Van Bommel and Pizarro in line to start

FCBayernNews · News fetcher Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 1240 votes: 2

16.10.2006

Bayern will in all likelihood name an unchanged side from Saturday's 4-2 victory over Hertha Berlin when the German double winners travel to face Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday in the Champions League. Mark van Bommel and Claudio Pizarro, substituted in the course of the weekend clash at the Allianz Arena with minor strains, are expected to be fit for the trip to the Portuguese capital.

"The medical unit reckons they'll have the two of them ready for Wednesday," Bayern boss Felix Magath reported on Sunday following team training at the Säbener Strasse. "I'm assuming both of them will be available for selection."

Precautionary substitutions

Netherlands midfielder van Bommel failed to re-emerge for the second half on Saturday after stretching a hamstring in the first 45 minutes. Pizarro, scorer of Bayern's third against Berlin, came off after an hour "as a precautionary measure," Magath remarked.

"I agreed with [club doctor] Müller-Wohlfahrt at half-time that we'd take Claudio off after 15 minutes, provided the situation permitted the switch," the head coach revealed. The injured regulars could be back in action as early as the squad session on Monday afternoon.

Beware Liedson and Nani, boss warns

Following maximum points from their first two Champions league Group B matches against Spartak Moscow and Internazionale, Munich travel to Lisbon as leaders of the section, ahead of opponents Sporting on four points, followed by the Russians on a single point and the Milanese who have yet to get off the mark.

"They're a young team playing fresh, attacking football," Magath warned ahead of the midweek meeting with Sporting, naming two major threats to his side's perfect record: "Liedson is a potent striker, and Nani is set to go a very long way. In my opinion, he's one of the most interesting young players in Europe."

tracylynn

That's good news about Pizarro and Von Bommel. I was hoping that everything would be ok with them and I'm glad that they're gonna keep the same line-up for the Lisbon game.