By Sean Walsh
Bayern Munich head coach Thomas Tuchel has backed Serge Gnabry to score on his return from injury in their Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid.
Madrid travel to the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night for the first leg of their semi-final, with the hosts looking to salvage their season after losing out on the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen.
Bayern have had to contend with an injury list that has plagued many of their star players, with Gnabry recently dealing with a muscle problem.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Tuchel gave an update on Bayern's walking wounded and revealed his confidence that the returning Gnabry will be on the scoresheet against Madrid.
"With [Dayot] Upamecano, [Matthijs] de Ligt, [Konrad] Laimer, we are analysing their follow-up. We have to wait. We will see after training," Tuchel began.
"Serge Gnabry will score tomorrow. It will happen. I don't know how I know, but it will happen."
Gnabry's stop-start season has seen him register five goals and one assist in 17 games for Bayern, with much of his 2023/24 campaign hindered by muscle injuries and a fracture to his forearm. He has hit double figures of goals in all of his previous five seasons at Bayern but is running out of time to reach that landmark again.
Tuchel's comments regarding Gnabry were put to Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti in his own pre-match press conference, and the Italian was asked who he thinks is likely to score out from his own squad.
"Well, I can say that Vinicius [Junior] has more chances to score than [Ferland] Mendy!" Ancelotti replied.
After facing off on Tuesday, Bayern and Madrid will reconvene at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday May 8 for the second leg. The winner of the tie will face Paris Saint-Germain or Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley on June 1.
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This article was originally published on 90min.com as Thomas Tuchel names Bayern Munich player who will score against Real Madrid.
