Bayern eye club record at home to Darmstadt

Bayern Munich could make club history on Saturday as a clean sheet against Darmstadt in the Bundesliga would see Pep Guardiola's side go a record six home games without conceding a goal.

Arsenal were the last club to score against Bayern at Munich's Allianz Arena back in November when Olivier Giroud scored the Gunners' consolation in a 5-1 loss.

Since that Champions League group game, Bayern have won all five of their home games in all competitions without conceding a single goal and hold an eight-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga.

Guardiola's team are in no mood to give Darmstadt any hope of a first win in Munich in their final match before their Champions League last 16, first-leg clash at Juventus next Tuesday.

Especially as Darmstadt have picked up 17 of their 24 points this season away from home.

"They will play very deep and very compact," said Bayern midfielder Xabi Alonso.

"We will have to be patient and it'll be important to get the first goal.

"It's all about Darmstadt for now, we want to keep our eight-point lead. Only afterwards will we think about Juventus."

With 21 goals to his credit, Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski has scored almost as many goals as the 22 the entire Darmstadt team has managed.

The visitors' cause is not helped by a raft of suspensions.

Peter Niemeyer, Jerome Gondorf, Aytac Sulu, Marcel Heller and Konstantin Rausch are all banned after each picked up yellow cards in last Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.

"We have registered that. However, I believe that no one wants to miss this chance to play in front of an audience of millions," said Darmstadt coach Dirk Schuster confidently.

Guardiola hopes to have centre-backs Medhi Benatia and Serdar Tasci fit as he was unable to play a single central defender in last weekend's win at Augsburg after Holger Badstuber fractured an ankle.

Dortmund will be looking to make it nine games undefeated at Leverkusen on Sunday.

Thomas Tuchel's Dortmund are in impressive form as last Saturday's 1-0 win over bottom side Hanover 96 left them 13 points clear of third-placed Bayer.

Having sat out the Hanover win, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be looking to add to his 20 goals in as many league games to rival Lewandowski.

The last time Leverkusen beat Dortmund at the BayArena was in May 2007, but Roger Schmidt’s men have picked up 14 of a possible 18 points and are undefeated in their last six games.
Leverkusen will again be without striker Javier Hernandez after the Mexican tore a buttock muscle in their German Cup defeat to Werder Bremen 10 days ago.

Cologne fans plan a protest before kick-off of Saturday's match at Borussia Moenchengladbach over the restricted number of away fans allowed.

Gladbach will be without centre-back Martin Stranzl, who tore his right calf in training on Wednesday as they look to bounce back from Sunday's shock defeat to Hamburg.

Fresh from their Champions League last 16, first-leg win at Gent, Wolfsburg are at Hertha Berlin on Saturday without defender Sebastian Jung.

The right-back tore the cruciate ligament in his left knee in Belgium and is expected to miss the rest of the season after limping out of Wolfsburg's 3-2 victory.

Fixtures (all times 1430 GMT unless stated)

Friday

E. Frankfurt v Hamburg (1930)

Saturday

Bayern Munich v Darmstadt, Borussia Moenchengladbach v Cologne, Hertha Berlin v Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim v Mainz, Ingolstadt v Werder Bremen

Sunday

Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Dortmund, Schalke v VfB Stuttgart (1630), Hanover 96 v Augsburg (1630)
Source :AFP