Mario Gotze and Medhi Benatia Await Carlo Ancelotti in Football Purgatory

Bayern Munich rebounded from their midweek draw with Juventus by beating Wolfsburg 2-0 on Saturday. It was the Bundesliga leaders' third consecutive victory in league play and put pressure on Borussia Dortmund, who play later on Sunday, as Bayern opened a 11-point lead atop the German league table.

The return to fitness of Mario Gotze and especially Medhi Benatia were expected to be hugely useful to injury-hit Bayern, yet curiously, neither played any role in the Wolfsburg match. And Saturday's 90-minute bench-warming session was no anomaly for either player.

Since returning to full team training, Benatia has played a total of 16 minutes: He was left out of the matchday squad to face Darmstadt last weekend, benched against Wolfsburg, and came on as a late substitute against Juventus.

Gotze returned to training in early February but was left out of the squad to face Leverkusen, Augsburg and Bochum for lack of fitness. But in three games since, he hasn't even seen a minute off the bench.

Both players appear second choice at best for Pep Guardiola. In Benatia's case, it's rather bizarre; serious injuries to Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez forced Bayern to, with Benatia also sidelined, sign Serdar Tasci as emergency cover in central defense. Holger Badstuber has since joined the injured list, so the return of Benatia would have appeared to be a big boost. Yet Guardiola's apparent unwillingness to give the Moroccan playing time suggests Benatia is not part of his plans, even as Bayern prepare for the crucial second leg of their Champions League clash with a very physical Juventus side.

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Ahead of the Juve clash, Guardiola admitted his side's weakness against the Italians' aerial threat: "Juventus will be dangerous at set-pieces. They have a lot of big players. We have [Joshua] Kimmich," he told reporters (h/t Daily Mail), pointing out the 1.76-meter midfielder.

It could be said that Benatia was not 100 percent a week ago. It could be claimed that he was benched against Juventus because, lacking match practice, it would have been riskier to play him even than using an undersized midfielder like Kimmich. Yet with an eight-point lead atop the Bundesliga table and facing an injury-ravaged Wolfsburg side, it's hard to see any reason for Guardiola to have benched Benatia other than the trainer actually preferring to play without his natural center-back. If he had any intention to bring Benatia back into the starting lineup for the big matches to come, he would have given the Moroccan some match practice. It seems, however, that the trainer is committed to using the undersized Kimmich and David Alaba as his central defense pair, at least until Martinez returns to fitness.

Similarly, if Guardiola had any desire to use Gotze, he would have played the former Borussia Dortmund man at some point in the last few weeks. Against Wolfsburg, all three of his substitutes were used on attacking players: Arjen Robben, Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman. He easily could have brought on Gotze in the Germany international's favored central playmaking role. Yet Gotze remained on the bench as he has for weeks now, his last game for Bayern coming in October, when he had a goal and assist against his former BVB.

For such star players in their prime as Gotze and Benatia, the status quo at present would in most circumstances spell a summer departure. Yet with Guardiola leaving for Manchester City at season's end, incoming coach Carlo Ancelotti may well have different plans for Gotze and Benatia. For the time being, though, it appears that Guardiola is committed to his plans, meaning a strange and uncomfortable sort of limbo for Gotze and Benatia.

@Mr_Bundesliga