Warm-up ahead of the second half of the season opener

Bayern are back in Germany, with seven intensive days in the training camp in Doha behind them - and there's still no time to take a breather! This Saturday, the Reds will travel to 1. FC Nürnberg, in their only friendly ahead of the opening fixture at the start of the second half of the season against Hertha BSC on 19 January. The most important information about the game can be found here:

The last meeting

The last meeting of the two clubs took place In April of last year - and it was dramatic right till the very end. Nürnberg were in the middle of the relegation battle and hosted the league leaders from Munich at the Max Morlock Stadium. Matheus Pereira gave the home side the lead three minutes after the break, Serge Gnabry equalised a quarter of an hour before the final whistle, and then things got just a little tumultuous in the closing stages of the match: Nürnberg's Tim Leibold (90.+1.) hit the post with a penalty in injury time, while Kingsley Coman (90.+5) missed a huge chance to win it for the visitors. It ended 1-1, which was ultimately too little for the Club. At the end of the season, the team from Franconia were relegated.

Click here for the last Bavarian derby match report 👇🏻

Fixture with a rich history

However, the overall stats of the Bavarian derby are not quite so tight. The two clubs have met 70 times since the Bundesliga was founded. The Bavarians have won 44 times to the Franks’ 12, with the points being shared on 14 occasions. Incidentally, in the mid-1980s FC Bayern (now with 29 championships) unseated 1. FC Nürnberg (nine championships) as the German record champions.

Team News

Hansi Flick is unable to call on a full complement of players for the last test before the Bundesliga kicks off. Serge Gnabry (Achilles tendon problems) is out, just like Robert Lewandowski (groin operation), Javi Martínez (thigh muscle injury), Kingsley Coman (torn capsule in his left knee) and Niklas Süle (torn cruciate ligament) who all remained in Munich. For Lucas Hernández, who continued his rehab programme in Doha after his ankle operation, this game comes just a little too soon. Thiago is also out - the Spain player's wife is expecting a new baby and he had already left the training camp on Thursday. Maximilian Zaiser and Malik Tillman, two more talented youth players will join the squad.

Thiago already returned to Munich on Thursday to be with his pregnant wife: