Luiz Gustavo will start against Arsenal, confirms Heynckes

09-Mar-2013 8:00:00 PM

The veteran coach reveals the Brazilian will be tasked with replacing Bastian Schweinsteiger in the middle of the park when the Gunners travel to the Allianz Arena next week

Jupp Heynckes has confirmed that Luiz Gustavo will start the second-leg of Bayern Munich's Champions League last-16 tie against Arsenal in midfield on Wednesday.

Bastian Schweinsteiger was shown a yellow card at the Emirates Stadium a fortnight ago, resulting in a one-game suspension, leaving the 67-year-old to call upon the former Hoffenheim man as the Germany international's replacement.

"Of course, Luiz Gustavo will play on Wednesday providing that he stays fit," Heynckes told TZ. "He is working great and is in top shape physically."

Heynckes then looked ahead to Saturday's Bundesliga encounter with Fortuna Dusseldorf and insisted that while he has already made personnel decisions about the midweek tussle, his Bayern players are only focused on the match at hand.

"We are not thinking about that at the moment, that's the wrong approach," he added.

"We want to march on in the league. It's like in tennis - when you're in the lead against a top opponent, you must keep on going. It's the same in football."