Created on 02-11-2010 at 00:00 AM
Bayern are within sight of a record-breaking start to a Champions League campaign. Victory away to Romanian double winners CFR Cluj on Wednesday evening would mean the Bavarians winning their opening four fixtures in European football’s elite competition for the first time in the club’s history. FCB last started with three consecutive wins in 2006-7.
Four wins from their six fixtures also stands as Bayern’s best-ever performance in the Champions League group stage. Last season’s finalists have achieved the feat twice, in 2001-2 under Ottmar Hitzfeld, and in 2008-9 under Jürgen Klinsmann.
The German Champions League record for the group stage is held by Borussia Dortmund with five wins and a defeat in 1997-8. Since the introduction of the Champions League in 1992, only four clubs have won all six of their group fixtures: AC Milan (1992-3), Paris St. Germain (1994-5), Spartak Moscow (1995-6) and Barcelona (2002-3). The Catalans’ coach at the time was Louis van Gaal.