Bayern Munich vs Slovan Bratislava Prediction: Kim to cash in for Kompany’s corner kings

Bayern Munich and Slovan Bratislava end their Champions League league phase campaigns at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday (20:00, TNT Sports 7), but the European journey doesn't end there for one, with the 15th-placed German giants assured of a knockout phase play-off spot. However, Vincent Kompany's side could still sneak into the top eight and book a ticket straight to the last 16, but they will need to beat the pointless Slovakians (35th) and hope other results go their way.

Below is my Bayern Munich vs Slovan Bratislava prediction, alongside all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Bayern Munich full-back Alphonso Davies missed Saturday's 2-1 Bundesliga win over Freiburg and is expected to be out until mid-March with a hamstring injury. The Canadian joins Japanese defender Hiroki Ito (foot) in the treatment room, and Dayot Upamecano, who was also ruled out on the weekend with an unspecified problem, is doubtful of making his return to action on Wednesday.

Stand-in goalkeeper Daniel Peretz suffered a kidney contusion in training earlier this month and remains sidelined while third-choice shot-stopper Sven Ulreich is suspended after being shown a red card for dissent from the bench last week against Feyenoord. Luckily for Kompany, number one Manuel Neuer is fit and able to take his place between the sticks.

Konrad Laimer, meanwhile, returns to the fold after serving a domestic suspension.

Football Odds

Slovan Bratislava will be without experienced midfielder Juraj Kucka (knee) and Swiss forward Adler (shin), who both missed last Tuesday's 3-1 defeat to another German side, Stuttgart.

Idjessi Metsoko came off the bench to strike against the Bundesliga club in Bratislava so the 22-year-old has put himself in contention to start against Bayern, while 31-year-old attacker Tigran Barseghyan, who has struck once in the league phase, will expect to earn a promotion from the bench.

Bayern Munich vs Slovan Bratislava Odds

You won't find a shorter price in the Champions League this week, nor in any other competition in Europe most likely, than the 1/80 for Bayern to claim victory on Wednesday. Slovan, meanwhile, are priced at 66/1, implying a win probability of 1.5%, making them rather large underdogs.

The draw is priced at 25/1 and both teams to score at 7/4, with Harry Kane (2/1) favourite in the first goalscorer market. If you fancy a Slovan player to strike at anytime, David Strelec (13/2) is considered the most likely.

Bet Builder - Both Teams to Score (No), Harry Kane (MUN) 2+ Goals, Bayern Munich Under 9.5 Booking Points, Slovan Bratislava Under 0.5 First Half Corners @ 7/1

The first two selections of this Bet Builder are both priced under EVS at 2/5 and 19/20 respectively, while the latter two cannot be chosen individually. However, if we head to the Bet Builder tab and combine all four, we get a nice price of 7/1.

Three of these selections landed in Bayern's first league phase game against Dinamo Zagreb as Kompany's side smashed the Croatians 9-2 at the Allianz Arena. Kane scored four goals, the only card given was to Zagreb's Stefan Ristovski, and the visitors didn't take a single corner in Bavaria.

The game against Dinamo is the only occasion out of seven so far that Kane has struck two or more goals, and it remains the only match in which Bayern have not received a booking. It's not the only time a team has failed to take a first-half corner against them, though, as Aston Villa, Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk can attest to. Even Paris Saint-Germain and Feyenoord only managed to win one before half-time against Bayern.

Both teams to score, meanwhile, has landed in four of Bayern's seven European outings this season, twice in their favour as they beat both Benfica and PSG 1-0 at home, and twice against them as they lost 1-0 to Aston Villa in Birmingham and 3-0 to Feyenoord in Rotterdam.

Bayern's home form in the Champions League has been in complete contrast to their away record as they have won all three games at home, scoring 11 goals altogether and coneding just once, keeping two clean sheets, while they've lost three of their four outside of Germany.

Thankfully for the Bavarians, after a chastening defeat in the Netherlands last time out in the competition, they return to the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, and that spells trouble for Slovan who have lost all seven games in the league phase.

The Slovakian side have scored just two goals away from Bratislava, netting a consolation effort in a 5-1 defeat to Celtic in Glasgow and successfully converting a penalty in a 3-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish capital. Their other defeat also came in Spain as they lost 2-0 to Girona.

There is very little for Slovan to play for on Wednesday other than professional pride as they seek to claim a first point of the campaign and avoid finishing bottom. While they will be desperate to avoid being ranked the worst club in the league phase, Bayern's determination to win should overpower their own and thus I can't see the visitors laying any sort of glove on their hosts, even if Bayern haven't kept a clean sheet in their last three games. Prior to this current run, they had recorded three straight shutouts, so they do know how to protect their goal, further evidenced by their 1-0 wins over Benfica and PSG.

I can't see anything other than a handsome Bayern victory, and should they rack up the goals, you'd expect leading marksman Kane to be among them, chipping in with at least a couple. Kane's strike on Saturday took him to 17 in the Bundesliga scoring charts, two ahead of the former Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush (now at Manchester City) and four ahead of Bayer Leverkusen's Patrik Schick.

After scoring in two of his first three league phase games, the England captain is now without a goal in his last three European outings (he was injured for one), so he will be desperate to get back in the goalscoring groove in the Champions League on Wednesday. Considering he hit four at home against Dinamo earlier in the campaign, he'll surely be eying up Slovan as a side that he can put a few past, especially considering they have shipped more goals (24) than any other team so far.

Just like against Dinamo, I'm backing Bayern to avoid any sort of card at the Allianz Arena, as this should be a game they go ahead early on in and dominate. Should this happen, they won't need to make any unnecessary fouls and risk suspensions carrying forward to the play-offs, if that is where they end up. Man City and Atletico both avoided bookings when they beat Slovan earlier this season, and as a club of similar stature to those two, Bayern should become the third team to keep it clean against the Slovakians.

Slovan, meanwhile, failed to take a first-half corner against City, Atletico or Stuttgart, and taking into account Bayern's strong record of concessions, I'm adding in under 0.5 first-half corners for the visitors on Wednesday.

Anytime Goalscorer - Kim Min-jae (MUN) @ 6/1

With little value to be had among the frontrunners in most markets, I'm opting for an anytime goalscorer pick from Bayern, but someone who is by no means a prolific marksman.

South Korean central defender Kim Min-jae's main job is to keep the ball out of the back of his own net, but with Bayern expected to dominate on Wednesday and win plenty of corners and free-kicks, he may well get a few chances to score at the other end.

Bayern have taken 60 corners in this season's league phase, more than any other side, averaging 8.6 per game, and it was from one of those 60 that Kim scored his first - and so far only - Champions League goal, rising highest against PSG at the Allianz Arena in November.

This is already the highest-scoring season of the 28-year-old's career as he has also struck twice in the Bundesliga, the most recent coming just a few days ago against Freiburg - once again a header from a corner.

Worrying times for Slovan, then, who have conceded a whopping 62 corners in the league phase - an average of 8.9 per game (nine per game away from home). Last time out, in a 3-1 home defeat to Stuttgart, Slovan gave away 19 corners - 12 in the first half, 10 of which came inside the opening 20 minutes.

Should Bayern receive anywhere near that amount on Wednesday, Kim will fancy his chances of doubling his goal tally in the competition.

Offers

Place an In-Play single bet of £10 or more at odds of 1/2+ on any Champions League game on Wednesday and get £5 in Free Bets to use In-Play on Thursday’s Europa League games. (Credited upon Bet Settlement)

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You can read all our latest Football Betting Tips at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub.

Wednesday's Champions League Predictions:

The team here at Betfred Insights have you fully-covered for the final round of Champions League matches this Wednesday. You can check out all of our previews for the matches below:

Aston Villa vs Celtic Prediction: Hosts to win but no clean sheet
Barcelona vs Atalanta Prediction: Expect goals, goals, goals in the Catalan capital
Bayer Leverkusen vs Sparta Prague Prediction: Wirtz can secure qualification
Borussia Dortmund vs Shakhtar Donetsk Prediction: Hosts may have to dig in against the Miners
Brest vs Real Madrid Prediction: Mbappe can score for sixth straight match at Brest
Dinamo Zagreb vs AC Milan Prediction: Rossoneri to get the job done
Girona vs Arsenal Prediction: Gunners to keep another clean sheet
Inter Milan vs Monaco Prediction: Hosts to secure knockout place
Juventus vs Benfica Prediction: Two anytime scorer bets worth backing
Lille vs Feyenoord Prediction: Canadian to catch visitors cold in France
Manchester City vs Club Brugge: Citizens to dig deep for the result they need
PSV vs Liverpool Prediction: Hosts to overcome booking points handicap in Eindhoven
Red Bull Salzburg vs Atletico Madrid Prediction: Alvarez to come up with another goal
Sporting CP vs Bologna Prediction: Italians can halt Sporting’s Play-off progress
Sturm Graz vs RB Leipzig Prediction: Sesko can score in dead rubber
Stuttgart vs PSG Prediction: Barcola to rise to occasion again
Young Boys vs Red Star Belgrade Prediction: Red Star can sign off with a win