The 40-year-old has been suffering from a viral infection and was a doubt to be on the touchline for Bayern’s Champions League game against Arsenal on Wednesday evening after missing the training session before the game.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Eberl has revealed that Kompany is still undergoing tests in hospital and has refused to put a timeframe on his return.
‘So the good news is that he is stable,’ Eberl said.
‘Obviously, it was a difficult moment for all of us. He collapsed on the pitch yesterday and is now in hospital, where he will remain for a few more days while they establish exactly what happened, carry out all the examinations, and everything has been checked.
Vincent Kompany was on the touchline for Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday night (Getty)
‘It just goes to show once again that football isn’t the most important thing in life, perhaps the second or third most important thing. The most important thing is your health.
‘We’re sending Vini our best wishes for a speedy recovery from all of us. We, as Bayern Munich, stand together during a moment like this, because the most important thing is to identify the cause of what happened to Vinnie, ensure that he gets healthy, and give him the time he needs to recover in peace. He should only return when he feels fully fit again. And that will be our biggest task to protect him, to a certain extent, even from himself.
‘He had experienced some minor problems last week as well. He is now in hospital, and since yesterday evening, the doctors have been focused on finding out what the problem is.
‘The examinations are ongoing, and they have obtained some results but further tests are needed to establish exactly what is wrong. Only then can they determine the appropriate treatment.
‘I’m not a doctor, I’m not going to draw any conclusions or make any assumptions. He is in the best possible hands and that’s the most important thing. What we can do in the meantime is support him emotionally, give him positive energy, and show him our love as he goes through this difficult phase.’
When asked if Bayern’s game against Freiburg on Sunday could have been postponed, Eberl replied: ‘With the Under-23 team, it happened during their training session, so they experienced it first-hand.
‘For the 17 and 18-year-old boys, it was quite something, many haven’t had to experience anything negative like that yet. Sometimes things just happen. And the boys were a bit overwhelmed, that’s only human.
‘Thanks to Vilzing and the Bavarian Football Association for being able to say so quickly, ‘hey, let’s postpone the game’. There are more important things than football.
What Vincent Kompany said after Bayern’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Wednesday
(Shutterstock)
‘I’m doing better. As a coach, you want to do everything by yourself. I caught a pretty nasty virus last week. I didn’t listen to my body and at some point my body told me: ‘Stop now, man!’. That was it. Now I’m feeling better, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.’
‘As far as our game was concerned we didn’t consider postponing it. The team has a few things going on right now, we’re not in a normal phase, we’ve had the situation with Jamal, the dramatic event with Jo’s dad, and now Vinnie. These are the issues we are dealing with and as I said, the most important thing for us is that everyone is healthy. As a group, everyone looks out for each other, that’s precisely what Bayern is all about, we are here for Jo and his family, we’re here for Vinnie and his family, we’re here for Jamal and his family. That’s Bayern Munich, it’s what defines us, it strengthens us as a family, that we go through this together and are there for each other, that’s the most important thing.’
Asked if Bayern should have intervened sooner to stop Kompany working with his illness, Eberl said: ‘Of course, people can try to find someone to blame, but the fact is that we protect our coach wherever we can.
‘When a coach says, ‘I feel ready to do things’, we are not in a position to know exactly how he is feeling. We cannot say, ‘Okay, we’re not going to allow you to do that’.
‘We had already held him back for two days. The coaching staff kept him out for two days before the Arsenal game because we knew he had this virus. However, he had recovered well and felt fine. At that point, it becomes difficult to tell him, ‘You’re not doing this’.
‘He has his own voice, of course, and the right to express things. He wanted to be involved in the game, and everything seemed fine, he felt well. But now this has happened. Of course, there is also a certain degree of personal responsibility involved in recognising when to say, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, I can’t carry on’.
‘I think Vinnie is such a great personality and such an incredible worker that he tends to push himself past that point. Perhaps something has been lost in our society in this regard, but there are still people like him who simply say, ‘I want to get things done. I want to work’.
Aaron Danks will take charge of Bayern Munich in Vincent Kompany’s absence (Getty)
‘There is also a great saying, ‘If you don’t listen to the quietest signals your body sends you, eventually your body will scream’. And that’s exactly what has happened now, unfortunately, and we all have to respect that.
‘I would also really appreciate it if we could give everyone involved some time at this stage. Of course, we will answer the questions we can, and we will do our best to shed light on what remains unclear, as far as possible. But this is not an easy situation for us either, and I would be very grateful if we could allow everyone the time they need. Vinnie will be given that time. We will also continue to make an even greater effort than before to protect him from himself, so to speak.
‘But if we’re talking about the game tomorrow in Freiburg, I think the greatest joy for Vinnie would be for us to play well tomorrow and, ideally, get a positive result. That would probably be one of the best things we could do to help him recover.’
When asked about a timeframe for Kompany’s return, Eberl said: ‘Vinnie will be given all the time he needs. We’re not starting to build any kind of timeframes now.
‘We need to figure out what it is, and then we’ll calmly discuss what recovery time means. We won’t be talking about days, but weeks. We all need to be clear that.
‘And we have such a fantastic coaching staff, with Vinnie as the head of the operation. But the success is based on an outstanding team behind the scenes. There’s absolutely no thought of changing anything. All the guys who are here are outstanding, and therefore we can all approach the next few weeks in the spirit of Vinnie, which everyone has within them.’
