St. Pauli home game kicks off season run-in

With the final international break of the season now over, Bayern head into the final straight of the Bundesliga campaign, starting with a home game against St. Pauli on Saturday (kick-off at 3.30pm CET, live coverage on fcbayern.com and in the FC Bayern app with our text commentary and free web radio). Here’s all you need to know ahead of the Matchday 27 meeting at the Allianz Arena in our preview.

Check out the photos from final training on Friday:

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The break brought some bad news for Bayern as defensive stalwarts Dayot Upamecano and Alphonso Davies both returned to Munich with bad injuries and will be out of action for some time. “It’s a shame for both that they can’t be involved in this important period,” said head coach Vincent Kompany, who also firmly believes that his squad is good enough to compensate for those absences. The team has in fact already done so at various stages this season. “We’ve always managed it so far. Hopefully it brings the group even close together,” the Belgian added.

Bayern will need that togetherness on Saturday as they look to get back to winning ways in the Bundesliga against St. Pauli. The league leaders have earned only one point from the past two games against supposed relegation candidates Bochum (3-2 loss) and Union Berlin (1-1 draw). The advantage over Bayer Leverkusen in second place is six points, but the defending champions can increase the pressure on Bayern as they open the matchday at home to Bochum on Friday night. According to Kompany, it means his team’s approach has to be that they are tied on points in the title race. “We’re assuming that Leverkusen will win all their games, so we also need to win all our games. That’s our mentality and how we’ll perform to our best.”

Read more from Kompany’s pre-match press conference here:

Opponent: St. Pauli

Although many people will not have backed St. Pauli to survive on their return to the Bundesliga, they are edging ever close to proving them wrong. The Hamburg club are five points above the relegation zone and therefore well placed to stay up, but there’s still a lot of work to do. “We’ve now got eight finals and need to make sure we pick up points,” said forward Noah Weißhaupt going into the season’s final straight. The Kiezkicker, who boast the third-best defence in the division with only 30 goals conceded, showed prior to the international break that they can indeed get the results they need with a 1-0 win over Hoffenheim. That ended a run of six games without victory and will fill the team with confidence ahead of their visit to the Allianz Arena.

Pauli may be “huge underdogs” according to their coach Alexander Blessin, but he still believes in his team. “Everyone is expecting a loss, but we know we can get something if we’re brave,” the 51-year-old stated. He also recalled the reverse fixture, where Jamal Musiala’s brilliant goal proved the difference in a 1-0 Bayern win. “It’s hugely important that we don’t give them the space and time they want on the pitch. We did that very well in the first meeting. If we get under their skin and annoy them, then things are going in the right direction,” Blessin added.

Read up on the facts ahead of the game:

Team news

As well as Davies (cruciate ligament) and Upamecano (knee), Bayern are also still without Aleks Pavlovic due to illness. Kompany confirmed that Jonas Urbig will continue in goal in Manuel Neuer’s absence with a calf injury. João Palhinha is available again following suspension.

Davies and Upamecano have been ruled out for some time:

St. Pauli are still missing long-term absentees Simon Zoller, Sascha Burchert and James Sands, while Karol Mets (knee) and Morgan Guilavogui (ankle) have returned to training but aren’t yet ready to return. Siebe van der Heyden is a doubt with a thigh issue.

What the coaches say