<b>Bundesliga Matchday 34 Preview: Wolfsburg against Bayern</b>
On Saturday, FC Bayern Munich will be handed the <em>Meisterschale</em> for the eighth consecutive time. The match against Wolfsburg is a dead rubber. And yet a good end to the season can be vital for a team, as the recent past has shown.There are still two games left to play for Bayern in the domestic competitions. Of the two, only the DFB-Pokal final next weekend is really important. If Bayern manages to defeat Leverkusen, Hansi Flick will have won the double within nine months of being appointed head coach.But three is reason for caution, because the match against VfL Wolfsburg will not be insignificant. On the final matchday of the Bundesliga, the focus is on morale, fitness, rhythm and an emotionally and psychologically good feeling before the crucial match next weekend. A look at the club’s recent history shows how important a good finish in the Bundesliga can be despite the title race already having been decided.In 2018, Eintracht Frankfurt won the cup. Shortly before that, Bayern lost their last home game with Jupp Heynckes at the sidelines 1-4 against an ailing VfB Stuttgart. A result that might have hurt not just because of the scoreline, but especially because of the circumstances. In 2013, on the other hand, Bayern celebrated the greatest success in their club’s history: the treble after they narrowly edged out Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-4 in a very shaky affair on the last matchday.<a href="#enough-incentives-for-a-top-performance"></a>Enough incentives for a top performanceAt that time, the Champions League final took place before the DFB-Pokal final. In the moment the <em>Henkelpott</em> was won against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, the team seemed to lose all tension and focus within the blink of an eye. In the week that followed, Jupp Heynckes and Peter Hermann had their hands full trying to salvage the team’s body language, attitude and focus during training. The result was a very wobbly performance ending in a tight 3-2 against VfB Stuttgart in Berlin. Goal achieved, but not quite in the confident manner hoped for.Yet on the whole such examples are rather the exception than the norm in the history of FC Bayern. For this reason, and because the circumstances vary in every season, the significance of the examples mentioned should not be exaggerated. But they may serve as a timely reminder: If concentration levels drop too soon, as the examples have shown, accomplishing the ultimate goals of the season is at risk.In a season like this, where the Champions League is most likely to be played in August, everything is different anyway. But Hansi Flick and his team should not find it too difficult to motivate their team for the match against Wolfsburg. There are still a few records left to play for for the team and club.<a href="#a-high-victory-could-break-several-records"></a>A high victory could break several recordsTake the 100-goal mark, for example: Bayern have scored 96 goals in the current season so far. Only once did a team manage to break this barrier. In the 1971/72 season, Bayern scored 101 goals. It seems unlikely that Flick’s team will score five goals against the defensively quite stable VfL Wolfsburg. But under Flick, this team is capable of anything.In the case of Robert Lewandowski, who currently ranks first in the Bundesliga goal scorer ranking with 33 goals in the season, anything is possible. He is already the highest scoring foreign player in the history of the competition (having overtaken Aubameyang at 31 goals), but also the most successful scorer not named Müller in Bundesliga history. Only Dieter Müller (35 goals) and Gerd Müller (36, 38 and 40 goals) are currently still ahead of him. Particularly interesting: Wolfsburg is something like Lewandowski’s favourite opponent. The Pole has netted 20 goals in 18 Bundesliga games against the team from Lower Saxony. The average rate of 1.11 goals per game will not be enough this weekend.…
On Saturday, FC Bayern Munich will be handed the <em>Meisterschale</em> for the eighth consecutive time. The match against Wolfsburg is a dead rubber. And yet a good end to the season can be vital for a team, as the recent past has shown.There are still two games left to play for Bayern in the domestic competitions. Of the two, only the DFB-Pokal final next weekend is really important. If Bayern manages to defeat Leverkusen, Hansi Flick will have won the double within nine months of being appointed head coach.But three is reason for caution, because the match against VfL Wolfsburg will not be insignificant. On the final matchday of the Bundesliga, the focus is on morale, fitness, rhythm and an emotionally and psychologically good feeling before the crucial match next weekend. A look at the club’s recent history shows how important a good finish in the Bundesliga can be despite the title race already having been decided.In 2018, Eintracht Frankfurt won the cup. Shortly before that, Bayern lost their last home game with Jupp Heynckes at the sidelines 1-4 against an ailing VfB Stuttgart. A result that might have hurt not just because of the scoreline, but especially because of the circumstances. In 2013, on the other hand, Bayern celebrated the greatest success in their club’s history: the treble after they narrowly edged out Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-4 in a very shaky affair on the last matchday.<a href="#enough-incentives-for-a-top-performance"></a>Enough incentives for a top performanceAt that time, the Champions League final took place before the DFB-Pokal final. In the moment the <em>Henkelpott</em> was won against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, the team seemed to lose all tension and focus within the blink of an eye. In the week that followed, Jupp Heynckes and Peter Hermann had their hands full trying to salvage the team’s body language, attitude and focus during training. The result was a very wobbly performance ending in a tight 3-2 against VfB Stuttgart in Berlin. Goal achieved, but not quite in the confident manner hoped for.Yet on the whole such examples are rather the exception than the norm in the history of FC Bayern. For this reason, and because the circumstances vary in every season, the significance of the examples mentioned should not be exaggerated. But they may serve as a timely reminder: If concentration levels drop too soon, as the examples have shown, accomplishing the ultimate goals of the season is at risk.In a season like this, where the Champions League is most likely to be played in August, everything is different anyway. But Hansi Flick and his team should not find it too difficult to motivate their team for the match against Wolfsburg. There are still a few records left to play for for the team and club.<a href="#a-high-victory-could-break-several-records"></a>A high victory could break several recordsTake the 100-goal mark, for example: Bayern have scored 96 goals in the current season so far. Only once did a team manage to break this barrier. In the 1971/72 season, Bayern scored 101 goals. It seems unlikely that Flick’s team will score five goals against the defensively quite stable VfL Wolfsburg. But under Flick, this team is capable of anything.In the case of Robert Lewandowski, who currently ranks first in the Bundesliga goal scorer ranking with 33 goals in the season, anything is possible. He is already the highest scoring foreign player in the history of the competition (having overtaken Aubameyang at 31 goals), but also the most successful scorer not named Müller in Bundesliga history. Only Dieter Müller (35 goals) and Gerd Müller (36, 38 and 40 goals) are currently still ahead of him. Particularly interesting: Wolfsburg is something like Lewandowski’s favourite opponent. The Pole has netted 20 goals in 18 Bundesliga games against the team from Lower Saxony. The average rate of 1.11 goals per game will not be enough this weekend.…