Bayern Munich vs SC Freiburg: Lineups, team news, Kingsley Coman back in the squad, and more! (Updated)

It’s a new gameweek and Bayern Munich need a win. The club faces its biggest test yet under Hansi Flick, as the team reels from a shock elimination from the DFB Pokal to 2nd division Holstein Kiel. As far as pick-me-ups go, however, Freiburg aren’t what the doctor ordered. Christian Streich’s team have been in good form lately, so they’re arguably one of the worst teams that you could play at this stage.

Let’s hope Hansi Flick has something planned.

Team news

The good news is that several players who missed the Kiel game are back in action. Kingsley Coman, Leon Goretzka, and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting are all available for the game tomorrow, and at least two of them should expect to start. Tanguy Nianzou however remains sidelined with a hamstring problem, while Marc Roca has yet to climb out of Purgatory because Virgil forgot the way out. Poor man is still stuck down there.

So how about the lineup? Well let’s get the obvious out of the way first — we’ll probably see Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller up top, with Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane supporting them on the wings. I choose Sane here because he seems to be in slightly better form than Serge Gnabry at the moment, but Flick could honestly go for either player.

In midfield, we can finally expect to see Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka start a game together. These two have been separated since Kimmich injury against Borussia Dortmund all the way back in November, so it’ll be a nice change of pace to have the starting midfield back in action. These two better be up for it — the midfield is where many of Bayern’s mistakes have been happening this season. The defense is in a fragile state at the moment, and they need all the help they can get.

Finally, the defense. I’ll be honest, it looks bleak whichever way you cut it. There’s no way to fix Bayern’s current defensive problems with just a change in personnel. The best Hansi Flick can do is maybe get Lucas Hernandez and Niklas Sule out there in the center back position, put Benjamin Pavard at right-back, and hope Alphonso Davies does a good job at left-back. There’s almost no chance that any backline will keep a clean sheet tomorrow, so our best hope is if Manuel Neuer goes Super Saiyan and saves every shot that comes his way.

So, without further ado, here’s what our lineup could look like tomorrow:

Other options:

• Serge Gnabry for Leroy Sane on the wing.
• Jamal Musiala in for Leroy Sane on the wing.
• Jerome Boateng at CB, Niklas Sule to right-back.
• David Alaba at CB, Lucas to LB or the bench.
• Corentin Tolisso in midfield, Joshua Kimmich to right-back.

Update

Here’s what Bild thinks our lineup will be tomorrow:

All of that’s well within our predictions.