Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm is relishing what he describes as a “decisive week” for the Bundesliga leaders in their bid for an historic fourth straight Bundesliga title.
Bayern are eight points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who they play away on Saturday in a top-of-the-table clash for Pep Guardiola’s Bavarians, the second of two tough back-to-back league games in the coming week.
Bayern Munich host fifth-placed FSV Mainz 05 today, then travel to Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park to play their nearest rivals in Germany’s Der Klassiker.
Photo: EPA
Lahm says the aim is beat Mainz, then win at Dortmund to travel home with at least an 11-point advantage to put the Bavarians in pole position for a fourth straight title with nine games left.
“I think it will be a decisive week in the title race,” Lahm said. “If we manage to win both of our next games then we can definitely talk about the championship, but we still have a long way to go. We’ve still got a few games after this week, but if we win our next two then it’ll be very difficult to catch us, but first we need to beat Mainz and Dortmund. We can take a huge step forward.”
Two years ago, Bayern set the record for the earliest German league title win at the end of March — with seven games left — but Lahm says they are not focusing on setting a date.
“No, at the moment our aim is to travel to Dortmund with an eight-point lead,” he said. “We want to win there, which would give us an 11-point advantage and that would be a key moment in deciding the championship.”
Bayern are still without a fit centerback in their squad, but Medhi Benatia is working his way back, while Mario Goetze is close to making his return after a leg injury.
Mainz have won four of their past five games, with attacking midfielder Yunus Malli their top scorer with 10 goals, two of which came in Sunday’s 3-1 win at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Second-placed Dortmund are at SV Darmstadt 98 today hoping to have captain Mats Hummels back from a hip injury which kept him out of their 3-1 fightback win over TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Sunday.
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