Fortuna Dusseldorf vs Bayern Munich 14/04/19

14 April 2019

Fortuna Dusseldorf and Bayern Munich go head-to-head at the Esprit Arena as the hosts hope to replicate their performance from the reversed fixture when they’ve managed to hold the Bavarians to a 3-3 draw.

The returnees seem to have bounced back after two catastrophic defeats (both by a 3-goal margin) as they come into this meeting off the back of two successive Bundesliga wins. Remaining the only team that is yet to play out a draw at home this term (W7, L7), the Flingeraner have experienced mixed fortunes at home since the turn of the year (W3, L2), with both of their failures in that period arriving against the BL top-four teams. Notably though, Fortuna’s home games have not been short of entertainment, with all five of their BL home meetings in 2019 featuring over 2.5 goals. Interestingly, Friedhelm Funkel’s men have netted 2+ goals in seven of 14 BL home outings, which puts them on a pair with Eintracht Frankfurt for instance.

Meanwhile, encouraged by a stunning 5-0 home win over Borussia Dortmund, the visitors have entered this round as the league toppers. With six BL fixtures left to go, and with the Bavarians carrying a narrow 1-point lead over BVB, the defending champions need to wrap up all three points here. But, Bayern’s indifferent road form in the recent period (W2, D1, L1) indicates Niko Kovac’s men can’t take a win for granted, especially because of their defensive frailties that have seen them concede at least one goal on all five of their previous BL road trips. The one thing the Croatian manager can lean on is Bayern’s impressive attacking output over the past five weeks, as the Reds bagged 5+ match goals in four of their last five BL clashes.