Bayern Munich vs. RB Leipzig preview: Kompany looking for a response

Bayern Munich

Kompany suffered his first Bundesliga loss in last Saturday’s home clash with Mainz. Lee Jae-sung opened the scoring in the 41st minute, before he doubled Mainz’s advantage on the hour mark. Leroy Sané pulled a goal back in the 87th minute, but it ultimately proved to be too little too late for his side.

Unfortunately for the Bavarians, defending champions Bayer Leverkusen took advantage of their slip-up, beating Augsburg 2-0 to reduce Bayern’s lead at the top to four points. However, while they may have experienced disappointment last weekend, Bayern still have one unbeaten record to protect, having avoided defeat in all six of their Bundesliga home matches this season. In fact, Kompany’s side have won five of their six league games in Munich, including each of their last four top-flight home outings against Stuttgart, Union Berlin, Augsburg and Heidenheim. 

Bayern also enjoyed success in their most recent home game against RB Leipzig, with Harry Kane netting a stoppage-time winner in February’s clash at the Allianz Arena.

Team News

Kane and Alphonso Davies are all set to return to the squad, although it is unclear whether the pair will play an active role in Friday’s contest. Meanwhile, Kompany is still unable to call upon Manuel Neuer, Sacha Boey, Hiroki Ito, Kingsley Coman, Joao Palhinha and Tarek Buchmann.

RB Leipzig

Leipzig are sitting in fourth place and six points adrift of Bayern after winning eight, drawing three and losing three of their 14 league matches. Marco Rose’s side recently experienced a four-game winless league run, before they got their Bundesliga campaign back on track with a 2-0 away win over Holstein Kiel. 

They enjoyed another successful outing in Sunday’s meeting with Eintracht Frankfurt at the Red Bull Arena. Benjamin Šeško saw his opener cancelled out by Nathaniel Brown, before Loïs Openda scored the decisive goal to seal a 2-1 victory, moving Leipzig level on points with third-placed Frankfurt.

Die Roten Bullen will now head on their travels for a difficult away game against Bayern Munich. The visitors have won just one of their previous eight away Bundesliga games against Bayern (D2, L5), with that sole victory taking place in May 2023. They will hope to change that statistic on Friday, as look to become the third team to win a top-flight at the Allianz Arena in 2024. As it stands, Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund are the only two sides that have beaten Bayern in an away league game in the current calendar year.

Team News

David Raum could return to the squad, while late decisions will be made on Kevin Kampl and Amadou Haidara’s availability. However, the the visitors will definitely be without the services of Xavi Simons, Castello Lukeba, Yussuf Poulsen, Eljif Elmas and Assan Ouédraogo.