Bayern Munich defensive injury crisis is bad news for Manchester United right now

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Manchester United will face Bayern Munich at Old Trafford in the final Champions League group game.

Erik ten Hag‘s Manchester United are not the only team experiencing a defensive injury crisis right now. German champions Bayern Munich have some problems of their own.

Centre-backs Dayot Upamecano and Matthijs De Ligt are out with injuries, putting pressure on a defence which sold Benjamin Pavard in the summer.

German newspaper Bild report Bayern are now even considering a desperate move for 35-year-old free agent Sokratis Papastathopoulos, formerly of Arsenal.

Bad news for Manchester United

While Sokratis would not be eligible to play in the Champions League, this link illustrates how worried Bayern are about their defensive options right now.

Manchester United and Bayern are in the same Champions League group. Bayern won the first game between the two teams 4-3 at the Allianz Arena.

But don’t think these injury problems are good news for Manchester United. It’s the opposite.

Manchester United do not play Bayern Munich again until the final Champions League group game, on December 12.

There is a strong chance these injury problems have all cleared up by then.

Good news for Galatasaray

The team who will stand to benefit from Bayern Munich’s injury troubles are another team in Manchester United’s group, Galatasaray.

Galatasaray pulled off a surprise 3-2 win at Old Trafford, and rank second in the group. They now play Bayern twice.

Probably the best thing at this point is for Bayern to beat Galatasaray in both games, and clinch qualification in time for their trip to Old Trafford.

During this time United can hopefully gain six points from matches against Copenhagen, and overtake Galatasaray.

However, if the Turkish side take points off Bayern and extend their advantage over United, it is not good news for Erik ten Hag’s men.

United have dug a hole with two opening losses, and in addition to picking up positive results being a top priority, the team need a big of fortune with other games going their way too.