BAYERN MUNICH HOPE FOR KEY PLAYERS TO RETURN BEFORE RB LEIPZIG CLASH

A comfortable midweek outing against Preußen Münster saw Bayern Munich advance to the second round of the DFB-Pokal. However, with all three established centre-backs being ruled out injured, Thomas Tuchel was left to conjure up a makeshift centre-back partnership between Leon Goretzka and Noussair Mazraoui.

While the pair were able to keep a clean sheet against their third tier opponents, an upcoming bout against RB Leipzig on Saturday certainly offers Die Rekordmeister far more competition. Therefore, Tuchel will be hopeful of seeing some of his key players return to the side.

While Matthijs de Ligt will be sidelined until early October, Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund revealed that Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae could return for Saturday: “We hope that Upa and Min-jae will return. That is our great hope!”

With the pair looking to resume training on Thursday, Bayern can look forward to being able to name a significantly more solid backline. As well as this, there is belief within the Bayern camp that Thomas Müller will be able to feature against Die Roten Bullen.

Despite the memory of the DFL-Supercup undoubtedly lingering within the Bayern dressing room, having so many key players return to the side will provide Die Rekordmeister with a much needed confidence boost as they look to maintain pole position in the Bundesliga.