Now, more than ever! Following their defeat in the matchday's standout fixture at Bayer 04 Leverkusen last Saturday, Bayern trail the league leaders by five points. Catching up will be difficult, but not impossible: five years ago, FCB also had five points fewer than Borussia Dortmund after 21 games, but still ended the campaign as German champions. The men from Munich are aiming to take the first step back on the road to success on Sunday at VfL Bochum (17:30 CET) - here are all the other key facts relating to the match for you.
Bayern's absolute dominance
FCB have won a good two-thirds of the 73 Bundesliga clashes against VfL Bochum to date (49), with the club from the Ruhr valley winning nine times and 15 games ending in a draw. Since VfL were promoted in 2021, the men from Munich have won four of the five meetings (one defeat) - with three of those games ending in a 7-0 win for the record champions. VfL had never previously lost so heavily in the Bundesliga, while Bayern's 7-0 triumph at the Ruhrstadion in August 2022 was their joint-highest away win in this competition.
The Kane show in the Hinrunde
The fact that Thomas Tuchel's team won the reverse fixture so emphatically (7-0) was not least down to Harry Kane. The Englishman was involved in five of Bayern's seven goals against Bochum (three goals, two assists).
Bochum difficult to beat
Will Bayern beat VfL in their own stadium? Thomas Letsch's side have lost just one of their last 13 Bundesliga home games (five wins, seven draws) - a 3-1 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach at the end of September 2023. The Ruhr valley club have now gone seven consecutive league games at home without losing (three wins) - VfL's longest run since the 2007/08 season (ten at the time). However, there is a reason why the current 14th-placed team have not managed to improve their position despite their home form. Having shared the spoils a total of ten times, Bochum are this season's draw kings.
There was some good news from the training ground ahead of the clash:
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