Bayern must adapt with coach Kompany suspended for Champions League semifinal at PSG

Vincent Kompany's influence as coach is a key reason Bayern Munich is in the Champions League semifinals. Now Bayern will have to manage without him.

Bayern is preparing for arguably its toughest game of the season so far with its head coach suspended and assistant Aaron Danks reportedly due to take over.

Kompany was still involved in training Monday before Bayern's departure for Paris, but he'll be barred from the team's locker room and bench at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday.

“We’ll miss him on the touchline. He’s our boss, a coach who’d love to be out there with us,” Harry Kane has said.

It's all because Kompany was booked in Bayern's thrilling quarterfinal win over Real Madrid for disputing the referee's decision to allow Madrid to play on and score after a hard tackle on Bayern defender Josip Stanisic.

That was Kompany's third yellow card in what was Bayern's 12th Champions League game of the season. He argued UEFA should relax the rules now there are more games than ever.

“It’s an extended format and it’s the strictest-ever ruling with a lot of interpretation from referees, where sometimes you can get a yellow card wrong as well. So what happens then?” Kompany said after the game.

“I’m not happy because of this, but it’s not important. The team can do it and I’m there for the return game. I have total faith in the team, the staff, to not just continue but also gain strength and motivation out of it.”

PSG coach Luis Enrique praised the work Kompany has done since arriving two years ago.

“Vincent Kompany is a coach of the highest level, Bayern is one of the teams I like to watch the most,” he said. “They’re very pretty to watch. I like all coaches but especially the attacking ones, and he is without doubt one of them.”

Danks is one of Kompany's three main assistants and has head coaching experience. Just not much of it.

The 42-year-old English coach is a set-piece specialist who oversaw two games for Aston Villa as caretaker coach in 2022, beating Brentford 4-0 then losing to Newcastle by the same score.

Preparations haven't exactly been easy, either.

With the Bundesliga title wrapped up, Bayern had hoped to rest key players against Mainz on Saturday, but Kompany had to bring on Kane, Michael Olise and Jamal Musiala after slipping 3-0 down before coming back to win 4-3.

Musiala's facing PSG for the first time since his badly broken leg against the French team at last season's Club World Cup.

The attacking midfielder didn't return until January but has recently looked back on form with two goals and four assists in his last five games, including setting up Luis Diaz's crucial third goal in the second game against Madrid.

Lennart Karl got his break in the Bayern team during Musiala's injury absence but the 18-year-old is likely to miss Tuesday's game with a muscle issue which has sidelined him for the last three weeks. Forward Serge Gnabry is out with a muscle tear that's ruled him out of the World Cup too.

The Champions League isn't just part of Bayern's quest for a triple. An even rarer achievement is possible.

Bayern is in the hunt for a triple-double of league, cup and Champions League for both its men's and women's teams. The Bayern women's squad has already won the German league, is in the final of the German Cup and is level at 1-1 with Barcelona in the Women's Champions League semifinals.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala is followed by teammate Harry Kane as they arrive for a team training session ahead of a Champions League semi-final, first leg soccer match against Paris Saint-Germain, in Munich, Germany, Monday, April 27, 2026. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Harry Kane arrives for a team training session ahead of a Champions League semi-final, first leg soccer match against Paris Saint-Germain, in Munich, Germany, Monday, April 27, 2026. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's coach Vincent Kompany attends a team training session ahead of a Champions League semi-final, first leg soccer match against Paris Saint-Germain, in Munich, Germany, Monday, April 27, 2026. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

The long wait to stage the British Open again will soon be over for Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

It goes on and on for President Donald Trump's Turnberry course.

The R&A announced its host for the 2028 edition of golf's oldest major on Monday, with Royal Lytham given the honor for the 12th time — and first since 2012.

That year, Ernie Els lifted the claret jug after a shocking collapse by Adam Scott, who made bogey on his last four holes to finish one shot behind.

For Royal Lytham, it will be the second-longest gap between hosting Opens. Some 26 years elapsed between its first — won by the great Bobby Jones in 1926 — and second.

“This is one of golf’s most cherished and historic venues,” R&A chief executive Mark Darbon said, “and the Open’s return to these famous links will spark huge interest among fans to be part of one of the world’s great sporting events and celebrate the rich traditions of golf’s original championship.”

Turnberry hasn't experienced that since 2009, when Tom Watson — at age 59 — lost excruciatingly in a playoff to Stewart Cink. Five years later, Trump bought the resort set along the Ayrshire coast in Scotland across from the Ailsa Craig and the R&A has opted not to go back there, with its former CEO, Martin Slumbers, saying it wouldn't until it was comfortable the topic would be about golf and not the owner.

Last year, Darbon met with Eric Trump and other leaders of Trump Golf and held what the R&A chief described as constructive talks, but said transportation and other issues like infrastructure had to be addressed.

Also shunned for 2028 was Muirfield, among the most historic of the links on the rotation and most recently the British Open host in 2013 when Phil Mickelson won.

Size clearly matters for the R&A, which has preferred larger Open venues in recent years like the Old Course at St. Andrews — the most regular stop on the rotation — and Royal Portrush, which hosted in 2019 and again in 2025 when nearly 280,000 spectators came to the course on the tip of the island of Ireland to watch.

The Open will be played at Royal Birkdale this year and is back in 2027 at St. Andrews, which holds the record weekly attendance of 290,000 in 2022.

The 2028 edition at Royal Lytham will be held later than usual in the year — Aug. 3-6 — so it doesn’t clash with the Olympic tournament at Los Angeles Games that summer.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

FILE - Ernie Els of South Africa reacts after putting on the 18th green with his caddie Ricky Roberts at Royal Lytham & St Annes golf club during the final round of the British Open Golf Championship, Lytham St Annes, England Sunday, July 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, file)

FILE - Ernie Els of South Africa holds the Claret Jug trophy after winning the British Open Golf Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes golf club, Lytham St Annes, England Sunday, July 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Jon Super, file)