Bayern excited for final Champions League game of the year against Shakhtar Donetsk

Bayern are in Champions League action for the final time this year as they play Shakhtar Donetsk on Matchday 6 in the league phase on Tuesday (kick-off at 9pm CET, live coverage on fcbayern.com and in the FC Bayern app with our text commentary and free web radio). The game is being played in Gelsenkirchen, which has been the Ukrainian champions’ home in Europe due to the war in their country. Here’s all you need to know about the match in our preview. 

Recap all of Monday’s build-up to the game:

Latest news from Bayern

Bayern remain on track in the Champions League. Following the defeats away at Aston Villa (1-0) and Barcelona (4-1), the Reds went on to claim 1-0 victories at home to Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain. Those results have seen the Bavarians climb up to 13th in the table, just a point outside the top eight that will mean automatic qualification to the last 16. “We want to finish among the first eight. Our goal is to win our remaining three games. Then we’re quite sure we’ll finish in the top eight,” stated president Herbert Hainer.

“We’re looking forward to the sporting side of things. The important thing is that we’re always dangerous. We’ve been so in every game so far, as the number show,” said Vincent Kompany at his press conference on Monday evening looking ahead to the match. “For us it’s about preparing for the opponent and playing our game so we can have success in the end,” added Konrad Laimer.

Read up on the facts ahead of the game:

Opponent: Shakhtar Donetsk

Shakhtar need results in the Champions League and fast. They’ve earned only four points from their first five games, leaving them down in 26th place, which would mean elimination from the competition. Last time out in Europe they led 2-0 away at PSV Eindhoven until the 87th minute but still ended up losing 3-2. The Ukrainian champions currently sit third in their domestic league, with the gap to leaders Dynamo Kyiv seven points. “Shakhtar have always been a team who play in a very dominant way, with technically good players. I can see that in the current team as well,” Kompany said of the opposition. “The setup of the team is very interesting with a good mix of very talented young players and those with experience from Ukraine, plus there’s always interesting players from Brazil who surprise in Europe.”

Shakhtar won their league game ahead of hosting Bayern:

Team news

Manuel Neuer will miss Tuesday’s game in his hometown after the goalkeeper suffered a broken rib. Bayern are also without Alphonso Davies, Kingsley Coman, Harry Kane (all hamstring), Serge Gnabry (knee), João Palhinha (muscular), Hiroki Ito (metatarsal) and Josip Stanišić (knee), although the latter did train with the team for the first time again on Monday.

Donetsk are missing centre-back Pedro Henrique as he serves a suspension for a red card in Eindhoven.

What the coaches say