FC Köln vs. Bayern Munich: Lineups, team news, injuries, and more!

Bayern Munich and FC Köln will hook up for some friendly action on Saturday (10AM EST) and Julian Nagelsmann will be working with a stripped down squad to kick off his career at MS Technologie-Arena.

Luminaries like Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, Leroy Sane, Manuel Neuer, Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman, Jamal Musiala, Niklas Süle, Benjamin Pavard, Leon Goretzka, Corentin Tolisso, and Joshua Kimmich will not be available, while Lucas Hernandez and Alphonso Davies are both out with injuries.

Simply put, this is not your father’s Bayern Munich.

Regardless, the squad will be raring to go against the Billy Goats.

As you can see, the lineup is nothing short of a Bayern Munich Frankenstein. Some parts do not exactly fit, but for this match, it will have to work.

I’m expecting Sven Ulreich to start at goalkeeper, while the back-four should be okay — unless Sarr and Nianzou have some sort of knocks that we have not heard about (they did leave practice prematurely earlier this week).

The midfield should feature Taylor Booth and Michaël Cuisance, who will try to fill the box-to-box shoes of Goretzka. Cuisance is just one of a couple “iffy” selections for his role on the day. You might be wondering how I could leave Marc Roca out of the XI...well, here’s how:

Roca could be completely healthy, but missing the final training session is usually not a good sign for availability the next day.

Zirkzee should get the nod at striker (Bayern Munich is likely hoping to showcase Zirkzee and Cuisance for prospective buyers), while Armindo Sieb and Malik Tillman will start on the wings. Sieb has played as a wing on occasion, while Tillman will have to push outside of his “centrally based” comfort zone.

Christopher Scott was born in Köln and should get the start at the “10.”