On the day before the Bundesliga home game against Hoffenheim on Saturday (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky), there was a little riddle in the cosmos of FC Bayern.

The Munich media department had sent the invitation for the mandatory press conference before the game in the morning, but did not mention who exactly would speak to the press in the online session on Friday.

Julian Nagelsmann, the trainer, actually does this, but he tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday and is now in isolation.

He will definitely miss the home game - and with it the question and answer session before, right?

Christopher Meltzer

Sports correspondent in Munich.

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Just in time for the press conference, Nagelsmann switched on via video from his house. He wore a blue and white shirt and said that he was "doing quite well under the circumstances", that he was "a little limp", but that he could "laugh again". He was “shocked” when the test in Lisbon, where he had only followed the Champions League game against Benfica from the hotel due to cold symptoms, was positive. According to Nagelsmann, he is fully vaccinated. On Friday he said: "The good thing about the vaccination is that when you have it, you don't have the extremely strong symptoms."

How quickly Nagelsmann can end isolation also has to do with the symptoms. The Corona ordinances of the city of Munich state that as a fully vaccinated person you can do this with a negative PCR test after five days at the earliest - under one condition: You must have been symptom-free during this time. Does that apply to Nagelsmann? He himself says that he had had flu symptoms before - and that he also tested negative for Covid-19 during the phase. Since the positive test, there have been no new symptoms typical of corona. The city's health department now has to decide the rest.

That is how long Julian Nagelsmann will work in his “analysis center”.

This is what he calls his kitchen, where he has set up with an iPad and laptop.

Why in the kitchen?

“That I have a short way to tea.” He also revealed from there that both Alphonso Davies and Leon Goretzka, who had already missed in Lisbon, will not be available against Hoffenheim.

The possible failure of one or more players in connection with the coach's infection does not appear to be threatened.

Nevertheless, there is one consequence: The number of corona tests at FC Bayern is also being increased again for vaccinated players.