Pep to give his battered stars a rest

– Bayern Munich will name a weakened line-up for today’s clash at Bayer Leverkusen with the newly-crowned Bundesliga champions pre-occupied by Wednesday’s Champions League semifinal at Barcelona.

Pep Guardiola has fresh injury concerns with both his top scorers Robert Lewandowski, who has 23 goals this season, and Arjen Robben, who’s scored 19, injured while Leverkusen are unbeaten in their last nine league games.

Lewandowski fractured his cheekbone and suffered concussion in Tuesday’s German Cup semifinal defeat to Borussia Dort-

Berlin

mund while Robben’s season is over after lasting 16 minutes of his comeback before tearing his left calf.

Guardiola was already missing winger Franck Ribery and leftback David Alaba and will rest most of his stars ahead of his first return to the Camp Nou since winning 14 titles in four years as coach of the Spanish giants.

Having reached the German Cup final after losing their last five semifinal appearances, second-placed Wolfsburg host relegation-haunted Hanover 96 whose coach Michael Frontzeck signed a five-match contract to keep them up and is hunting their first win in 14 games.

Dortmund, Wolfsburg’s opponents in Berlin on May 30, are at Hoffenheim in a key battle for European places with just a point separating the teams.

Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp, who is leaving at the end of the season, has described it as a “six-point match” with his team buoyed by Tuesday’s cup victory over Bayern on penalties.

Klopp says the Hoffenheim match has ‘the air of a semifinal’.

“We have had some exceptional moments, but now we’re in Hoffenheim mode,” he said. –