Thursday 30 August 2007 at 10:02

Bayern Munich are striken with multiple injuries ahead of their Sunday visit to Hamburg.

Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is said to have been consulting physios and a rehab coach even before including players in training this week, suggesting the squad is the significantly understrength in the lead-up to the difficult game, so expect odds on them to drift.

As well as three long-term casualties, who are all in rehab training, notable absentees this week included Jose Sosa (back), Miroslav Klose (knee), Marcell Jansen (ankle), Luca Toni (strain), Hamit Altintop (flu) and Martin Demichelis and Franck Ribery (both calf).

Ribery, the French international, has already missed Tuesday's friendly against Grasshoppers Zurich after taking several hard tackles from Hanover players at the weekend.

If Toni and Klose miss Sunday's trip then Bayern will have to play without their trio of new signings who have brought such verve to the club's attack this season.

Indeed, Bayern currently top the Bundesliga by two points having secured their third league win in a row against Hanover last weekend.
Hitzfeld has denied the club will enter the transfer market to bolster the squad before the trading window closes tomorrow, saying: "I hope we'll make it through to Christmas in good shape with this squad. We should have more options after that, but we’re certain to have a few problems in the meantime."

This doesn't bode well for their performance on Sunday, so spend on fellow fast-starters Hamburg SV, who are currently fifth in the table.

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