FC Bayern Munich: Manuel Neuer's Tears, Preview Against Eintracht Frankfurt

It's all but confirmed. Manuel Neuer will be standing between the posts at Bayern next season. He fought hard to choke back his tears as he announced to the press at Gelsenkirchen that he will not be extending his contract. Horst Heldt confirmed that Schalke is in talks with Bayern. The transfer fee is yet to be decided.

However, at the moment, very few heads in Munich will concentrate on Neuer's conferences. Champions League qualification is at stake. Bayern was pushed down to fourth spot yesterday by Hanover. Hanover beat Freiburg 1-3. Bayern must beat Eintracht tomorrow in order to wrestle back third spot. Last weekend, it was confirmed that Bayern can no longer mathematically win the title. Dortmund is fourteen points ahead, with four matches to go. If Leverkusen fail to win this weekend and Dortmund get all three points on the board, the title will be Dortmund's.

Frankfurt beat Bayern 2-1 last season. After Miro Klose opened the scoring early on, the game turned into a slugfest. Frankfurt scored two goals after the 80th minute to win. This time around, Frankfurt is fighting for relegation. The earlier meeting between these two sides ended in a 4-1 victory for Bayern. That was incidentally the last game in which Martin Demichelis scored for Bayern.

Frankfurt will have to do without the vicious Maik Franz. He is injured and thus won't get the chance to vent his frustrations out on Mario Gomez (again). Toni Kroos had a stomach upset last week and thus, had to withdraw from the match-day squad against Leverkusen. If that game is anything to go by, Frankfurt will be crushed this week.

However, Bayern has been unpredictable this season. A great win has been followed by a disastrous result quite a few times this season. Take the 6-0 victory against Hamburg for example; the following match ended in a 2-3 defeat at the Allianz Arena in the hands of Inter Milan. With Andries Jonker at the helm, the players seem to be smiling again. Arjen Robben will continue to smile from the side-lines this week. He is suspended for this match.

Holger Badstuber will be back as far as the match-day squad is concerned. Last week, Daniel Van Buyten and Luis Gustavo lined up in the center of defence. Jonker might not make any changes to the team to ensure continuity. At this moment and time, nothing matters as long as the three points are on the board.

Frankfurt is fighting for their lives. However, they have only win in all of 2011. Christoph Daum, their new manager, has only collected two points from three games. Bayern shouldn't underestimate a side coached by the wily Daum.

In other news, the Bayern Reserves, Bayern II was relegated to the fourth division after their 21st league defeat of the season..Ouch...This is the first time that the Reserves have been relegated since 1972.

Going back to the Frankfurt game, I hope Bayern gets three points on the board. I have a feeling the three points will come. However, the win won't be an easy one.

Prediction: Frankfurt 1-2 Bayern