Bayern Munich director: we were not wrong about Kompany, and we will try to protect him from himself

The Belgian coach was taken to hospital following a health setback

Bayern Munich will do more to protect Vincent Kompany from overwork, sporting director Max Eberl confirmed at Saturday's press conference ahead of the Bundesliga clash with Freiburg.

German press reports had suggested the Belgian coach's habit of working long hours, coupled with a lack of sleep, may have contributed to the recent health setback that will keep him away from the team for weeks, according to Eberl.

Asked whether Bayern should have stepped in earlier to stop Kompany exhausting himself, Eberl replied: "Of course, people can try to look for someone to blame, but the truth is we protect our coach as much as possible. When the coach says he feels ready to carry out his duties, we cannot know exactly how he really feels, and we cannot simply tell him we will not allow him to do it."

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"We had already kept him away from work for two days, before the Arsenal match, because we knew he was infected with a virus," he added. "But he recovered well and felt fine, and at that point it becomes difficult to tell him he is not allowed to carry out his duties."

He went on: "He has his own opinion, and he has the right to express it. He wanted to take part in the match, everything seemed fine, and he felt fine. There is a degree of personal responsibility in recognising the moment when one must say: I do not want to carry on with this, I can no longer continue. And I think Vinny is an exceptional and astonishingly hard-working personality... perhaps our society has lost something in this regard, but there are still people like him who simply say: I want to get things done, I want to work."

"The body's signals"

Eberl pointed to a saying about heeding the body's warnings: "There is also a wonderful saying: if you do not listen to the weakest signals your body sends, your body will eventually scream. That is unfortunately what happened, and we must all respect that."

The sporting director called for everyone involved to be given the time needed to handle the situation, stressing that the club will answer the questions it can and try to clear up the uncertainty as much as possible.

"Vinny will get the time he needs, and we will make greater efforts than before to protect him from himself, so to speak," he added.

The best thing the team can offer their coach right now, Eberl believes, is a strong performance and a positive result against Freiburg.