news conference as the club's coach, said Coman had been "in severe pain."

Coman's previous injury ruled him out until May and placed his World Cup hopes in serious jeopardy. He did manage to make his Bayern comeback before the end of the season under Jupp Heynckes but ultimately failed to make the France World Cup squad.

Defender Joshua Kimmich was more emotional after the game about his teammate's injury.

"I almost had a tear in my eye when I saw Kingsley lying on the floor," he told reporters.

Coman was later spotted leaving Doctor Muller-Wohlfahrt's practice in downtown Munich on crutches. 

Meanwhile, Robben told reporters after the game that he was "upset" at being left on the bench. Kovac said the veteran winger had taken his demotion "very well", before replacing Coman on the stroke of half time.

"Of course, I could see the disappointment etched in his face, he has been working exceptionally hard during our seven weeks of preseason training. But he had the power in second half to score the goal and settle the game," Kovac said.

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