Robert Lewandowski faces a late fitness test ahead of Bayern Munich’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg with Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Lewandowski, 28, suffered a shoulder injury in Bayern’s 4-1 win against Borussia Dortmund last weekend and on Tuesday did not complete the club’s final training session ahead of the Madrid clash.
The Poland international only trained for 20 minutes on Tuesday morning, and speaking at his prematch news conference, Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti said the forward remains highly doubtful for the clash at the Allianz Arena.
“He feels good but we won’t make a decision on whether he can play until Wednesday,” Ancelotti told reporters. “He won’t play if he’s still in pain. We’ll have to wait and see. I can’t say if he feels better tomorrow.”
Ancelotti says he will not panic even if Lewandowski were to miss the match.
“Whether Lewandowski plays or not won’t affect our strategy or our confidence for the game,” he said.
Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos, meanwhile, says he hopes Lewandowski will be fit to play.
“It’s the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Bayern against Madrid — I would prefer for both teams to have all their players available,” Kroos told reporters. “We have injuries at the moment [too], but I hope Bayern play with their best XI. I like challenges and we are Real Madrid and do not have to look for such things.”
Kroos played 130 Bundesliga games for Bayern between 2007 and 2014, scoring 13 goals while also winning the 2013 Champions League, before making a €30 million move to Madrid in 2014.
The Germany international said he was happy with how things have worked out at Madrid, with whom he also won the Champions League in 2016.
“It was something big for me to move abroad,” he said. “This summer I will be three years at Madrid. It was a good decision. It has brought me to very good places in my career, having integrated in Madrid, learned the language, lived up to the demands at such a big club. That is something very good of course. But we are here to have success and I hope tomorrow I am leaving with a good result.”
Kroos said Madrid would be able to find space to play against Bayern, adding that their style of play had changed since former coach Pep Guardiola left last summer.
“Of course I know Bayern more than other teams, that is normal,” he said. “The philosophy of Bayern depends on the coach, so it is a bit different than the past. Bayern are going to look to start fast, to press high up in the early stages of the game, if not over the 90 minutes as they did with Guardiola. At times they’ll drop deeper and that’ll create spaces for us. They will try to have a lot of possession of the ball. Tactically it is something we will have to find a response to.”
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