After Bayern Munich suffered their first Bundesliga loss of the season, Bayern closed out the calendar year with a resounding 5-1 win over RB Leipzig. The winter break provided a relief for players to take a quick holiday to rest their minds and bodies before returning to Säbener Straße.
Picking up right where they left off, Bayern will start the year with a friendly against the Austrian version of the Red Bull family, RB Salzburg. Salzburg is a quick bus ride across the Germany-Austria border. Two years ago, Bayern and Salzburg played out a thrilling 4-4 contest. Bayern remains undefeated against Salzburg in competitive play.
Bayern is currently in first place of the German Bundesliga and 10th place in the Champions League. In a particularly down year, Salzburg is in fifth place of the Austrian Bundesliga and 32nd place in the Champions League.
Team news
Here is the predicted lineup, provided by BFW:
Friendlies are notoriously fickle when it comes to lineups. The main takeaway here is that the regulars will be capped around 30 minutes, regardless of whether they start or enter the match as a substitute.
In the attack, it would be surprising to see a lot of Jamal Musiala (stardom) or Leroy Sané (fragile). Based on his recent conversation with Vincent Kompany, Mathys Tel might play the entire 90 minutes by starting at left wing and moving up to forward to relieve Harry Kane. This will also be a good opportunity for Thomas Müller to play 60-plus minutes to make sure the offense keeps moving, despite the rotating parts.
At midfield, Joshua Kimmich will probably be dragged off the pitch at some point, much to his dismay. Aleksandar Pavlović will play at least a half to get his fitness back to full form, but Kompany has been diligent in bringing him back too fast. Leon Goretzka will provide quality minutes as well.
On the backline, Kompany will need as much time as possible to get Kim Min-jae and Eric Dier on the same page. Dayot Upamecano (yellow card accumulation) will miss next weekend’s match against Gladbach. Alphonso Davies has looked great and might be held out for contractual and injury protection purposes. It’s a delicate situation and there is no current benefit to risking him in the friendly.
From an injury perspective, the entire squad is back on the training ground. However, Hiroki Itō and João Palhinha are still training individually.
Salzburg has played the 4-3-3 for most of the season but has recently experimented with the 4-2-3-1 to find a spark. Overall, Salzburg is a very young team. Israeli attacker Oscar Gloukh leads the team with seven goals and four assists.
Can’t wait for the game to start? Check out our Weekend Warm-Up podcast!
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