Marseille vs Bayern Munich

All eyes will be on Frank Ribery when Bayern Munich visit Marseille's Stade Velodrome in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, as the French winger returns to his former club for the first time since leaving for the German giants five years ago.

The Frenchman, along with the flying Dutchman Arjen Robben and the free-scoring forward Mario Gomez, has been in sublime form and instrumental in Bayern scoring a whopping 20 goals from their last three matches.

Marseille manager Didier Deschamps had previously led an unknown AS Monaco to the finals of Champions League back in 2003 and the fact that Bayern have not been the greatest travelling team in this competition so far, will be in his mind while he plans his strategies.

Marseille have lost nine and drawn three of their last 19 Champions League matches at the Velodrome and are ninth in the French league. So the chances of them playing in Europe next year are slim and even if they manage to find a draw at home tonight, the prospect of playing Bayern at the Allianz Arena in the return leg leaves no room for dreams about reaching the semis.

Deschamps could make a surprise choice in goal by choosing third-choice goalkeeper Elinton Andrade to replace suspended captain Steve Mandanda as the usual backup Gennaro Bracigliano disappointed in last weekend's 3-2 defeat to lower division's Quevilly in the domestic cup.

Central defender Souleymane Diawara has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a cruciate ligament tear and is likely to be replaced by Stephane M'bia. Marseille will be without striker Loic Remy, who is still out injured and Brandao, who scored against Inter, is expected to play upfront.

Bastian Schweinsteiger faces a late fitness test for Bayern and even if the midfielder makes it, he will only start from the bench. So Luiz Gustavo will be the holding midfielder and Tony Kroos will play in the centre in a more attacking role. Breno and former Marseille man Daniel van Buyten are the other absentees for Bayern.

Probable Line-up

Marseille: Andrade; Azpilicueta, M'Bia, N'Koulou, Morel; Diarra, Cheyrou, Amalfitano, Valbuena; Brandao, A Ayew

Bayern Munich: Neuer; Lahm, Boateng, Badstuber, Alaba; Luiz Gustavo, Kroos; Robben, Muller, Ribery; Gomez

Considering the talent and form they have, anything other than a victory for the German club will be a shock result.

The Match will be avaliable live at vslive.tv in the UK and FOXSoccer.tv in the US. You can also stream the game live at firstrowsports.tv.

Bayern Munich Champions League