Skip to main content

Bayern star Lewandowski to miss Celtic clash

Bayern Munich's striker Robert Lewandowski reacts during the Champions League group B match against Celtic Glasgow in the stadium in Munich, southern Germany, on October 18, 2017 © Provided by AFP Bayern Munich's striker Robert Lewandowski reacts during the Champions League group B match against Celtic Glasgow in the stadium in Munich, southern Germany, on October 18, 2017

Celtic were handed a boost ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match at home to Bayern Munich as the Germans' star striker Robert Lewandowski was ruled out by injury.

The 29-year-old hot-shot injured his left thigh in the first half of Bayern's 2-0 win over RB Leipzig on Saturday and stayed in Munich when the squad flew to Scotland on Monday.

Lewandowski is Bayern's top scorer this season with 13 goals.

Second-placed Bayern need a win in Glasgow to keep the pressure on Group B leaders Paris Saint-Germain, who are three points clear at the top, while Celtic are third.

Head coach Jupp Heynckes had hoped Lewandowski would be able to play at Parkhead but took the decision to rest the Poland international ahead of Saturday's Bundesliga clash at Borussia Dortmund.

"If we were playing against Real Madrid, he might have gone, but Saturday's game is in the back of our minds, which is very important for us," he said.

Heynckes will have to improvise in attack against the Scottish champions, who equalled their own 100-year-old British record at the weekend by extending their unbeaten domestic run to 62 matches.

Forwards Thomas Mueller and Franck Ribery are out for Bayern with hamstring and knee injuries respectively.

Reserve striker Kwasi Okyere Wriedt is not registered for the Champions League, which means Under-19 striker Manuel Wintzheimer has been added to the squad for Glasgow.

After Lewandowski limped off before half-time on Saturday, Heynckes used Thiago Alcantara, Arturo Vidal and James Rodriguez in attack in the second half against Leipzig with limited success.

- 'Magnitude of the test' -

Heynckes -- who guided Bayern to the treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup in 2012/13 before being replaced by Pep Guardiola -- said he had a solution to the striking problem but it would not be Vidal.

"There might be a possibility of playing 4-4-2 but we will make that decision tomorrow," said Heynckes at the eve-of-match press conference.

"Every team faces difficulties with injuries, many other teams in the Champions League experience the same but we find solutions.

"While Arturo (Vidal) is very fast and very good up front I have a different plan for tomorrow.

"I have not worked often with Wintzheimer, I don't know him well enough and, as I said before, there might be some other solutions," added the 72-year-old.

French winger Kingsley Coman has been declared fit after an injury lay-off, but goalkeeper Manuel Neuer remains sidlelined long-term with a fractured foot.

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has injury worries of his own.

Right-winger Patrick Roberts picked up a knock in Saturday's 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock which rules him out against Bayern. James Forrest is set to take over.

"It looks like a hamstring so we'll get a scan on that. I'd suggest he'd probably be out for a few weeks," said the Celtic boss.

"It's unfortunate but the squad's there to cope."

Rodgers, whose side lost 3-0 to Bayern in Germany a fortnight ago, said Celtic would have enough to worry about even with Lewandowski and Mueller absent.

"Those two players, of course, will be a miss for them but they have some very good players behind that to come in like James Rodriguez, who came in and scored in one of the last few games," said Rodgers.

"They are a talented team, they have been put together to win this competition so we know the magnitude of the test but it is one that we will relish."

Popular posts from this blog

Apple named ‘most innovative’ company by a magazine

© Provided by IBT US Apple has just been named as the “Most Innovative” company of 2018 by a business magazine. The reasons cited why the Cupertino giant emerged triumphant on the list included the company’s ability to design processors that are optimized for its latest hardware and software.  Fast Company published Tuesday its list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies 2018 in the consumer electronics sector and Tim Cook’s company was the one that snagged the top spot. The publication indicated in the list that the main reason why Apple ranked the highest was because it produced the “phone of the future” for today’s market.  The magazine also published a lengthy explanation on why Apple is worth the “most innovative” title this year. According to Fast Company, the Cupertino giant had a notable 2017 due to the stellar performances of the wireless AirPods and the Apple Watch Series 3 and the launch of its own AR platform, ARKit, as well as the release of the outst...

Tesla cloud account hacked to mine cryptocurrency

© Provided by The Hill An unidentified outside hacker infiltrated Tesla's Amazon cloud account and used its systems to quietly mine for cryptocurrencies, a cybersecurity firm announced Tuesday. The hack also potentially exposed the electric car company's data. Researchers for RedLock found that Tesla's credentials on an IT administrative console were not password protected. They made the discovery while trying to track down which organizations had left their Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials openly exposed on the internet last month. The hackers quietly hijacked the console and began running scripts to generate virtual currency like bitcoin, the latest in a series of "cryptojacking" attacks. The researchers also found the hackers used "sophisticated evasion measures" to go undetected. A spokesperson for Tesla said the company learned about the breach in a company-sanctioned bug bounty program that pays outside hackers to discover vulnerabilitie...

You can pay at a restaurant by smiling at a camera

© Provided by Engadget As easy as it is to make purchases in the era of tap-to-pay services , it's about to get easier still. Alipay (which handles purchases for Chinese shopping giant Alibaba) has launched what it says is the first payment system that uses facial recognition to complete the sale. If you visit one of KFC's KPRO restaurants in Hangzhou, China, you can pay for your panini or salad by smiling at a camera-equipped kiosk -- you need to verify the purchase on your phone, but you don't have to punch in digits or bring your phone up to an NFC reader. The system (Smile to Pay) is purportedly resistant to spoofing with photos and other tricks. It relies on both depth-sensing cameras and a "likeness detection algorithm" to make sure it's really you. Reportedly, the technology is good enough that it can accurately identify people even when they're disguising themselves through makeup or wigs. You shouldn't have to worry about someone buying ...