Bayern look like champions again
Bayern Munich have won the last eight Bundesliga titles and a ninth is looking inevitable under Hansi Flick.
Last season’s treble winners look machine-like and despite conceding 26 goals in 20 games, the Bundesliga table looks rosy with RB Leipzig seven points adrift.
The German champions have scored 58 goals in 20 games, averaging just under three goals a game.
Bayern are currently in Qatar, hoping to win the Club World Cup for the second time. They face Tigres in the final on Thursday after Robert Lewandowski scored a brace in a 2-0 win against Al Ahly.
If they win the final, the German club would have won a sextuple of titles after wins in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup, Champions League, DFB Super Cup and UEFA Supercup.
Lewandowski hunts for Muller record
The Polish striker has scored 24 Bundesliga goals in just 19 games and needs 16 more to level Gerd Muller’s astonishing record of 40 goals in a single league season in 1971/72.
Lewandowski, who scored 21 in his first 19 games last season, currently has six more than Muller had at the same stage of the season he set the record.
Last season he fell six short of breaking Muller’s record but he did outscore him in terms of goals across all competitions. The 32-year-old scored 55 goals in 47 appearances, outstripping Muller’s 50 from 48 matches.
Issues at Dortmund
Meanwhile at Dortmund it’s becoming a nightmare season. Lucien Favre was sacked in December after a run of poor results and Edin Terzic was handed the job until the end of the season.
But despite possessing a brilliant squad of players, they sit in sixth and have won one of their last five games.
Since Terzic has taken charge, Dortmund have won four, lost four and drawn one. The hope this season was that the Yellow and Blacks could challenge Bayern and win the title but now finishing in the top four is the aim, and it’s not currently looking certain.
Champions League in doubt
It would be catastrophic for a club like Borussia Dortmund to miss out on the benefits of the Champions League.
BVB were beaten 2-1 by Freiburg last weekend in a defeat that sees them sit 16 points behind leaders Bayern Munich and four points off Eintracht Frankfurt in fourth.
The positives for Dortmund are that goals aren’t a major issue. They have scored 39; only Frankfurt and Bayern have more.
Erling Haaland has 14 league goals in 15 games, while Jadon Sancho has shown signs of getting back to his best since the winter break. The English winger set very high standards with 20 goals and 20 assists last season in all competitions; while it took him until January 3 to net his first Bundesliga goal this season.
Haaland and Sancho are two of Dortmund’s prized assets and missing out on the Champions League would have grave consequences financially, leading to the club being forced to sell possibly both players in the summer.
They have 14 matches left to avoid a disastrous season and make the top four.
Featured image: Robert Lewandowski of FC Bayern Muenchen celebrates with team mate Lucas Hernandez after scoring his team’s second goal which was later cancelled due to offside during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Muenchen at Signal Iduna Park on November 07, 2020 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by M. Donato/FC Bayern via Getty Images)
