Heidenheim vs Bayern Munich

Voith-Arena sets the stage for a high-stakes Bundesliga encounter between relegation-battling Hedenheim and pacesetters Bayern Munich.

These are challenging times for Heidenheim, and things don’t get any easier as they host Bayern Munich to complete a brutal trio of fixtures against the Bundesliga’s current top three. The previous two outings against Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt ended in defeats without scoring, leaving Heidenheim stuck in the relegation play-off spot, seven points adrift of safety. Closing that gap against the league leaders looks a tall order, especially at home, where Heidenheim have struggled all season, collecting a  league-low ten home points, with ten of their opening 14 home games ending in defeats (W3, D1). Ominously, each of their six home clashes against the pre-round top seven ended in losses ‘to nil,’ meaning another disappointing result wouldn’t raise many eyebrows.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich head into this fixture in troubled spirits after a 2-2 draw at Inter Milan in the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie condemned them to a 4-3 aggregate loss. That two-legged tie sandwiched the Bavarians’ 2-2 league stalemate against ‘Der Klassiker’ rivals Borussia Dortmund, putting them at risk of going four consecutive games without winning for the first time this season (D2, L1). On the bright side, Vincent Kompany’s men boast a healthy-looking six-point lead on runners-up Bayer Leverkusen and seem destined to return to the throne in the Belgian’s first season in the dugout. Furthermore, the visitors have failed to win just two of their 18 matches against sides starting this matchday ninth or worse (W16, D1, L1).