In the last home game of the season on Sunday (17:30 CEST), league champions FC Bayern will host VfB Stuttgart. After the game, Julian Nagelsmann's team will be presented with the Meisterschale trophy at the Allianz Arena - and the Munich team naturally want to say goodbye to their fans with a win. Here are five reasons why nothing stands in the way of the championship party at the home of the Bavarian giants:
1. Record winners - record clearly in Bayern's favour
Bayern have won 18 of their last 19 Bundesliga games against Stuttgart, the only exception being a 4-1 home defeat on Matchday 34 in 2017/18. Then as now, the Munich side were already confirmed German champions before the game. Overall, FCB have won 67 of their 105 Bundesliga games against VfB - in the history of the competition no other team has won as many victories against a club as the record champions against the Swabians.
2. Home win to finish? FCB can do that!
In the last 38 seasons, Bayern have only lost their final Bundesliga home game once - the aforementioned 4-1 loss to the Swabians in May 2018. In 14 of the past 15 seasons, three points have gone to Munich in the final appearance at the Allianz Arena.
3. Lewandowski does Lewandowski things
With his goal in Mainz last weekend, Robert Lewandowski became the first player in Bundesliga history to score at least 34 goals in three consecutive seasons. For comparison: opponents Stuttgart currently have a total of 37 goals this season. Arminia Bielefeld (25) and SpVgg Greuther Fürth (26) have scored even fewer times than the Pole in the current competition. And the world's best footballer can extend his record - in the last Bundesliga home game against VfB Stuttgart in March 2021 (4-0), the 33-year-old scored three goals in the first half of a Bundesliga game for the only time.
4. Relegation worries for the opponents
VfB Stuttgart are experiencing their third-weakest Bundesliga season with 29 points after 32 games - only in 1974/75 (equivalent to 28) and 2018/19 (24) have they had fewer points at this time, and in both cases the Swabians were relegated. The fact that the Swabians have only won one of their 16 away appearances in the Bundesliga this season (2-0 in Wolfsburg on Matchday 15) suggests a trend reversal is unlikely on Sunday. In addition, only 1. FSV Mainz 05 have scored fewer points on the road in 2022 (two) than VfB (four).
5. Home strength against relegation candidates
One person's sorrow is another's joy, as the saying goes: Bayern are undefeated in 40 Bundesliga home games against a team occupying one of the bottom three places going into the matchday (36 wins, four draws). Since moving to the Allianz Arena, there has only been one defeat in 44 such games: almost 16 years ago against Hannover 96 (1-0 in November 2006).
Serge Gnabry also has a strong record against the Swabians - find out more here:
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