Unbeaten Danks takes Bayern to Atlético with four attackers out and Olise in doubt

Aaron Danks has yet to lose in three games as Bayern Munich's stand-in coach, but his first Champions League match in charge, at Atlético Madrid on Tuesday, comes with four attackers ruled out and winger Michael Olise waiting on a fitness test.

Danks, the assistant coach, took over after head coach Vincent Kompany collapsed during a reserve-team training session on Friday 23 October. Kompany was expected to be out for weeks, and Danks said on 27 October that there was no return date. Since then Bayern have won 3-1 at Freiburg, beaten Magdeburg 6-1 in the German Cup and drawn 2-2 with Borussia Dortmund: 11 goals scored, four conceded. The draw left Bayern level with Dortmund on 18 points at the top of the Bundesliga, ahead on goal difference (+19 to +8).

The Dortmund draw lengthened the injury list

Bayern striker Harry Kane missed a penalty and the team hit the woodwork four times in the Klassiker, Germany's name for the Bayern-Dortmund game, Bavarian broadcaster BR24 reports. Dortmund's Fábio Silva equalised in the 89th minute. "I can tell the players that the performance was spot on. We did a lot right," Danks said afterwards. Sporting director Max Eberl told ARD it was an expensive draw for Bayern.

The four absentees are Ismael Saibari, Serge Gnabry, Luis Díaz and Jamal Musiala. Saibari tore the syndesmosis ligament in his right ankle and has been operated on; the Munich daily Abendzeitung reports he will be out for at least three months, back in February. Serge Gnabry has a muscle injury at the back of his left thigh, which the Abendzeitung puts at four to six weeks. Luis Díaz is out until well into November with a small tear in the back of his left thigh, and Jamal Musiala is still rehabilitating a muscle-fibre tear from September.

Olise was taken off in the 84th minute. L'Équipe, quoted by the German site sport.de, reports that he had treatment on his right knee on Sunday and that the injury is not serious; a final medical test on Monday will decide whether he travels to Madrid. Bayern are not expected to take a risk with him if he is not fully fit. If he misses out, the Abendzeitung counts five of Bayern's seven attackers absent, leaving only Kane, the new Ballon d'Or winner, and 18-year-old Lennart Karl. It expects Alphonso Davies on the left wing and Nathaniel Brown as the playmaker, with Karl on the right.

In goal, the website Goal reports that Manuel Neuer, who has missed three games with a foot tendon problem, answered a question about Atlético with "I hope", and that his deputy Jonas Urbig, hit on the head by Dortmund's Carney Chukwuemeka, is being monitored for concussion symptoms.

What Danks says

Danks told a press conference, as BR24 reported, that he understood the questions about the injuries but saw an exciting game ahead. Squad depth counts now, he said, and other players have to show themselves in what he called a special opportunity. Eberl was quoted by the Abendzeitung as saying that, honestly, what is happening around the team already feels a bit heavy. He added that the team has to be very resilient and has been so far.

The opponent and the table

Atlético are unbeaten in nine competitive games, BR24 notes, but sit 16th in the league phase on four points, a point behind Bayern in 14th on five (one win, two draws, 10 goals scored, five conceded). UEFA's matchday notes add that Atlético have not lost at home to Bayern in three meetings (two wins, a draw) and are unbeaten in 16 home matches against Bundesliga clubs, a run that began after a defeat by Dortmund in 1996/97.

Six clubs are level on six points from eighth to 13th, so a win would take Bayern to eight points, two more than that group has now; the top eight go straight into the last 16. Mainz away on Saturday 7 November follows, then the international break, and BR24 counts ten matches in seven weeks before the winter break.