After the last four competitive game wins with 13-0 goals, newly promoted St. Pauli should not be a stumbling block for the record champions, even if Christoph Freund sees the promoted team's development as “very positive”. “It's a special club, very emotional. They play very good Football and deserved promotion,” said the Bayern sporting director. The last duel to date was a long time ago: in spring 2011, the Munich team won 8-1 at the Millerntor.
Coach Vincent Kompany can't really explain why things are going so well away from home. “We don't make much difference, our plan doesn't change whether it's home or away. Maybe that's one reason why we scored so many goals away from home, because the opponent plays a little differently at home,” said the Belgian, who also warned. For the game in Hamburg that means “nothing”.
IMAGO/Sven Simon/Frank Hoermann
The people of Munich have maintained a close friendship with St. Pauli for 20 years. In the 80s, Bayern and Uli Hoeneß were the big attractions of the mostly left-wing St. Pauli supporters. But when the club from Hamburg was doing poorly economically, the then manager Hoeneß immediately helped. In July 2003, together with FC St. Pauli, he organized a friendly match between Bayern at the Millerntor against the then third division club and left all of the proceeds of 200,000 euros with the Hamburg team. He remembers how he put on an FC St. Pauli “Savior” T-shirt before kick-off and walked through the stadium.
Leipzig is looking for the trail
Bayern's pursuers RB Leipzig, who are three points behind, want to get back on track in the home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The team around Christoph Baumgartner and Nicolas Seiwald suffered their first Bundesliga defeat of the season in Dortmund last weekend and their fourth defeat in their fourth game in the Champions League during the week. The signs are clear when champions Bayer Leverkusen visit Bochum. VfL is the only team still without a win and is last with one point.
Borussia Dortmund continues to struggle with injury concerns ahead of the game at FSV Mainz. Nuri Sahin did not want to accept that his remaining core squad was physically exhausted after two weeks in England, including a 1-0 win over Sturm Graz on Tuesday. “Everyone is fit. This is a super important game for us,” said the BVB coach.
Marcel Sabitzer and his colleagues have won every home game so far this season, but not an away game yet. The more you think about it, “the longer it sticks,” said Sahin. “We are there to finally get it done away from home, to get a three-pointer.”
