Germany’s two most successful teams of recent years meet on Saturday in a key Bundesliga fixture. All seven domestic trophies since summer 2021 have either gone to Bayern (2x Bundesliga and 2x Supercup) or RB Leipzig (2x DFB Cup, 1x Supercup). Die Roten Bullen won the latter only seven weeks ago by beating the Bavarians, meaning Thomas Tuchel and his team have a score to settle at the Red Bull Arena. fcbayern.com brings you the stats and facts ahead of the game.
Müller targeting next record
Thomas Müller (l.) brought up the 321st victory of his Bundesliga career last Saturday.
If there’s anyone who knows what it means to win in the Bundesliga, it’s Thomas Müller. Last weekend’s 7-0 victory over Bochum was the 321st of his career in the Bundesliga from 447 games. The next win will see him tie with teammate Manuel Neuer for the most in Bundesliga history (322 from 478 appearances).
Only one ahead of Kane
Summer signing Harry Kane is meeting all expectations of him so far in Munich. The England captain has scored seven goals in his first five Bundesliga games. The only player in the league’s history to have more after five appearances was Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland (eight). Kane was directly involved in five goals last time out against Bochum, scoring three and setting up two, which is a feat he’d only achieved twice before in his senior career: four goals and an assist for Tottenham Hotspur vs. Leicester City in May 2017 and one goal with four assists for Spurs vs. Southampton in September 2020.
Solid defence meets brilliant attack
The 7-0 win over Bochum took Bayern’s goal tally for the campaign to 18, which is the most in the division and means an average of 3.7 goals per game in the Bundesliga for 2023/24. Now the champions come up against rock-solid Leipzig, who have won their last four league fixtures and kept clean sheets in each of the last three. Goalkeeper Janis Blaswich hasn’t conceded for 325 minutes in the Bundesliga. But every run has to come to an end…
Leipzig making up ground
Although Leipzig have won the last two competitive meetings (3-1 in the Bundesliga in May and 3-0 in August’s Supercup), Bayern still lead the head-to-head in this fixture by some margin. The Bavarians have 10 wins from 18 encounters (including a shootout victory in the DFB Cup), while Die Roten Bullen have triumphed only three times. There have also been five draws. But FCB are unbeaten in their last six visits to Leipzig (W3, D3).
Time for revenge? Bayern lost the Supercup to Leipzig in the first game of the season but have since won six and drawn once.
Bayern motoring on the road
The results haven’t just been coming away at Leipzig, though. Bayern have won their last four Bundesliga fixtures on the road, including last season’s dramatic title finale in Cologne. The last time FCB managed a longer sequence of away wins in the Bundesliga was in 2019/20 when they got 10 in a row. Another triumph in Leipzig would see Bayern win their first three away games of a Bundesliga campaign for the first time since 2015/16.
Tel prolific on his travels
Mathys Tel struck once again during the week to wrap up the 4-0 win at Preußen Münster in the DFB Cup, meaning he has scored in all three of Bayern’s away games this season. The 18-year-old is also the Bundesliga’s most prolific substitute in 2023/24 with three goals coming off the bench over the first five matchdays – that’s the most by a Bayern player since Tim Borowski in 2008/09. The only player in Bundesliga history to have scored more goals as a sub in the first five games was Bayer Leverkusen’s Joel Pohjanpalo in 2016/17 (four). The French teenager now has eight Bundesliga goals to his name overall, making him the youngest non-German to reach that total, aged 18 years and 149 days.
Mathys Tel scored the winner off the bench in Bayern’s last Bundesliga away game at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Set-piece specialists
Bayern have been a real threat at set pieces this season, scoring five times from dead balls – the most in the Bundesliga alongside Leverkusen. When it comes to goals from corners, Tuchel’s men lead the way outright, having netted from one in each of the last three league games. A fourth now against Leipzig would equal the club record (since detailed data collection began in 2004/05) from March/April 2019.
Bayern beat Preußen Münster in the DFB Cup during the week:
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