FC Bayern are marching head-on in the direction of defending their championship title. After winning five games in a row, the record champions want to continue their run on MD26 in the clash against VfB Stuttgart. Read the facts & figures on the match to find out which winning run the Munich team can still defend and which anniversary coach Hansi Flick may well celebrate on Saturday.
1. Clear Bayern dominance
In the reverse fixture, FC Bayern won 3-1 thanks to goals from Kingsley Coman, Robert Lewandowski and Douglas Costa.
FC Bayern and VfB Stuttgart will meet for the 104th time on Saturday. With 65 wins, 20 draws and 18 defeats, the balance is clearly in favour of the Munich team. No team in Bundesliga history has managed more victories against any single opponent than Bayern have against VfB. Their home record also speaks for itself: 35 wins compared to ten draws and just six defeats.
2. A game with goals guaranteed
328 goals have been scored in the 103 clashes so far, pulling in an average of 3.18 per match. In fact, the clash has only ended in a goalless draw three times - and that was in Stuttgart each time. There has never been a 0-0 draw between these two teams in an FC Bayern home match since their first encounter in the 1965/66 season.
3. Battle of the goalscorers
In the 3-1 success in Bremen, Robert Lewandowski scored his 10th goal in the second half of the season and his 268th Bundesliga goal overall
In Robert Lewandowski and Stuttgart's Sasa Kalajdzic, the two best goalscorers of the second half of the season will meet on Saturday. Lewandowski has scored ten goals in the second half of the season so far, Kalajdzic having scored eight times, the latter also having scored for seven games in a row. With a goal against FC Bayern, the Austrian could become the first Stuttgart player ever to score in eight successive Bundesliga games.
4. Bayern's record hunt goes on
FC Bayern have scored 74 goals in the first 25 games of this season, which equals the Bundesliga record. Only Bayern themselves have managed to score as many goals at this point before; in the 1973/74 and 2013/14 seasons. Bayern's own record of 101 goals from the 1971/72 season is within reach of this FCB team, with nine games left to play.
5. Flick ahead of milestone
The match against VfB Stuttgart will be Hansi Flick's 50th Bundesliga match as coach. In the 49 games he has played so far, Flick has 39 wins, five draws and five defeats. Only Pep Guardiola has a better win rate in the Bundesliga than the 56-year-old on 79.6 percent. The former FCB coach won 80.4 percent of his matches.
6. Strong record against promoted sides
FC Bayern have lost only one of their last 27 Bundesliga home games against promoted teams (24 wins, 2 draws). A curious point: The last such defeat that Bayern did sustain was against VfB, of all teams. On the last matchday of the 2017/18 season, the Bavarians, who had already been crowned German champions, lost 4-1 to the Swabians.
7. VfB strong away from home
With 36 points after 25 games, VfB Stuttgart are having their best Bundesliga season in 12 years (when they secured 42 points by this point). The promoted side have collected 21 points away from home, celebrating six victories and scoring 26 goals in the 13 matches they have played so far. VfB are unbeaten for five games (3 wins, 2 draws) and could celebrate their 750th Bundesliga win if they beat Bayern on Saturday.
Check out who Bayern's major league rivals, Leipzig, will be facing this weekend here:
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