A capacity crowd is as good as guaranteed whenever FC Bayern play. A 15,000 full house will duly pack into the Benteler Arena in Paderborn on Saturday – meaning Bayern will have played in front of sell-out crowds in their last 275 straight Bundesliga matches. Eight years have passed since the Reds played to empty seats, although even then there were not many unoccupied places: a crowd of “only” 60,000 witnessed a home meeting with VfL Bochum on a freezing Tuesday evening on 30 January 2007.
Only two previous meetings
Bayern’s 4-0 win at home to Paderborn last autumn was the solitary Bundesliga meeting between the sides to date. The clubs have only contested one other competitive fixture, a DFB Cup first round tie in 2001/02. The then Champions League holders duly defeated the newly-promoted third division club 5-1, with a certain Claudio Pizarro featuring for the men from Munich.
Arjen keen to collect the set
Arjen Robben is the most consistent driving force behind Bayern’s attacking efforts this term with 17 scorer points (14 goals, three assists) in 17 matches. However, the Dutchman’s terrific record does not yet include a goal against SC Paderborn, who are the only current Bundesliga club Robben has yet to score against. From the reverse point of view, the side lying 12th in the standings have only one player in their squad who has previously scored against FCB in the Bundesliga: winter signing Srdjan Lakic achieved the feat with Kaiserslautern in August 2010.
Dankert in charge
The German FA (DFB) has appointed one of its younger referees to take charge of FC Bayern’s visit to Paderborn: 34-year-old sports scientist Bastian Dankert from Rostock will whistle his 32nd Bundesliga match on Saturday. Four of those games involved Bayern, with three FCB wins and one draw, the 1-1 stalemate against Schalke two weeks ago. Dankert’s assistants in Paderborn are Wolfgang Walz and Kai Voss, with Norbert Grudzinski as the fourth official.
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