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One day after the club's 125th birthday, FC Bayern have an important away game: The men from Munich head to VfB Stuttgart on Friday evening (kick-off at 20.30 CET, live coverage on fcbayern.com and in the FC Bayern app with our text commentary and free web radio) for Bundesliga Matchday 24. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our preview.
The photos from Thursday's final training session:
The situation for FC Bayern
FC Bayern's impressive 4-0 home win against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga last weekend meant they maintained their their eight-point lead over second-placed Leverkusen and enjoyed an extremely successful start to their anniversary week. On Thursday, the men from Munich celebrated their club's 125th anniversary, and it was revealed that the membership had surpassed the 400,000 mark. To ensure the record champions stay in a good mood, they're aiming to pick up another three points at Stuttgart on Friday. "We're focusing on the game so the fans and the club can continue to celebrate at the weekend," said head coach Vincent Kompany in Thursday's press conference ahead of the clash with the Stuttgart side.
However, the FCB coach stressed the game against last season's runners-up would be anything but easy: "They're strong in terms of running and tackling. I have a lot of respect. Nevertheless, we're aiming to win. The task will give us some extra motivation." The aim is to get the next win against Stuttgart with the requisite humility, but at the same time with plenty of confidence, and in doing so take another step towards the title. "The game is very important, we want to maintain our lead," said board member for sport Max Eberl, explaining the approach.
Read the key statements from the press conference with Vincent Kompany and Max Eberl here:
The opponents: VfB Stuttgart
VfB Stuttgart are seventh in the Bundesliga table with 36 points from 23 games. However, after a strong start to the new year with three wins from three league games, they've picked up just four points from their last five matches in the German top flight. Nevertheless, Sebastian Hoeneß, who coached FC Bayern's U19s and reserves between 2017 and 2020, leads a side who are also in the hunt for a European spot this season following an outstanding campaign last year (2nd place). "Stuttgart are a team who are dangerous in every phase. They put a lot of pressure on you and are also dangerous on the counter-attack. They work very hard, every player gets back into formation," said FCB coach Kompany about the upcoming opponents.
The facts on the clash at VfB:
Team news for VfB Stuttgart vs. FC Bayern
Kompany revealed in his pre-match press conference that Bayern will probably be without Daniel Peretz (kidney contusion) and Joshua Kimmich (tendonitis).
Nikolas Nartey, Luca Raimund (thigh), Leonidas Stergiou (heel), El Bilal Touré (metatarsal fracture), Ameen Al-Dakhil (pulled muscle) and Dan-Axel Zagadou (knee ligament) are all out for VfB.
What the coaches say
Playing away against the runners-up from the previous season is never easy. We've focused solely on that, we haven't taken a single step less in our preparation because the game is very important for us.
Vincent Kompany
We have to be particularly efficient and continue what we started recently: we want to play well, intensively and boldly. Especially against Bayern you need to play with a lot of courage. That's when you're most likely to accomplish the result you want.
Sebastian Hoeneß (VfB Stuttgart coach)
It's a big week for FC Bayern:
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