Introducing Leopold Zingerle, Bayern Munich's Backup for Manuel Neuer

Manuel Neuer withdrew from the Germany squad on Saturday with a knee injury that will rule him out of Tuesday's friendly match with Spain. Since the announcement of his ailment, there has been no prognosis on the status of the World Cup winner, leaving Bayern Munich to sweat over their goalkeeping situation ahead of Saturday's match against Hoffenheim.

Under ordinary circumstances, Bayern would be well stocked with qualified backups for Neuer. Tom Starke was a starting Bundesliga goalkeeper for most of his career prior to joining Bayern. And summer signing Pepe Reina is a more than qualified backup, having served as a deputy to Iker Casillas during Spain's dominance of international football between 2008 and 2012.

The current situation is far from ordinary, however, with both Reina and Starke unavailable. Neither has played a minute of competitive football this season, but the Spaniard sustained a calf injury during a friendly match in October before a syndesmosis injury left the German in need of surgery.

Situations like the present one are the very reason why Bayern have a reserve team. And although FCB II goalkeepers Ivan Lucic and Andreas Rossl are also sidelined with injuries, Leopold Zingerle is a possible deputy should Neuer be ruled out of Saturday's match.

A Bayern player from his youth, 20-year-old Zingerle was promoted to the under-17 team in 2009. At the end of a 2010-11 season, during which he kept  10 clean sheets and conceded just 13 goals in 20 matches (per Transfermarkt), the goalkeeper was promoted to Bayern's under-19 side and played in two of the club's final three fixtures of the campaign.

The following season saw Zingerle start all but two games for the Bayern under-19s in the South/Southwest region. He also featured in goal as Bayern reached the final of the combined under-19 championship before being bested by Schalke.

Zingerle made the next step in his progress in the 2012-13 campaign and was promoted to the Bayern reserves. After conceding 15 goals in 17 appearances, however, he was demoted to the under-19 side for the second half of the campaign. With Bayern's youth team, he again qualified for the under-19 championship, although Hansa Rostock got the better of the Bavarians in the semifinal.

Zingerle was once again promoted to the Bayern reserves in 2013-14 but served primarily as Lukas Raeder's backup. He managed just 10 appearances last season, scarcely over a quarter of the fixtures Bayern II played. Fortune has played in his favor in the current campaign, however, with Rossl and Lucic both injured and Raeder having left the club for Portuguese side Vitoria de Setubal in the summer.

Now 20 years of age, Zingerle is more mature than in previous seasons and has led the Bayern reserves to third place in the Regionalliga Bayern. He's featured in all but six games (he's often been needed with the first team) and Bayern II have struggled in his absence, losing two and winning just three of the fixtures for which he was not available.

Zingerle has made a step up on average every two years since joining the under-17s. He's now due to be promoted again, although he faces tough competition with three experienced players ahead of him in the senior squad and further competition in the reserves.

A near-perfect storm of injuries to his teammates saw the 20-year-old on the bench for the Champions League quarterfinals in the spring. Now, seven months later and as the only fit goalkeeper among Bayern's first and second teams, Zingerle is again in prime position to make his professional debut.