This Saturday, Mainz 05 hosts Bayern Munich in the 14th round of the Bundesliga at the Mewa Arena. The league-leading Bayern comes with impressive stats this season, while Mainz tries to make use of home-field advantage to pull off a surprise. The stage is set for goals, intensity, and a Bayern side that, despite key injuries, carries the weight of an unbeaten giant.
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Bayern Munich: Unbeaten run and dominance under Vincent Kompany
Bayern Munich travels to Mainz in unstoppable form. Sitting comfortably atop the table with 33 points in 13 matches, the Bavarians boast the league's most lethal attack-already with 41 goals-and its strongest defense, conceding just 10 goals.
Bayern's manager this season, Vincent Kompany, has already made history. The Belgian is the third manager in Bundesliga history to go unbeaten in his first 13 matches. Now, he can equal Karlheinz Feldkamp, who remained unbeaten for 14 games in 1978 with Kaiserslautern. The pressure is there, but Bayern has responded with consistent commanding performances.
But there are injury setbacks in the team. Harry Kane, Alphonso Davies, and João Palhinha have returned to training but remain doubtful for the game, while Manuel Neuer will not feature again in 2024 due to a rib injury.
With Kane not available, all eyes are on Jamal Musiala, who has been in scintillating form. The young star scored a brace in the 4-2 win over Heidenheim and contributed with a goal and assist in the 5-1 thrashing of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. Musiala, in fact, holds fond memories of Mainz-he scored his first hat-trick in the 4-0 DFB Cup victory back in October.
Kompany respected Mainz but didn't lack confidence in his team: "Mainz has performed very well since the cup game against us. They're confident, but so are we. There are no easy games, and we need to play with intensity."
Mainz: A chance to surprise and show progress
In this clash, the visit to Bayern represents the occasion for Mainz to take redemption. The defeat to Wolfsburg in the last round by 4-3 interrupted a solid unbeaten streak of four matches and evidenced the possible frailties in defense. Having said this, Bo Henriksen's team stands at an honorable 9th position with 19 points in 13 matches.
Henriksen insisted that this is a different Mainz team, compared to that which fell against Bayern in the DFB Cup way back in October. His squad had grown to show more organization and confidence. Thus, as he insisted, "We're a different team now. We're playing well, with confidence, and we believe we can compete much better than before."
Henriksen will, however, be without a key defensive piece in Danny da Costa, who remains sidelined due to an adductor strain. Andreas Hanche-Olsen and Maxim Leitsch are the likely replacements but face the daunting task of trying to contain Bayern's fluid attack.
Mainz knows they’ll need a near-perfect performance to contain Bayern. The strategy will hinge on maintaining a compact defense, executing quick transitions, and exploiting any gaps left by the Bavarians, especially with key players still recovering.