Bayern Munich and Shakhtar Donetsk meet in the Ukraine for the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 match, and Pep Guardiola has rolled out an interesting lineup.
Bayern Munich’s lineup to face Shakhtar Donetsk is very weird
We’re not completely sure what Pep Guardiola is doing, but presumably it’ll work.
Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Bayern will begin the match with a single central defender on the pitch, which means they're probably playing three at the back with Rafinha and David Alaba on either side of Jerome Boateng. If that holds true, Bayern is likely playing in a 3-4-3 formation with Xabi Alonso sitting deep and Bastian Schweinsteiger in a more forward role behind the attack trio of Robben, Götze and Müller.
Mircea Lucescu’s side looks to be in their fairly typical 4-2-3-1 formation, without any particularly shocking lineup changes. The team hasn’t played a competitive match since their 1–1 draw against FC Porto on the final match day of the group stages. They should be rested, but rust could be an issue.
Bayern Munich (3-4-3): Manuel Neuer; Rafinha, Jérôme Boateng, David Alaba; Xabi Alonso, Franck Ribery, Juan Bernat, Bastian Schweinsteiger; Arjen Robben, Thomas Müller, Mario Götze.
Shakhtar Donestk (4-2-3-1): Andriy Pyatov; Darijo Srna, Oleksandr Kucher, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Vyacheslav Shevchuk; Fred, Fernando; Douglas Costa, Alex Teixeira, Taison; Luiz Adriano.
See More:
