There's one question ahead of FC Bayern's home match against Heidenheim on Saturday: will it be as high-scoring as the previous encounters? The Baden-Württemberg club have visited the Allianz Arena twice to date, with Bayern winning both times and the crowd seeing a total of 15 goals in the 5-4 thriller in the DFB Cup in 2019 and the 4-2 victory in the Bundesliga last year. Read on to find out which facts and figures speak for and against another goal fest.
Bayern's stronghold
It's a record that's admired across the continent: Bayern have let in just one goal at their own stadium in the current Bundesliga campaign and therefore have the best home defence in Europe's top five leagues. Vincent Kompany's men haven't conceded at all in their last three league games in Munich, their longest run of clean sheets in this competition for nearly six years. The German record champions registered five consecutive shutouts under Niko Kovač from February to April 2019.
Favourites tag suits Bayern
It's clear who the favourites are in this clash between the league leaders and the team in 16th place – especially as Bayern have always justified this status recently. The Bavarians have won each of their last 10 games against teams who started the matchday in one of the bottom three positions. With the 6-1 win at Holstein Kiel (16th) and the 5-0 success at VfL Bochum, both matches from this season have been very one-sided affairs. The last side from the relegation zone to get anything against the German record champions were VfB Stuttgart in May 2022, in a 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena.
Heidenheim on downward trajectory
The picture in the Bundesliga looked very different for Heidenheim not so long ago. Thanks to two wins at the start of the season, Frank Schmidt's side went into the first international break of the season in September as leaders. Since then, though, they've managed just one more victory – and on the next matchday they were replaced at the top by Bayern, who have also been there since. Little has gone right for Heidenheim in the meantime: the club from the eastern Swabian Alb have collected a solitary point from their last seven league matches and lost their last four, something that's not befallen any other Bundesliga team in the same period. FCH have also conceded three or more goals in three consecutive games for the first time in the German top flight, and it's happened six times in total this season – more often than any other club and already more often than in the whole of Heidenheim's debut Bundesliga season (five).
Impressive numbers for Kompany
Kompany preserved his unbeaten record as a coach in the Bundesliga with the 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund, his 12th match in the dugout. Karl-Heinz Feldkamp in 1978 and Pep Guardiola in 2013 are the only previous coaches to avoid defeat in their first dozen Bundesliga outings. Guardiola is also the only boss to have collected more points in his first 12 games than the Belgian (30).
Musiala and the wait for a first home goal
When will Jamal Musiala's home hoodoo end? The 21-year-old technician is Bayern's top goalscorer in the Bundesliga this season behind Harry Kane (14) with six goals. Only in the 2022/23 campaign did he have more goals at this stage (seven). However, while the attacker has found the net in each of his six away outings, it hasn't yet happened for him at home, where Musiala is still without a goal in the league. Hopefully that will change on Saturday.
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