Bayern Munich vs Mainz 05 18/03/19

18 March 2019

Rocked by a frustrating Champions League elimination to Liverpool, Bayern Munich welcome Mainz 05 to the Allianz Arena looking to return to winning ways immediately.

A shock 3-1 loss to the Reds was Bayern’s first home defeat in 2019 after the reigning Bundesliga holders put together four successive home wins. Nonetheless, the hosts have racked up a six-game BL home winning run, scoring 18 goals while conceding just two in the process. Currently sharing the top place with Borussia Dortmund, the Bavarians can’t afford a failure against a team whom they’ve outplayed in four of their previous six H2H meetings at this venue (W4, D1, L1). Niko Kovac’s men boast the second-best defensive home record in the German top tier (12) having kept four clean sheets in 12 BL home fixtures. Also, Bayern’s tally of 29 goals scored at home is the league’s second-highest with the Reds bagging 2+ match goals seven times so far.

Meanwhile, the visitors come into this encounter after suffering back-to-back BL losses, both against the top-ten teams. In spite of a poor run of form that has seen them lose five of their last six BL clashes (W1, L5), Die Nullfünfer safely sit 11 points clear of the relegation territory. Three of their previous six BL failures have come away from home, with the Karnevalsverein conceding eight goals while scoring just one on their last three BL road trips. Mainz’s biggest problem when playing on the road is the fact they’ve failed to find the back of the net five times in 12 BL away clashes, bagging an average of 0.92 goals scored per match. Moreover, 23 goals conceded away from home and barely one clean sheet should worry Sandro Schwarz, especially because they face a team that has scored 3+ match goals in four of the previous four BL home fixtures.