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Bayern’s ninth game in the space of a month brings one more difficult fixture before the year’s final international break as the Bavarians make the trip to Mainz in the Bundesliga on Saturday (kick-off at 15:30 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 9 encounter as the champions look to stay top of the table.
Check out the best photos from final training on Saturday:
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Bayern sit first in the Bundesliga table after eight rounds of fixtures on 18 points, only ahead of Borussia Dortmund on goal difference after the sides drew 2-2 last weekend. Bayern then overcame a host of injuries to prevail 2-0 at Atlético Madrid thanks to an excellent performance on Tuesday. Now the objective is to take another three points going into the final international break of the year. “The most important thing is that the team spirit, the attitude of the players, that never-say-die attitude, that desire to fight to the end is there. We’ll take that with us,” said Aaron Danks, looking back on the team’s midweek display.
We need to work for everything. It’s an important game. We want to finish this run with a good result.
Aaron Danks
Saturday’s opponents, however, have posed Bayern many issues in recent years, winning four of the last six Bundesliga meetings played in Mainz. The 05ers also took a 3-0 lead when the Bavarians last visited, but Vincent Kompany’s men roared back to win 4-3. They are now 30 Bundesliga away games without defeat and edging closer to the club record.
Bayern team news
Jamal Musiala is back in team training but won’t be involved in Mainz, as Danks confirmed at Friday’s press conference. Serge Gnabry, Luis Díaz, Ismael Saibari and Bara Ndiaye are all still sidelined.
Opponent: Mainz
Mainz sit in ninth place going into Matchday 9 with 10 points to their name. However, they have suffered consecutive losses in the Bundesliga for the first time under Urs Fischer, also going out of the DFB Cup against Bochum. The 05ers are seven games without a win at home in the league, earning only a single point on their own patch this season – the lowest number of all teams in the division alongside bottom side Borussia Mönchengladbach. Still, Bayern are well aware of how hard things can be at the MEWA Arena. “We’ve always had difficult games against Mainz. We respect them. It’s a hard place to play. They’re very competitive. We need to be at the highest level from the first minute,” Danks added.
We need to play with those Mainz virtues that we showed for a long time but haven’t done so in the last three games. That’s running, getting stuck in, intensity and being horrible. We need to make as few individual mistakes as possible.
Urs Fischer (Mainz)
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