Uli Hoeness, the honorary president of Bayern Munich, revealed new details on Wednesday about the health crisis affecting German international midfielder Jamal Musiala.
Musiala collapsed without any contact during Bayern's 3-1 friendly win over Leipzig last Saturday, just minutes after coming on as a substitute and scoring the third goal. The same thing struck again on Tuesday, during Bayern's 4-2 victory over Heidenheim.
Doctors, the player has said, diagnosed his condition as temporary and treatable neurological disturbances, with no serious health risks to him.
Speaking to "Sky Sport - Germany", Hoeness said what happened to Musiala for the second time in a matter of days "truly shocked him", adding: "I was lost for words, and that rarely happens to me. I go to bed thinking about Jamal, and I wake up in the morning thinking about him. We support Jamal unconditionally."
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The club had known of some problems with the player for a while, Bayern's honorary president explained, but they had never surfaced on the pitch before.
Hoeness added: "It's a tragedy, especially for Jamal. There had been some signs of problems, but they had never happened to him at the club before. But now, with the two incidents on Saturday and yesterday, the problem has become, first and foremost, one for Jamal the person, and also for the club in the medium term. We are all lost for words, and we were not prepared for this. We will have to learn how to deal with the situation."
Did Bayern Munich make a mistake?
Hoeness rejected criticism that Bayern should have given Musiala a longer rest before returning to training and matches, stressing that specialist doctors had given the club the green light for the player to compete at the highest level.
He said: "The specialists, the neurologists treating him, confirmed to us, in writing, that from their point of view there was nothing preventing Jamal from competing in high-level sport. Since then, we have started to sleep a little better at night. But now, frankly, we have to get used to this new situation. I am lost for words."
He continued: "We expected that if the same thing did not happen again quickly, the medication he is taking would help. But when it happened again after 4 days, in the same way, I was astonished."
Before the World Cup, Bayern had not fully grasped the nature of Musiala's problems, Hoeness said, explaining: "There were some signs, but he was training and playing matches. But I don't know whether these problems had affected his level, or whether that was because of the ankle problems."
Musiala's decision to speak publicly came after an agreement with the club's management, he explained, saying: "There was a meeting on Monday between Max Eberl (the sporting director), Jamal himself, his agent, and two doctors from the team. There was an agreement that if Saturday's incident recurred, Jamal would speak about the matter publicly, which is what happened yesterday."
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