FC Bayern play their first-ever game away at Aston Villa on Wednesday in the Champions League. The two sides have only met once before in a competitive fixture, with the English side claiming a narrow 1-0 win in the final of the 1982 European Cup for their sole continental crown to date. It means the Munich men have a score to settle as they visit Villa Park for the first time. fcbayern.com has the key stats and facts ahead of the match.
Good record against English opposition
Bayern have lost only one of their last 10 Champions League games against teams from England. That came in the quarter-finals of 2022/23 when beaten 3-0 at Manchester City in the first leg. FCB will look to build on that solid record as they touch down in Birmingham.
Momentum from Zagreb
Recent results also mean Bayern arrive on English soil with plenty of momentum as they prepare to take on the team currently fifth in the Premier League. The opening 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb in particular will have filled Vincent Kompany’s men with confidence on the continental stage. Harry Kane, Michael Olise and the others fired off a total of 19 shots against the Croatian champions. That’s the most any team has had in a Champions League game since data collection began in 2003/04, while Bayern also became the first team to score nine in a single match in the competition.
Musiala & Co. dazzling in attack
The sheer force that Bayern can create in attack was further reflected in even more stats against Dinamo. For example, the team’s expected goals value of 6.25 was more than six clubs managed in the entire Champions League in 2023/24.
Jamal Musiala played a big part in those remarkable numbers. Our No.42 created more goalscoring opportunities (seven) than any other player across Matchday 1. It makes him the youngest player in the competition’s history to provide seven passes to a shot from open play in a single game since detailed data collection began in 2003/04, aged 21 years and 204 days.
Kane the scourge of Villa Park
One of the greatest beneficiaries of Musiala’s work, Kane, will hope to be involved in his homeland on Wednesday. The striker had to go off with a bad knock to his ankle in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen but boasts a reputation for being a thorn in Villa’s side. The England captain has been directly involved in seven goals across six competitive visits to Villa Park (five goals, two assists). He’s even netted the winner there on two occasions, striking in the 90th minute for a 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur victory in November 2014 and bagging both goals in a 2-0 win in March 2016. Can he now add to that list in Bayern colours?
We caught up with ex-Bayern and Villa striker Alan McInally ahead of the game:
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