FC Rostov vs Bayern Munich Preview: Ancelotti's men looking to keep pace with Atletico

Matchday five in the UEFA Champions League see's Carlo Ancelotti's Bayern Munich side travel to Russia to face FC Rostov, looking to keep pace with table-toppers Atletico Madrid ahead of the big showdown in two weeks time.

Visitors looking to top group

Bayern have already qualified for the knockout stages but sit in second place having taken nine points from their four games which is three points behind Atletico, who they face in the final matchday at home.

The German champions will be hoping to repeat what they did in the reverse fixture at the Allianz Arena in matchday one when they won the game 5-0.

They come into the game though having lost their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season after they lost 1-0 away to Borussia Dortmund at the weekend.

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Hosts looking to cause a massive upset

On the other hand, the hosts come into the game in poor form having only won one of their last seven games in all competitions.

In their latest game they could only manage to draw at Rubin Kazan which means that they sit in fifth position in the Russian Premier League after 14 games.

In Group D, the hosts sit bottom having only taken one point from their four games. They still have something to fight for though with the fact that third place is still up for grabs with PSV Eindhoven also on one point.

Therefore this is a dangerous game for the visitors as they know that if they slip up here then they could come up against one the bigger teams in the next round which is not what they want.

Team News

In terms of injuries ahead of the game, Ivan Daniliants expects to have a fully fit squad to choose from for the game but they are expected to play a defensive formation in order to try and stop the dominant force that the visitors are.

Ancelotti has a few injury concerns to deal with for the game. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will miss the game with a calf injury with Sven Ulreich in line to make his first appearance of the season.

Defender Felix Götze remains out injured while midfielders Kinglsey Coman, Erdal Öztürk, Arjen Robben, Javi Martinez, Fabian Benko and Niklas Dorsch are all out of the game injured.

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