Vincent Kompany watched his side's 3-1 win over SC Freiburg on matchday seven of the Bundesliga from hospital. The Bayern Munich coach is currently undergoing thorough examinations following his collapse on Friday. After the final whistle, he congratulated his assistant coach Aaron Danks, who is standing in for him on the touchline until his return, via WhatsApp and wrote that he was very happy.
The best news is that Kompany appears to be on the mend and can watch football matches. "The feedback is very positive at the moment. He is stable and feels well. He is a little better. Further examinations are being carried out, but the initial feedback is very positive," Aaron Danks said on DAZN before kick-off in Freiburg.
After the win, Bayern's board member for sport Max Eberl said: "These matches and a win like that: that's the best medicine for him."
Danks replied to Kompany's congratulations: "Excellent, and now get some rest!"
Bayern's hierarchy want Kompany to think about football as little as possible for now.
According to Christian Falk, BILD's head of football and a long-time Bayern reporter, the club have explicitly instructed all of Kompany's visitors not to talk to him about football. They want the coach to concentrate solely on his recovery, with conversations kept personal rather than professional.
Uli Hoeneß was among those who visited Kompany on Saturday. Bayern Munich's honorary president and patron brought a bag of food from the Munich delicatessen Feinkost Käfer. Assistant coach Aaron Danks also said he had spoken to Kompany on the phone only about personal matters.
Players and staff members are said to have been worried about Kompany for some time
In recent weeks, Bayern Munich players and staff members had grown increasingly concerned about the coach's work ethic and work-life balance, according to another report by Germany's largest daily newspaper on Saturday. The report said Kompany had worked too much, drunk too much coffee, exercised too little and taken on too many tasks.
Despite having caught a persistent and "nasty" virus, as Kompany himself put it, the Belgian had prepared for and overseen the recent Champions League matches against Viking Stavanger and FC Arsenal, and the Bundesliga match against RB Leipzig.
"It really isn't easy to get Vincent to rest," said assistant coach Aaron Danks, who stood in for Kompany at the press conference last Tuesday before the match against Arsenal and will now also stand in for Kompany on the Bayern bench until further notice.
After the match against Arsenal, Kompany himself said: "As a coach, you always want to do everything. I caught a pretty nasty virus. Of course, I didn't listen to my body." He added: "And then at some point my body said: 'Stop now, lad!' But of course I feel better, otherwise I wouldn't be here." Two days later, Kompany collapsed. Bayern's board member for sport Max Eberl said it could be weeks before he returns to the bench.
How much is Kompany asking of himself?
Even as a player, Kompany was known for being ruthless with his body. He played through injuries and did not take it easy after serious injuries, either. Time and again, he returned to the pitch as quickly as possible. His father Pierre Kompany told the news magazine Der Spiegel, as part of an extensive profile of the Bayern coach, that Kompany spends up to 14 hours at Bayern's training ground. Pierre Kompany told BILD that Kompany works up to 18 hours and sees little of his three children during the week.
On Saturday, Bayern Munich's board member for sport Max Eberl described Kompany as "an incredible personality, such an unbelievable worker, who then goes beyond that point too". He meant it as a compliment, adding that such drive had "also been lost to some extent in our society, but there are still those people who say: 'I want to do things, I want to get things done'".
Kompany attributes his work ethic to his migrant background and believes he has to work twice as hard as everyone else. From everything that is known, he has now asked too much of himself. His bosses' instruction to visitors not to talk to him about football is intended to address precisely that.