Full concentration on the home stretch in the title race! Three days after their Champions League exit, FC Bayern travel to 1. FSV Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga on Saturday (live text and free Web Radio from 15:30 CEST on fcbayern.com and the FC Bayern App). The Bavarians will be aiming to steal a march on rivals Borussia Dortmund in the battle for top spot in the table. Our preview contains all the key information on the game.
The state of play for Bayern
Bayern gave it their all against Manchester City on Wednesday, but in the end the 1-1 draw wasn’t enough to progress. Now it’s about getting over that as quickly as possible and focusing fully on the title race. “It’s the last title we can still win. We‘re going to try everything to be German champions,” said a determined Leon Goretzka straight after full time against the Sky Blues. The title holders have a two-point lead (plus a far superior goal difference) over nearest challengers Borussia Dortmund – the task is to do all they can to get this over the line. With a win on Saturday afternoon, Thomas Tuchel’s men can extend the gap to five points, at least briefly, and crank up the pressure on BVB, who are in action against Eintracht Frankfurt in the evening fixture.
To do that, though, Bayern must be more clinical in front of goal following successive 1-1 draws against Hoffenheim and Man City. “We’re having the chances but we want more efficiency in our finishing,” demanded the FCB head coach. “We also need to score a goal from a half chance or from nothing.”
Watch Thomas Tuchel’s pre-match press conference in full below:
The opponents: Mainz 05
The hosts go into the game with high confidence. The Rhineland-Palatinate club are the third best team in the second half of the campaign with 22 points, and are also unbeaten in nine games (W5 D4) – the longest current run in the Bundesliga. "We've been playing very steadily recently, at a good level," described head coach Bo Svensson. However, the 43-year-old also warned that his team had "no chance" in their previous two encounters with Bayern this season. For the next encounter, they'll try to "produce a better performance".
The Dane is also looking forward to the reunion with his one-time coach. "It's something special. I was a player under Thomas Tuchel for five years, it was a
formative period and one of the reasons I went down the coaching path," revealed Svensson. That won't count for anything once the pre-match pleasantries are out of the way, though. "During the 90 minutes we'll be trying our best to win the game."
The facts on the meeting with Mainz:
The team news for Mainz 05 vs. Bayern
Along with long-term absentees Lucas Hernández and Manuel Neuer, Bayern are missing Benjamin Pavard, who's suspended after collecting his fifth yellow card. Otherwise Tuchel expects to have a full squad. "If nothing happens, everyone's available," confirmed the 49-year-old in Friday morning's press conference ahead of the final training session.
Apart from Jonathan Burkhardt (knee injury), Mainz are at full strength. FSV coach Svensson left it open as to whether youngster Nelson Weiper would be included in the squad shortly before the U19 Bundesliga championship final against Dortmund on Sunday morning.
What the coaches say
Mainz are on a very good run, they’re third in the table for the second half of the season. They have their own style, they’ve discovered their quality and are overperforming. They’re riding a wave, so it’s going to be an extremely difficult task. We have to be absolutely ready. It’s going to be very physical and we obviously know what we’re playing for.
Thomas Tuchel
We’ve already had two games against Bayern this season and we didn’t give a good account of ourselves there. We’re required to perform better on Saturday, but you can play very, very well against Bayern and it’s still not enough in the end. We have to focus on ourselves.
Bo Svensson (1. FSV Mainz 05 coach)
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