Nurnberg can be expected to make a couple of changes from the side that lost 2-1 to Mainz last week at the Coface Arena. Firstly, Raphael Schafer is back to take up his place in goal and will replace Patrick Rakovsky, but Alexander Stephan is still sidelined with a knee injury.
At the back, Javier Pinola should return in the place of Marvin Plattenhardt, while Hanno Balitsch picked up his fifth booking of the season last week, with Markus Feulner set to step in for him in midfield. However, Almog Cohen, Adam Hlousek and Markus Mendler are all trying to regain fitness.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich have only a couple of absences ahead of the short trip to Stadion Nurnberg. The sole major absence is Jerome Boateng, who missed Germany’s friendly draw with Netherlands with a hamstring problem. Daniel Van Buyten is likely to continue at centre-back in his absence, but Holger Badstuber could also return after missing the last few weeks with a thigh strain.
In midfield, Luiz Gustavo is likely to be preferred to Javi Martinez, who endured a long-haul journey after Spain’s friendly with Panama, but Bastian Schweinsteiger is fit after pulling out of the Germany squad due to illness. Similarly, Toni Kroos should be fine to take his place in attacking midfield behind Mario Mandzukic, while Mario Gomez could make the bench after playing in a midweek friendly, scoring four goals in the process.
- Der Club have won just one of their last eight matches. Their slump has seen them drop to 15th in the table.
- Nurnberg skipper Raphael Schafer played alongside Bayern counterpart Philipp Lahm, and Mario Gomez, during his time at Stuttgart.
- Bayern Munich have not lost to Nurnberg in the Bundesliga since matchday 20 of the 2006-07 season, when they crashed to a 3-0 away loss.
- Die Roten overcame their Bavarian rivals in the 1982 DFB-Pokal final. Current club president Uli Hoeness (pictured, right) scored the final goal in a 4-2 victory.
- Two goals for Claudio Pizarro on Saturday would see the Peruvian climb to ninth on the all-time list of Bundesliga top scorers.