BERLIN (AP) — Who can stop Bayern Munich’s winning start to the season?
After a week in which they increased their record to 16 wins in all competitions by defeating European champions Paris Saint-Germain and 2024 Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern should be on guard for surprises in Saturday’s Bundesliga game against Union Berlin.
Union have not beaten Bayern at home in the Bundesliga since promotion in 2019, but Bayern’s powerhouse side can look forward to a battle at Köpenick, where Union held Bayern 1-1 last season and Steffen Baumgart’s side remain unbeaten in four competitive games.
Bayern also drew with Union in the next round of the German Cup in early December.
Another league win for Bayern would equal the team’s victory. 2015 started with 10 consecutive wins Under Pep Guardiola.
major matches
Borussia Mönchengladbach host Cologne in the Rhine derby on Saturday, with both teams boosting their confidence with a morale-boosting win. Cologne defeated promotion rivals Hamburger SV 4-1, while Gladbach beat St. Pauli 4-0, their first Bundesliga win of the season and the first under interim manager Eugen Polanski.
Borussia Dortmund visit promoted side Hamburger SV on Saturday as they look to bounce back from their 4-1 loss to Manchester City in the Champions League. Niko Kovac’s side had won four straight since losing 2-1 to Bayern.
Elsewhere, Leipzig have not lost since losing 6-0 to Bayern in their opening game. Ole Werner’s side head to Hoffenheim for a match their rivals teasingly refer to as “El Plastico”. Leipzig and Hoffenheim are among the league’s least popular teams because their promotion to the Bundesliga was funded by energy drink company Red Bull and software billionaire Dietmar Hopp, respectively. Hoffenheim advertised tickets for the match under the name “Der Unbeliebtico” (a play on the German word for “hate”).
Featured players
Luis Diaz wants to make amends for being sent off for a vicious tackle on Achraf Hakimi during Bayern’s win over PSG. The injured Morocco right-back faces a race against time to return to action at the African Cup of Nations in his home country.
Union defender Leopold Kellfeldt will be tasked with keeping Bayern’s attacking trio of Dias, Harry Kane and Michael Olise in check, no small task for the 21-year-old Austrian international.
Ivorian teenager Yann Diomande showed why he’s so excited about the 18-year-old, who joined from Spanish side Leganes in the off-season, by tucking in his own goal and scoring another goal in Leipzig’s 3-1 win over Stuttgart.
Dutch midfielder Wout Brugger scored twice in Hoffenheim’s 3-2 win over Wolfsburg last weekend, helping his side move to sixth in the Bundesliga with their third consecutive win.
who is out
Jamal Musiala is close to returning to Bayern broke his leg at the Club World Cup in July. The club’s sporting director Max Hebert said he expected the 22-year-old forward to play some minutes in December and be fully fit in January, when the league resumes from its two-and-a-half week winter break.
“He’s doing well. The end is in sight,” Hebert said.
off the field
Germany unveiled its new national team kit on Wednesday – the last kit ever produced by Adidas Nike will take over in 2027 This is an homage to the uniform worn by West Germany when they won the 1990 World Cup. The black, red, and yellow stripes of the German flag run from the shoulders to the chest.
According to business newspaper Handelsblatt, Nike is paying the German Football Federation about 100 million euros a year to take over business from its German rival, double the income it received from long-time supplier Adidas.
New shirt will debut against Germany men Luxembourg participates in World Cup qualifiers The women’s players will wear them in the Nations League final against Spain on November 28th.
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