Bayern secured convincing wins in their last three games against Mainz with victory margins of 4-1, 3-0 and 3-1. The last defeat was in November 2011, a 3-2 loss at Mainz. The overall record against Mainz is very much in favour of FCB ahead of the sixteenth meeting in the Bundesliga: the previous games produced 10 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats. Bayern have won four, lost two and drawn once on the road against Mainz, who were the last Bundesliga side to keep a clean sheet against FCB (0-0 on 14 April 2012). Since then FCB have scored at least once in their last 62 league games, a Bundesliga record.
Bayern's Mainz experts
Three FCB players have stood out in matches against Mainz in the past. Mario Mandzukic has scored five times in his seven Bundesliga games against the team from the Palatinate. Wearing an FCB shirt, the Croat has scored a goal in each of the last three games (4 goals in total). Claudio Pizarro has only been on the losing side once in 11 Bundesliga encounters with Mainz (in March with Werder Bremen), picking up eight wins and two draws and scoring nine goals in the process. And Daniel van Buyten has not scored as many goals against any other opponent in the Bundesliga as he has against Mainz (4 goals, the same as his total against Eintracht Frankfurt).
Strong finishers, good from the bench
Bayern and Mainz both lead certain goalscoring stats. First: FCB and FSV score the most goals in the final 15 minutes. Bayern have scored 16 times in that time, Mainz 11 times (as have Schalke and Dortmund). Second: Bayern (11) and Mainz (10) have had the most goals scored by substitutes in the current campaign. With Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting (5 goals) and Mario Mandzukic (4, as has Kumbela) both clubs currently have the top super sub in the league this season.
Stieler the man with the whistle
Tobias Stieler is the referee for Saturday’s match between FSV Mainz and Bayern. It is the fifth time the 32-year-old lawyer from Hamburg has refereed a match involving the men from Munich. The previous four games all ended in a Bayern victory, most recently at the end of November against Eintracht Braunschweig (2-0). The assistants on Saturday are Patrick Ittrich and Sascha Thielert and the fourth official is Guido Kleve.
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