Bayern’s promising Salzburg starting eleven – De Ligt is out
FC Bayern is playing its only friendly this winter this Friday. The opponent RB Salzburg was not chosen without reason.
Painful block: Matthijs de Ligt has to pause first.
IMAGO/MIS
At the training camp in Qatar, Julian Nagelsmann watched some video material about upcoming Bundesliga opponents RB Leipzig, but not just about him. He also looks at scenes from RB Salzburg. Although FC Bayern is “only” playing a friendly against the Austrian champions this Friday (6 p.m., LIVE! on kicker) in Munich, it is a special one: Bayern’s only one during this long winter break.
“It’s about setting the course for the Friday after next,” when a “top competitor” is waiting in Leipzig, Nagelsmann said on Thursday in Doha. Salzburg had already been selected because of the “connection between our next two opponents”. In other words, one RB should ideally simulate the other.
Forced break for de light, but “nothing structural happens”
Bayern’s starting eleven will fail meaningfully. “Because we only have one test game, we take it as an almost full game for those who are currently ahead,” announced Nagelsmann. Therefore “not everyone will get the same playing time”, Keller is planning a 60:30 model with rotation only in the second round.
In addition to the many medium and long-term injuries around Manuel Neuer, Lucas Hernandez, Sadio Mané, Noussair Mazraoui and Bouna Sarr, Matthijs de Ligt will also be missing. According to Nagelsmann, the central defender twisted his ankle during training when he blocked a shot and suffered a swollen ankle. “But nothing structural happened there, we took a picture.”
Blind “will play of course”
The rest of the battered that accumulated in the final Doha days are arguably ready for action. Leon Goretzka was “okay again” after thigh problems, Vice World Champion Kingsley Coman had to be “controlled” a little after his “abrupt entry”, and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting’s paranasal sinuses had reported in the meantime. However, there was no new serious failure in Doha.
Daley Blind will certainly get his first minutes in the Bayern jersey. “Of course he will play,” Nagelsmann said of the 32-year-old newcomer from Ajax Amsterdam. “He still needs time because, according to him, the training intensity is a bit higher.” But “in general you can see that he has a lot of experience”.