Aberdeen may have to face the might of Bayern Munich in tomorrow night's UEFA cup tie without several key performers. Only a dozen outfield players were able to train yesterday and Andrew Considine became the latest casualty to join to the list of walking wounded, after he picked up an ankle injury, though Jimmy Calderwood, the Aberdeen manager, hopes it is not serious enough to keep him out.

Aberdeen may have to face the might of Bayern Munich in tomorrow night's UEFA cup tie without several key performers. Only a dozen outfield players were able to train yesterday and Andrew Considine became the latest casualty to join to the list of walking wounded, after he picked up an ankle injury, though Jimmy Calderwood, the Aberdeen manager, hopes it is not serious enough to keep him out.

Experienced players like Richie Byrne, Jamie Smith, Derek Young, Jackie McNamara and Richard Foster will not play, while there are doubts over the fitness of Darren Mackie, Barry Nicholson and Zander Diamond. "At this moment in time," Calderwood said, "if any of those boys don't make it, we'll have to put kids on the bench and the best of our youngsters are on loan at Peterhead and Brechin City.

"It's not the ideal way to set ourselves up for a game because we normally discuss our tactics and we haven't been able to do that."

Calderwood's downbeat approach, he admitted, is the result of his squad's injury troubles, which have removed some of the excitement normally in evidence before such an important game.

"It also affects the standard of training," the manager added. "If a lot of your good players are not there then the standard of the training drops. We should have been starting our preparations in earnest on Monday but it hasn't been like that. We've been coming in and looking at the list and hoping nobody else has been struck off."

With nine top team players missing from yesterday's training session, Calderwood said the attitude of the injured players would come under scrutiny when he picks his team.

"As far as my selection is concerned," he admitted, "it will depend on how bad the injuries are and the person who is injured, what kind of person he is.

"It also depends on many things including what positions in the team a player plays. If it were a defender I wouldn't take a chance on a player who wasn't fit."