Champions League against Sporting
This team brings Kompany – a surprise on the bench
Updated on December 9, 2025 – 5:47 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Two weeks after their only defeat of the season in London against Arsenal, Bayern are aiming for a victory in the premier class again. The opponent in Munich is Portugal’s champions.
FC Bayern will play its last Champions League game of the year on Tuesday against Sporting Lisbon. The game against Portugal’s soccer champions in Munich’s Allianz Arena will kick off at 6:45 p.m. (in the live ticker on t-online).
Two weeks after their only defeat of the season so far, 3-1 in London against Arsenal FC, the German champions are aiming to stay on course for direct qualification for the round of 16 in the new year with a home win. Coach Vincent Kompany wants to achieve this with this line-up:
Surprisingly in the squad and on the bench initially: Alphonso Davies. He is back eight and a half months after his serious knee injury. The 25-year-old Canadian is back in the record champions’ squad for the first time after a 262-day break.
Davies suffered a torn cruciate ligament while playing for the Canadian national team against the USA on March 23rd. Whether the winger will be used depends on how the game goes. “If the game is as close as I think it is,” Kompany said on Monday, Davies “probably won’t get a minute.”
After the recent 5-0 win in Stuttgart, Kompany rotated again and this time even made seven changes. Captain Manuel Neuer is in Munich’s goal instead of Jonas Urbig. Harry Kane, Jonathan Tah, Aleksandar Pavlović, Josip Stanišić, Serge Gnabry and Lennart Karl also move into the starting eleven. Nicolas Jackson, Min-Jae Kim, Tom Bischof, Raphaël Guerreiro and Leon Goretzka are initially on the bench. Luis Díaz is missing due to a red card.
As third in the league phase in the premier class, Bayern want to get a little closer to direct qualification for the round of 16 with a win against Sporting. In January there are still games against Union Saint-Gilloise on January 21st and at PSV Eindhoven on January 28th.