Facing Bremen, Munich Without Choupo-Moting and Stanisic

Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich will be without injured striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and defender Josip Stanisic when they visit Werder Bremen on Saturday (6/5/2023), coach Thomas Tuchel has said.

The Bavarians are currently one point clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund with four games remaining of the season, already without the injured Alphonso Davies, Dayot Upamecano and Lucas Hernandez and the suspended Leon Goretzka.

“He felt his knee and it caused discomfort,” said Tuchel of the injury that has plagued Choupo-Moting.

“It’s only a matter of days (until he returns) and hopefully it will stay that way but we can’t say for sure. It’s been dragging on longer than originally thought.”

Stanisic picked up a muscle injury in training this week.

“He will be out for about two weeks but two weeks at this stage is a lot and the number of games doesn’t add up. This is a very down squad,” he told a news conference. “We may need to add some reserves to the squad.”

Bayern, who have won one of their last three league games, must not slip again, said Tuchel, if they are to win the only trophy remaining this season to extend their record-breaking 11th straight league crown.

“We still have room for improvement, to take the team to the limit and keep it going for a few weeks or months longer,” added Tuchel, who replaced the sacked Julian Nagelsmann at the end of March.

Bayern have since been knocked out of the German Cup and Champions League, while their rocky Bundesliga run in recent weeks has made it their closest title fight in years.

“We want to make less mistakes, attack and score lots of goals,” said the former Chelsea and Paris St Germain coach.

“We have to increase the pace but it makes no sense to philosophize about it. Today we have to be ready and tomorrow we have to be ready. That’s the most important thing.”

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