BAYERN MUNICH have had little time to recover from a bruising top of the table encounter at the weekend before playing one of their biggest games in Europe in recent seasons tonight.
Barcelona visit Munich's Olympic Stadium for the first leg of a UEFA Cup semi final just three days after the Bavarians beat reigning German champions Borussia Dortmund 1-0 in their toughest Bundesliga clash of the season.
Bayern, who hold the record for winning the German championship, are bidding to bring a European trophy back to Munich for the first time in 20 years. The Dortmund game could not have come at a worse time.
Saturday's victory put Bayern at the top of the table. But it was a hard game which saw an array of yellow cards and an ugly incident at the end when Bayern midfielder Mehmet Scholl hit Dortmund's Swiss striker Stephane Chapuisat in the face.
Bayern look like being without their talented Swiss midfielder Ciriaco Sforza who has a fever. German international midfielder Thomas Strunz is also doubtful because of a nerve problem in his back and a groin injury.
Barcelona have problems in defence. Johan Cruyff's team will be without internationals Miguel Angel Nadal, Sergi Barjuan and Abelardo Fernandez, who are all suspended.
Overlapping full back Albert Ferrer is likely to play despite a minor muscle strain but he is the only natural defender in a Barcelona squad that includes five foreigners.
Both Bosnian striker Meho Kodro and club captain Jose Maria Bakero are rested after serving domestic suspensions during Saturday's 1-0 away win at Albacete.
In the other semi final Slavia Prague hope to use the unseasonably cold weather to their ad vantage when they host Bordeaux.
Slavia have been playing in freezing conditions for the last four weeks and snow flurries are forecast for today, with temperatures of minus five degrees Celsius.
The Czech league leaders, who upset Roma in the quarter finals, may be without attacker Vladimir Smicer who was injured last week playing for the Czech Republic under 21 side. Defenders Jan Suchoparek and Martin Penicka are both suspended for one game.
Bordeaux entered the UEFA Cup only by means of the Inter Toto competition and are a modest 14th in the French league. But their confidence is high after they overturned a two goal deficit to stun AC Milan in the previous round and become the first team since 1978 to beat the Italians by three goals in a European match.
Striker Christophe Dugarry who netted two second half goals in that upset, again leads the Bordeaux attack.
