Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund: Lineups, team news, Leroy Sane injured, and more! (Updated)

The Bayern Munich bosses clearly thought Hansi Flick had it too easy last season, so this year we’re playing in HARDCORE MODE. Despite having one game every three days, the coach has received virtually no reinforcements, and the injuries are piling up. The short term outlook looks rather bleak at the moment, as Borussia Dortmund will probably be licking their lips at the prospect of facing a battered and bruised Rekordmeister in the Supercup.

Team news

Team news = bad news. Leroy Sane has a capsular injury in his knee and will be out for three to four weeks. David Alaba, meanwhile, is struggling with muscular problems. These are the only two significant injuries for the moment, but given the team’s fatigue situation, two injuries could be more than enough to upset the team balance.

So how’s Hansi Flick gonna line up? Well, does he really have much of a choice? Robert Lewandowski will start up top, with Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman flanking him on the wings. Gnabry has played A LOT of minutes so far, but it can’t be helped — he has no senior backup on the bench. Rounding out the attack will be the evergreen Thomas Muller, who has a bigger tank than the rest of the team. These four will need to make quick work of Dortmund — we really don’t need another 120 minute game.

In midfield, the prospects are depressing. Joshua Kimmich is clearly overworked, but he has to start because there’s no-one like Thiago Alcantara on the bench. Maybe Hansi could pull a Jupp and start Javi Martinez, but it feels unlikely. Leon Goretzka was thankfully rested against Hoffenheim, so we will at least be able to add some much needed pace and dynamism to Bayern’s midfield. They will need it, since with Thiago’s departure, Axel Witsel is arguably the best midfielder left in the league.

The defense is the only area where Hansi Flick has actual options. We’re gonna go with a back four, consisting of Alphonso Davies at left back, Lucas Hernandez and Niklas Sule at center back, and Benjamin Pavard at right back. Lucas and Sule were both rested against Hoffenheim, presumably to rest them for the Supercup — let’s hope the rest pays off against the likes of Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho.

Finally, rounding out the lineup is captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Somehow, I feel like he might be rather busy on Wednesday.

Other options:

• Jerome Boateng instead of Lucas Hernandez at center back.
• Lucas Hernandez at left back instead of Alphonso Davies, Boateng at LCB.
• Jamal Musiala instead of Serge Gnabry.

Update

It appears that Jadon Sancho and Roman Burki are not in Dortmund's squad. This is probably a big blow for Favre.