Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Pep Guardiola without key quartet for final Bayern Munich game of 2014

Bayern Munich will be without another quartet of players in their last match of 2014 at Mainz on Friday night, with Robert Lewandowski, Xabi Alonso, Medhi Benatia and Sebastian Rode all out with minor injuries.

In 16 Bundesliga games Bayern have gathered 42 points, and are set to break the record for points collected at the end of a calendar year (44).

Last season, Bayern claimed 44 points but only played 16 games, with their final league match of 2013 postponed because of their participation in the FIFA Club World Cup.

However, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola will be without more key players in their last match, and is already missing the likes of David Alaba, Philipp Lahm, Javi Martinez and Thiago Alcantara.

"These are factors you wouldn't wish on yourself," the club's sporting executive Matthias Sammer was quoted as saying by the official website. "But I am sure everybody who's available will give their all once again."

Arjen Robben echoed that sentiment, saying: "It looks like they're all dropping out, with one after the other getting injured. But we'll dig deep. We'll field a good team that will give 100 percent to win the game."

Guardiola added that he does not plan on allowing second placed Wolfsburg, who host Cologne on Saturday, to make a dent in Bayern's 11-point lead before their meeting in the first match after the winter break.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't try to win the game in Mainz too. That's what I'm looking for from my team," Guardiola told his final pregame news conference of the year. "We have a huge opportunity to go into the winter break with a big lead."

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