Why Lewandowski Absence Would Hurt Bayern's Champions League More Than Robben

Bayern Munich were undoubtedly dealt the bitterest of blows on Tuesday night when they were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal by Borussia Dortmund and lost key player Arjen Robben to injury, as well as the possible absence of Robert Lewandowski.

The Dutch winger was confirmed as out of action for the remainder of the season by the German giants on Wednesday April 29, who also confirmed that Lewandowski had "suffered concussion plus a broken nose and jaw." The length of his absence is still unknown before more testing can be done. 

If Pep Guardiola had any hair left, he would undoubtedly now be pulling it out, with the prospect of facing Barcelona in the famous Camp Nou on May 6. 

The absence of both players is undoubtedly a huge blow and a potential game-changer for a side that had high hopes of at least challenging for the Champions League this season. Bayern's squad may well have been hit a killer blow on Tuesday night. 

Yet there may well be a silver lining to this cloud. If Lewandowski can, in fact, play on Wednesday night—with a face mask as suggested by some—then Bayern could very well stand a chance.

For even though Robben is undoubtedly the key player for Bayern this season, Lewandowski's absence would be far more hurtful to Guardiola and his team's chances next week.

The reason the towering Polish striker is, in fact, more vital to Bayern's Euro hopes than his Dutch counterpart is because he simply cannot be replaced. 

Should Lewandowski miss the Champions League tie through injury and Guardiola is forced to find an alternative, he has but two options: 36-year-old Claudio Pizarro or Thomas Muller. 

The former isn't even an option at this level of the game, while the latter would seem to be a no-brainer for most of the Allianz Arena. Yet such a suggestion isn't even worth considering. 

Although the German international is by definition a forward and a world-class goalscorer, he tends to play much better when allowed to float around the final third and play off a centre-forward. When asked to restrict his game to box play and holding up the ball, we regularly lose the magic that makes Muller the gangly, irregular genius that he is. 

In only two games in this season's Champions League—away to Shakhtar Donetsk and at home to CSKA Moscow—have we seen Muller play as the centre-forward. Over the course of the 180 minutes, he scored just one goal and looked far from his best. 

To turn such a discussion on its head, we also have to consider that Robben is actually rather replaceable despite his exceptional form. 

He may have offered much more than Lewandowski throughout this campaign, there's no denying that, but Bayern just have more players who can play on the right wing with relative ease. 

As we saw on Tuesday night, Mitchell Weiser—a relatively untested youth player—was able to thrive in such a role, yet the likes of Mario Gotze, Franck Ribery and indeed Muller are far more likely to feature on Wednesday. 

The latter three from this list could all do a reasonable job of maintaining what Guardiola would want from the right wing against Barcelona on the night. They may not do quite what Robben can do when he's at his best, but they wouldn't do anything to suggest Bayern would be at a disadvantage. 

The club will travel to Leverkusen on Saturday to face a determined Roger Schmidt side, yet the Catalan coach will most likely put out a second-string team ahead of next week's game. Bayer will offer a determined challenge and may well take points from the newly crowned champions, but in truth, it will be a rather risk-free affair for the Munich side. 

Then will come Barcelona and a Champions League clash that will go on to define just how well Bayern and Guardiola will have done this season.

They already know they won't have Robben, but if Lewandowski also misses out, then this may well be the end of the road for Guardiola and his side's campaign this year. 

@Sbienkowski