Bayern Munich: Musiala had neurological issue for 'long time,' treatment change caused collapses

BERLIN (AP) — Bayern Munich has been aware of Jamal Musiala’s neurological issue for at least a year, board member for sport Max Eberl said Friday.

Musiala collapsed during successive games over the past week, causing alarm for teammates, opponents and spectators. Eberl and Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said the incidents were triggered by a change in the treatment Musiala was receiving for the neurological issue.

The player said in an Instagram post after the latest collapse against Heidenheim on Tuesday that he had been diagnosed with “absence seizures caused by a neurological dysfunction” but there was “no additional health risk” and that he intends to keep playing as before.

While the 23-year-old Musiala’s collapses caused what Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeness said Wednesday was a “drama” for the club, Eberl and Kompany projected an aura of calm on Friday.

“We’ve been dealing with this all of last season,” Eberl said. “We’ve worked with it, we’ve handled it, and now it’s a situation where a young person is suddenly confronted with this out of nothing – a situation we are helping him navigate.”

Kompany said Musiala is being left out of his squad for Saturday’s German Supercup match at Borussia Dortmund because of the extra attention on the player, but that everyone at the club is relaxed about his condition as “we’ve been dealing with this for a long time.”

“The initial shock happened a while ago,” Kompany said. “Since then, we’ve gathered much more information, gained a far better understanding of the situation, and made every decision based on the best possible advice from top experts … we’re past the stage where this is a major topic of internal discussion.”

Kompany said the speculation from outside was normal because Musiala’s condition had only just become public.

“I just spoke to Jamal. He said, ‘Vinnie, no problem, you can mention it.’ But he made a change to his treatment, and that had some side effects,” the Bayern coach said. “That’s why it happened the first time and then the second time. It’s totally normal to try something different during treatment. Now we want to go back to how things were before – when nobody knew anything about it.”

Eberl said it was normal for anyone taking pills to say they’ll be happy when they don’t have to take them.

“Now the task is to adjust the medication again so he gets back to where we were before — a state where he had been seizure-free for a very, very long time,” Eberl said. “That’s the process we are overseeing medically, with the medical professionals bearing primary responsibility, of course.”

Kompany said Musiala would train individually next week.

Bayern opens its Bundesliga title defense at home to Stuttgart on Aug. 28.

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