Advertisement

All-conquering Bayern suffer Alaba injury blow

By Karolos Grohmann

(Reuters) - Bayern Munich's smooth passage into the Champions League knockout stage hit a speed bump on Wednesday after it emerged that versatile Austrian international David Alaba could be out for the rest of the year.

All appeared well for Pep Guardiola's fast and flexible team when they beat Roma 2-0 at the Allianz Arena to maintain their perfect record after four games and advance to the Round of 16 with two games to spare, the fastest ever by a German team.

However, the influential Alaba limped off with a knee ligament problem in the 81st minute after another inspired display, an injury that could see Austria's sportsman of the year miss the remainder of the year.

"David is a complete football player and he can play on any position," Guardiola told reporters.

Alaba started in defence but switched positions throughout the match, tormenting the Italians with darting runs as he set Franck Ribery up for the opener and had several attempts on goal himself, including a long-range free kick that just missed.

The 22-year-old Austrian is usually deployed as a fullback, combining down the left flank with Ribery but is equally effective in Bayern's midfield, as was the case on Wednesday.

Alaba is maturing into exactly the type of player Guardiola needs as he strives to perfect an already dominant Bayern team that has yet to taste defeat in any of their 16 games in all competitions this season.

"We will be missing a super type of player, who plays outstanding football," Guardiola said.

Further medical checks to determine the extent of his ligament injury will be conducted in Munich later on Thursday but his Spanish coach is already consigned to losing the player for a number of months.

"It is a shame, a real pity because he could be out for two or three months. I hope he will be back after Christmas because he is extremely important for us because of his flexibility."

Bayern are already missing the injured midfield trio of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thiago Alcantara and Javi Martinez.

But Alaba's absence is not expected to slow Bayern down too much with Dante, Medhi Benatia and Jerome Boateng all capable of covering for him at the back, while Philipp Lahm and Rafinha are both able to step into his role as well.

(Editing by John O'Brien)