With the start Bayern Munich has been having to this season, records have been broken with their 16-match win streak across all competitions, and there are still even more records on offer for the German Rekordmeister. Back in the 2015/16 Bundesliga campaign under Pep Guardiola, Bayern won their opening 10 matches of the season, with that streak having been snapped by an away 0-0 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt on the 30th of October in 2015. Of course, they still went on to win the Bundesliga title as well as the DFB-Pokal but lost out in the Champions League semifinals to Atletico Madrid on away goals (2-2 aggregate).
With a win over Union Berlin, Bayern could’ve equaled the record held by Guardiola’s 2015/16 Bayern side, as Vincent Kompany’s side had won their opening 9 Bundesliga matches of the season prior to the point at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei. It took a late Harry Kane header to even be able to salvage a point for Bayern, as Union proved to be a tough nut to crack against the reigning Bundesliga champions that were run to the max midweek in their win at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Prior to the draw at Union Berlin, they’ve beaten RB Leipzig, FC Augsburg, Hamburg SV, TSG Hoffenheim, Werder Bremen, Frankfurt, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Bayer Leverkusen on their way to their historic start to the season that included 16 wins across all competitions.
In the press conference ahead of the clash at Union Berlin, Kompany was asked about the Guardiola record, but said that he is only focused on winning matches and titles – strictly business. “I don’t focus on records; I’d rather win a final than break a record. But we’ve won a lot of games, and it’s about the mental attitude: winning 16 times in a row should give you confidence,” the Belgian manager explained (via @iMiaSanMia).
Kompany played under Guardiola during the end of his tenure at Manchester City and the two have squared off as manager a total of three times while Kompany was Burnley boss; Guardiola won all three encounters. Nonetheless, Guardiola has been a pivotal part of Kompany’s career as both a player and manager, and Kompany said that the two are usual in relatively regular contact with one another. “I said many times that Pep played a very important role in my career as a player and my development as a coach. We didn’t speak too much since the summer. He’s really busy trying to get back to the top of the Premier League. But we’ve always been regularly in contact so at some point we’ll get back in touch. I obviously still follow Man City and want them to win the league and be successful,” he explained (via @iMiaSanMia).
Bayern Munich hit the road in the ultimate “trap game” situation after big wins over Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga) and Paris Saint-Germain (Champions League) just before an international break.
For any team, that could have spelled danger — and this Bayern Munich squad was not immune.
Bayern Munich and Union Berlin fought to a 2-2 in a match that reeked of danger for the Bavarians from the opening whistle. Let’s get this started and talk about how this all played out. This is what we have on tap on this edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show:
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