16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Bayern Munich and a story that will outlast his contract.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bayern Munich heard it as anything else.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
Daniel Peretz’s loan is measured in nothing happening
13 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Southampton. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Bayern Munich know it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Magnus Dalpiaz and Bayern Munich agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Borussia Dortmund next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
Daniel Peretz’s loan is measured in nothing happening
12 clean sheets from 28 appearances at Southampton. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Nobody at Bayern Munich will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bayern Munich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ipswich Town have kept their man, and Bayern Munich go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
49 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Bayern Munich offered $13.4M; RB Leipzig said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Michael Olise takes the afternoon — 8.53
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Olise provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Bayern Munich have gone to Paris Saint-Germain with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer went to VfB Stuttgart this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Bayern Munich asked and Bayer Leverkusen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bayern Munich can pretend not to have heard.
Bayern Munich have gone to RB Leipzig with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
568 appearances across 15 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Bayern Munich have had the benefit of it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Jonathan Tah obliged against Heidenheim. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Bayern Munich.
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Levi Colwill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Joshua Kimmich and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Nobody at Bayern Munich will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Joshua Kimmich provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
6 goals in one match, Michael Olise on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Bayern Munich and St. Pauli.
Levi Colwill was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jamal Musiala has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
VfL Wolfsburg made Bayern Munich work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Jamal Musiala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.45. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Luis Díaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
8.28. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Something was said to Mike Maignan and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Bayern Munich will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bayern Munich know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
Daniel Peretz’s loan is measured in nothing happening
5 clean sheets from 10 appearances at Southampton. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bayern Munich. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bayern Munich heard it as anything else.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 12 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Levi Colwill was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.48, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Dayot Upamecano's mistake
Heidenheim will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bayern Munich were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bayern Munich heard it as anything else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Bayern Munich and Heidenheim, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Levi Colwill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Luis Díaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.58. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Michael Olise was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Dayot Upamecano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Bayern Munich will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Bayern Munich can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” René Albrecht after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bayern Munich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Eintracht Frankfurt spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 14 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Sven Ulreich was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Bayern Munich have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Bayern Munich can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bayern Munich have let the market know Kim Min-Jae can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Bayern Munich man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Jamal Musiala was the best thing in any of them.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Köln in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Manuel Neuer a promise
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bayern Munich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bayern Munich asked and SC Freiburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$8.3M was the most the club would pay and SC Freiburg were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” VfL Bochum had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Bayern Munich hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bayern Munich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
15 seasons and 568 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The offer from VfL Bochum for Serge Gnabry was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The name of Lennart Karl has come up in conversations Bayern Munich were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.