Dynamo Kyiv vs Bayern Munich: Lineups, team news, a super-depleted squad, and more! (Updated)

Dynamo Kyiv may not be the best team in the world, but as Augsburg proved, you don’t need a billion-dollar squad to beat Bayern Munich. Julian Nagelsmann faces the challenge of continuing his winning streak in the Champions League with a severely depleted squad, for reasons that have been covered extensively.

Safe to say, it’s not a comfortable position to be in.

Team news

There’s bad news, and then there’s worse news. The bad news is that Niklas Sule, Josip Stanisic, Joshua Kimmich, Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, and Michael Cuisance will all miss the game due to quarantine measures. The worse news is that Kingsley Coman and Marcel Sabitzer are both carrying small injuries, which makes them doubtful for the game. With Dayot Upamecano also suspended, Nagelsmann is going to have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to field a proper squad against Kyiv.

In the attack, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller will likely start up top, with Leroy Sane supporting them from the left-wing. If Coman ends up being fit he should start on the other flank — if not, then Bayern II youngster Malik Tillmann has traveled with the team and could get his Champions League debut.

The midfield will probably consist of Leon Goretzka and Corentin Tolisso, with the Frenchman given the daunting task of filling in for Joshua Kimmich. It’s unlikely that anything good will come out of this, but they’re the only midfielders we have left. Roca? Who’s Roca?

The defense is going to be rather makeshift, given the absences of Upamecano and Sule. Tanguy Nianzou can expect his second consecutive start in the UCL, playing alongside Lucas Hernandez in the center. Alphonso Davies should also make the XI, though don’t expect him to play the full 90. Benjamin Pavard rounds out the backline, who will be supported by Manuel Neuer in goal.

Here’s what the starting XI should look like. Will it be enough to beat Kyiv?

Update

Here’s what Bild thinks the lineup will be:

By the way, we happen to have a podcast for all things Bayern Munich. This week, we didn’t preview the Kyiv game separately, but lumped it together with our full-length pod episode! Why not check it out?

As always, thanks for listening! Also, let us know if you prefer Spotify or Megaphone as the article embed — we usually use Megaphone, but the Spotify one looks pretty nice too.