Defender Alphonso Davies could be in line to make his first return from a heart problem that had sidelined him for over three months when Bayern Munich take on Villarreal in the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, head coach Julian Nagelsmann has said.
The Canadian has been sidelined since early January after being diagnosed with a minor heart condition following a COVID-19 infection. He last played in a competitive game on Dec. 17, 2021 but could be in the starting line-up on Wednesday.
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"He will be coming with us," Nagelsmann told a news conference prior to the team's departure for Spain on Tuesday.
"His last test was very positive. So he will travel with us and he could start tomorrow but we will have to see today and tomorrow. But it is possible."
Bayern, who are top of the Bundesliga and unbeaten in the Champions League this season, are the clear favourites going into the tie after the Spanish side suffered a shock 2-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Levante in LaLiga on Saturday.
Nagelsmann warned that could make them especially dangerous in the European competition.
"If you listen to the words of [Villarreal coach] Unai Emery then the Champions League is for him something of a bonus," Nagelsmann said.
"They are totally below expectations in the league and are in seventh place and now they lost to Levante. They know they have to qualify for Europe next season and cannot assume they will win the Champions League.
"So I think they will be pretty free in the way they will play against us. They will not have the pressure that we will have but my players can handle that because we have to live up to our [favourites] role," he said.
Nagelsmann said Villarreal, who won the Europa League last season, were by no means a team to be underestimated at this stage of the competition.
"Villarreal have a coach with a lot of experience at winning on the international stage. The team are very experienced and we will need to figure out how to break them down," he said.
The return leg is in Munich on April 12.