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

Having already beaten Manchester United on matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League, Bayern Munich are set to continue their group stage campaign with a game against FC Copenhagen. The Danish champions are not exactly the best team in the competition, but every single win counts when playing in Europe.

Thomas Tuchel will be eager to erase the lingering taste of disappointment from Saturday’s draw vs Leipzig, and a solid performance on a UCL night goes a long way towards doing that. Still, certain players have been lacking minutes lately — will there be room for rotation?

Team news

Really, before going any further, if you’re looking for a proper breakdown of what’s going wrong with Tuchel, the (frankly appalling) links to Jerome Boateng, the Max Eberl saga, and an in-depth preview of the Copenhagen game, you should absolutely check out our podcast below (or on Spotify).

In terms of injuries, Matthijs de Ligt is still 100% ruled out — no one can say what’s wrong with him, but he’s still suffering from the nondescript knee injury he suffered against Bochum. Otherwise, Bayern Munich are missing Serge Gnabry and (a mostly recovered) Manuel Neuer. This is arguably the fittest the squad has been in months.

So, with that in mind, Tuchel has plenty of options. However, simplicity is usually the name of the game, so we’ll assume that he will go with Harry Kane up top and Jamal Musiala behind him, with Leroy Sané on the right and Kingsley Coman on the left — yes, the same setup that started vs RB Leipzig. Players like Thomas Müller or Mathys Tel could be an option, but the coach may simply prefer to bring them on as substitutes.

The midfield is interesting, because there’s a chance that Raphaël Guerreiro could usurp Leon Goretzka and start next to Joshua Kimmich. Of course this is far from guaranteed, and no one even knows if Guerreiro is fit enough to play 90 minutes yet.

In defense, there will probably be zero changes from the Leipzig game — that means a back four consisting of Alphonso Davies, Kim Min-jae, Dayot Upamecano, and Konrad Laimer. Sven Ulreich likely rounds out the XI by starting in goal.

Here’s what the lineup could be:

Other options:

• Mathys Tel for Kingsley Coman on the left.
• Raphaël Guerreiro for Leon Goretzka in the middle.
• Raphaël Guerreiro for Alphonso Davies at left-back.
• Noussair Mazraoui for Konrad Laimer at right-back.
• Daniel Peretz for Sven Ulreich at keeper.