Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen

Bundesliga Round 4

Munich, September 15, 20:30 CET

In a matchup of teams with maximum score after three rounds of the new Bundesliga season, champions Bayern have a huge advantage against Bayer Leverkusen, and not primarily because they host this derby game in Munich this Friday.

The Leverkusen team has scored 11 goals in three games and now has an advantage at the top of the table due to a better goal difference compared to Bayern. However, the visitors will be without long-term absent and injured Czech forward Patrick Schick in the derby in Munich. So far, Nigerian forward Victor Boniface has replaced him very well, but Bayer so far had nowhere near as tough test, as this match at Bayern Munich.

The home team is counting on the famous English striker Harry Kane, who is playing in ever-increasing form after joining the club in August. Bayern will certainly perform in an attacking 4-2-3-1 variant, in which the attackers of exceptional technique, Sane, Muller and Coman, will play behind Kane. The problem for the Munich club may be the injury of the outstanding midfielder Kimmich, who missed the last match of the German national team... However, he is expected to be ready for the game against Bayer.

For Bayer, the absence of defender Piero Hincapia is also an obvious problem, while winger Amine Adli is expected to be back in the squad after suspension. The strength of Spanish coach Xabi Alonso's team is the play of midfielders in a very modern 3-4-3 formation. However, it is difficult to expect Bayer's defenders Kossounou, Tah and Tapsoba to be able to respond in the right way to the extremely fast and coordinated attackers of the home team.

Of course, Bayer has the quality to cause problems for the champions. This is a match in which both teams have an excellent chance to score - but Bayern has much more quality in every line of the team, as well as on the bench, to decide the winner in the second half.

Unfortunately, all bookmakers expect a certain number of goals in this match (rightfully so), so the only reliable option is to predict a (potentially even convincing) victory of the champions in Munich.

Last year, at the end of September, Bayern won against this opponent 4:0 in Munich. Then in March, during the period when the Bavarian team was in a deep crisis, Bayer celebrated as the host in Leverkusen 2:1 in a match in which they were losing at halftime.

The last time Bayer won away in Munich was in November 2019 (2:1), in a game that they ended with ten players on the field. It is also the only victory of the team from Leverkusen away to Bayern in the last ten years. There is a minimal probability that that score could change in this game - simply, Bayer has neither the experience nor a reliable enough defense, to respond to the pressure of the powerful Bavarians away from home.