Matchday 26

Best ever?

FC Bayern could hit yet another milestone this weekend. If they win at 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 both fail to follow suit at Hannover 96 and against Eintracht Braunschweig respectively, the defending champs will be uncatchable at the top of the table. Never before has a team won the Bundesliga title in March, let alone as early as Matchday 26. Bayern set the current record only last year, clinching the championship with six games to spare on 6 April.

Sharp-shooters

It is almost two years since Bayern failed to score in a league game, a 62-match run which long ago beat the previous best-mark of 36. The last time they drew a blank was on 14 April 2012 at home to Mainz - their opponents this weekend. Pep Guardiola's charges will not be taking their Coface Arena assignment lightly. Mainz have lost just one of their last 11 games and Matchday 25's 4-2 win at 1899 Hoffenheim means only Bayern (24), and Schalke (19) have bettered Mainz's 17-point haul since the league restart.

History on Dortmund's side

Jürgen Klopp's charges travel to Hannover this Saturday in the comforting statistical knowledge that the last time they failed to score away to the 96ers in the Bundesliga was back in 1966! Dortmund have hit the net at least once on all 19 road trips to the Lower Saxony capital since, a sequence second only to Leverkusen's 22-game scoring streak at Bremen between 1991 and 2012.

Family affair

The Bundesliga has seen plenty of fraternal duels down the years, but if Raffael (l.) runs out for the hosts and Ronny (r.) does likewise for the visitors when Borussia Mönchengladbach take on Hertha Berlin this weekend, it will be the league's first Brazilian brotherly head-to-head. In the sides' first season meeting, Ronny spent the match on the bench.

On the up

In leapfrogging Leverkusen to claim third place in the table last weekend, Schalke got themselves into a direct UEFA Champions League qualifying berth for the first time under Jens Keller. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's matchwinning brace at FC Augsburg took the Schalke striker's goal tally this year up to seven, a division best for the second season-half.







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