Viking vs Bayern Munich preview: team news, line-ups

Bayern Munich’s attacker of Nigerian origin Michael Olise will be looking to be amongst the goals on Tuesday when they arrive in Stavanger on Tuesday, October 13, chasing a second straight Champions League win at Vikings which would put them well on course for the League Phase’s top eight.

Viking FK were beaten 3-1 at Stuttgart on league-phase matchday one, and have spent the three weeks since answering that result at home in Norway, in the Eliteserien and in the cup.

How far that response stretches against a side of Bayern’s quality may come down to how Viking’s back line copes with Olise, the France international whose direct running from the right has produced four goals in five Bundesliga appearances this season.

Michael Olise’s Nigerian Origin

Michael Olise, born in France to a Nigerian father and an Algerian mother, grew up in England, and the Nigeria Football Federation approached him in 2020 before he chose to commit to France, the country he has since represented at this year’s World Cup. His part of the pitch, cutting inside off Viking’s own left side, could decide how much of this match stays competitive.

Olise is a constant reminder of how many talented players have snubbed Nigeria’s Super Eagles to play for European countries. Previous reports have suggested that the Nigeria Football Federation even set up a meeting with the player and his family when he was still in the English Championship with Reading FC. At the time, he was just 19 years old, but the talks eventually fell through.

Gernot Rohr even tried to invite Olise to his squad for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in 2019, but he did not honour the invite. Now, years later, he is an established member of the French national team.

Match Facts · Viking FK vs Bayern Munich

Competition: UEFA Champions League, League Phase, Matchday 2

Date: October 13, 2026

Kickoff: 20:00 WAT (21:00 local in Stavanger)

Venue: Lyse Arena, Stavanger

League positions: Viking FK 29th (UCL league phase) · Bayern Munich 2nd (UCL league phase)

Last meeting: None, first fixture between the two clubs

Nigeria connection: Michael Olise (Bayern Munich, France international with Nigerian heritage through his father)

Viking vs Bayern Munich: Form Guide

Bayern Munich go into Stavanger unbeaten in five matches across competitions, with three wins and two draws, sixteen goals scored and just three conceded. The high point was a seven-goal rout of Union Berlin, and the league-phase opener produced a 5-0 win over Bodø/Glimt, another Norwegian side, in which Olise scored twice. The most recent result was a draw at Augsburg three days ago, where four Bayern goals were ruled out before the final whistle.

Harry Kane, Bayern’s third captain behind Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich, has three Bundesliga goals of his own this season and set up two more in that Augsburg draw.

Viking have won four of their last five matches and scored in every one of them, conceding only four goals across that run. The single blemish was the opening defeat at Stuttgart, and the response since, including a 2-0 win at Brann on October 9, has kept Viking level with Bodø/Glimt at the Eliteserien summit on 53 points from 22 games, with identical records of 17 wins, two draws, three losses and a +36 goal difference between the pair.

Zlatko Tripić, Viking’s captain, has created more than any other player in the league this season with 19 assists to go with six goals of his own, while striker Peter Christiansen has ten goals in all competitions, nine of them in the Eliteserien.

Head-to-head: a first-ever meeting in Stavanger

Viking and Bayern Munich have never met before at any level, a meeting finally produced by Viking’s qualifying route past Dinamo Zagreb, drawn 2-2 away before a 3-1 win at home sealed their place in the league phase.

The closest comparison either side can offer is Bayern’s 5-0 win over Bodø/Glimt on matchday one, a different Norwegian opponent playing a different style, so there is little genuine precedent to draw on beyond that.

Key Battles: Michael Olise and the duels that will shape Stavanger

Olise against Kristoffer Haugen

Kristoffer Haugen is expected to be at left-back for Viking, and he is about to face one of the Bundesliga’s most productive wide forwards. Olise’s habit of drifting inside off the right, rather than staying wide, is exactly the kind of movement that punishes any defender who is tasked with keeping him quiet, and his two goals against Bodø/Glimt showed he does it just as effectively against Norwegian opposition as German.

If Haugen is dragged out of position early, Viking’s back line is left exposed through the same central channel Bayern have already profited from twice this season.

Christiansen against Bayern’s senior centre-back pairing

Peter Christiansen is responsible for the bulk of Viking’s attacking threat, and he will run into a Bayern centre-back pairing in Jonathan Tah and Dayot Upamecano that has conceded only three goals in five matches.

Both defenders are comfortable stepping out to challenge for second balls, which could suit a more direct, physical presence like Christiansen if Viking look to get the ball forward quickly rather than build through midfield. How that pairing copes with his movement in behind, rather than in front of them, is likely to decide whether Viking’s own scoring run survives the step up in opposition.

Viking vs Bayern Munich: Team news and predicted lineups

Bayern travel without Jamal Musiala, still working back from a muscle injury, and defender Tarek Buchmann, who remains out following syndesmosis surgery. Olise is available and expected to start on the right, with Luis Díaz on the opposite flank and Ismael Saibari in behind Kane, while Josip Stanišić is in line for a recall at right-back after Bayern’s weekend draw.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Stanišić, Tah, Upamecano, Davies; Kimmich, Pavlović; Olise, Saibari, Díaz; Kane.

Viking are without strikers Veton Berisha and Nicholas D’Agostino, right-back Sondre Bjørshol and centre-back Anders Bærtelsen, all out through injury, while Kelvin Frimpong is not registered on the club’s league-phase squad list. New Zealand midfielder Joe Bell is available and expected to start, having picked up only one league-phase yellow card rather than the three previously, incorrectly, reported.

Predicted XI (4-3-3): Østbø; Heggheim, Stensness, Daland, Falchener; Askildsen, Bell, Bjørdal; Christiansen, Botheim, Tripić.

The Verdict