Eight goals in one half, three red cards and Harry Kane's wonder goal from 50 metres: FC Bayern and Darmstadt 98 produced a blockbuster at the Allianz Arena in late October. The two teams will write another script when the Bavarians visit the bottom club on Saturday afternoon on Bundesliga Matchday 26 (live text and free Web Radio commentary from 15:30 CET on fcbayern.com and the FC Bayern app). Thomas Tuchel and his team will be hoping for a happy ending again in the return match. After four away games without a win, the German record champions want to take their strong home form on their travels. Our preview has all the info on the match at Darmstadt.
The pictures from Friday's final training session:
The state of play for Bayern
Bayern delivered a flawless display against Mainz 05 last Saturday. The goal music rang out eight times at the Allianz Arena, with a final score of 8-1. Lifted by the 3-0 success over Lazio and the progression to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the Reds played with freedom and landed a big blow. From the four Bundesliga matches before that, they had taken just four points. Now second-placed Bayern want to take that momentum to Darmstadt in order to claim the next three points and maintain the pressure on leaders Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who play at Freiburg on Sunday. For the German record champions it's about reducing the 10-point gap between the top two in the German top flight, with 27 points still to play for this season.
Tuchel outlined a clear situation in Friday's press conference: "We have everything to lose, Darmstadt have everything to gain." His side have collected just one point from their last four away league outings, but the head coach declared confidently ahead of the clash with the basement boys: "We won't stumble." Some of that confidence comes from the fact that competition for places has increased following the return of a number of injured players. "For the first time in two weeks we've got 19, 20 first-team players on the training pitch," which according to Tuchel is boosting the quality in games and in training. "We want to prove that again tomorrow," stated the Bayern boss, adding: "When we put on the jersey, we have to give it our all and the only goal is to win the game."
Catch up on Tuchel's main statements from the press conference here:
The opponents: Darmstadt
The promoted side are winless in 18 games in the Bundesliga and have been rooted to the bottom of the table since Matchday 14. A great escape appears unlikely nine matchdays before the end of the season, with the Lilies 12 points from 15th place. However, the situation is not completely hopeless for Torsten Lieberknecht's side, who are currently five points off the relegation play-off spot. Since their last point in a 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen, Darmstadt were on the end of a crushing 6-0 home defeat against Augsburgr before a steadier performance but another 2-0 loss at RB Leipzig. The upcoming opponents' improved performance didn't go unnoticed by Tuchel, either. "Darmstadt lost against Leipzig but had plenty of opportunities," he said.
Lieberknecht praised two qualities of his side ahead of the meeting with Bayern: "I liked our organisation and assuredness at Leipzig." At the same time, he demanded more courage on the ball from his charges: "We hope for the moments in which we want to create chances against Bayern. In those moments we then have to display efficiency."
The facts on the clash with SV Darmstadt 98:
The team news for Darmstadt vs. Bayern
Bayern are still without Noussair Mazraoui (hamstring), Kingsley Coman (MCL), Bouna Sarr (ACL) and Tarek Buchmann (muscular) for the trip to Hesse.
For the hosts, Marvin Mehlem, Matthias Bader, Fraser Hornby, Fabian Nürnberger and Clemens Riedel are all out of Saturday's meeting. Matej Maglica, who was absent in Leipzig due to a calf problem, returned to training this week. Braydon Manu has completed a second week of training with the team, while Fabian Holland is also available again.
What the coaches say
I'm sure that we'll go into the game with the right attitude. We have to give it our all.
Thomas Tuchel
There's no point making grand fighting statements. My boys are suitably prepared and know they need to play out of their skin.
Torsten Lieberknecht (SV Darmstadt 98)
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