Rivalry & record attempt: Bayern take on Brugge

FC Bayern welcome Belgian runners-up Club Brugge to the Allianz Arena on Matchday 3 of the Champions League league phase on Wednesday night (live text and free Web Radio commentary on fcbayern.com and in the FC Bayern app from 21:00 CEST). Our preview has all you need to know ahead of the match.

Final training, press conference & more – what happened on the day before Bayern’s game against Brugge:

Latest news from Bayern

The good news keeps coming at FC Bayern at the moment! Having equalled the best start to a season by a German team with their 11th win in 11 games against Borussia Dortmund, the Munich club announced around 40 hours before kick-off against Brugge that Vincent Kompany will be continuing his successful work in the long term. The Belgian feels at home in Munich, as he underlined on Tuesday – and he just had one condition for his extension: “My only ask was that it's not a big topic and we can quickly put the focus back on the next match,” revealed Kompany.

That way, he could devote himself to the meeting with his Belgian compatriots without distraction. Because of his history with RSC Anderlecht, Kompany does feel “a sense of rivalry” with this match, but of course his team’s success is the priority – as well as the opportunity to complete a dozen. “A win is a kind of prize that you get,” he described. “When we remind ourselves of the few times we've lost, and how great the opponents felt then - we don't want to gift that winning feeling to the opponents.” FCB have also made a perfect start to their Champions League campaign with two wins from two matches, which they now want to build on against Brugge.

How well do you know our opponents? Test your knowledge in the Matchday Quiz:

The opponents: Club Brugge

Brugge travel to Munich on the back of a win after beating second-from-bottom OH Leuven 1-0 on Saturday, keeping them in second place three points behind leaders Union Saint-Gilloise. Although his team got the job done there, coach Nicky Hayen sees room for improvement with a view to the meeting in Munich. “We’ve continued our pattern of ups and downs and it wasn’t a good performance, we have to admit,” said Hayen. “We’re aware that Bayern are a team who punish every individual mistake. The Champions League is a very different competition, we have to drastically improve our level.”

They’ve already demonstrated the high level of performance they’re capable of this season with five wins on the European stage. ‘Club’ saw off FC Salzburg (4-2 on aggregate) and Rangers (9-1 on aggregate) in qualifying for the Champions League and also scored a 4-1 win over AS Monaco on Matchday 1 of the league phase, before going down to a narrow 2-1 defeat at Atalanta. The inconsistency of this young team – with an average age of 23.6 years, Brugge have the youngest squad in this season’s competition behind Chelsea (23.5) – was particularly evident in the league at the start of the season. More recently, though, they’ve taken 13 points of the last 15 on offer and are back on course, at least in terms of results. Bayern are suitably warned: “They're used to being very dominant in their league,” said Jonathan Tah, who came up against the Belgian side with Leverkusen, at the press conference. “They're a good team who we shouldn't underestimate. We have to approach the match seriously."

We spoke to ex-Bayern man Daniel van Buyten about Belgian football:

The team news for Bayern vs. Club Brugge

The Bavarians will again be without Alphonso Davies (cruciate ligament), Hiroki Ito (metatarsal) and Jamal Musiala (leg and ankle). Josip Stanišić (knee ligament) was able to join in parts of the final training session but is not yet an option for the squad. The same goes for Serge Gnabry, who sat out the match against Dortmund with an adductor problem.

For Brugge, Simon Mignolet (adductor), Raphael Onyedika (thigh) and Ludovit Reis (shoulder) have not made the trip to Munich.

The pre-match facts:

What the coaches say