SAINTS' friendly next Monday at St Mary's with Bayern Munich (8pm) is catching the imagination of fans.

Around 14,000 tickets have already been sold, with Saints hoping to eventually sell in the region of 20,000.

The match will be for the inaugural Ted Bates Trophy.

German giants Bayern are expected to bring a strong team, with the likes of Oliver Kahn, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Ballack and European Golden Boot winner Roy Makaay all likely to be on show.

Saints boss Gordon Strachan has indicated that he will use the match to give an opportunity to first-team squad players who have been short of regular starts in recent months.

That could mean playing the likes of Darren Kenton, Neil McCann, Marian Pahars, Leandre Griffit, Agustin Delgado, Chris Baird and Jo Tessem.

Prices for the game are heavily reduced at £1 for children under-12, £5 for teenagers and £10 for adults.