Pushing Bayern's buttons is the aim for 1899

In one of the traditional 15:30 kick-off slots on Saturday Gustavo and Alaba will be pulling on the opposing jersey to the one they wore earlier this season as the teams meet inside the Allianz Arena. The team, according to a confident Marco Pezzaiuoli, has nothing to prove to Gustavo. "Luiz was always highly regarded in the squad. Luiz wasn't the only player who counted. At the end of the day the name Bayern München is enough motivation for us this weekend." Up until now the Kraichgau outfit have never won in Munich and given that Bayern have the best home record in the league it's likely to be a difficult task this time around too. Tom Starke, though, is still looking forward to the game: "As the underdogs in this encounter we can't help but win because we ultimately have nothing to lose. In their attacking unit they boast world-class talent. At times it's fun taking on teams that are that good."

Bayerns' main men set to start

Despite their impressive form inside the Allianz Arena, FC Bayern or "the best club in the league", as Pezzaiuoli put it, this has been a disappointing season for the Munich outfit so far. Sitting in 5th place on 36 points, their problems have come away from home where they have only collected 13 points. "Bayern are a team under pressure. They have to finish in 1st or 2nd at the very least and right now they're vulnerable, as they were when we met in the first half of the season", warned the head coach. A positive for the hosts will be that all of their players came through the international matches unscathed with the majority of them only playing 45 minutes or less. This should mean that top players like Arjen Robben, Franck Ribéry and Mario Gomez are all likely to start on Saturday. "There's a chance they'll be putting the best possible squad out against us", conceded Marco Pezzaiuoli.

Weary squad following international friendlies

There were a fair few 1899 players in action midweek as well with Sebastian Rudy, David Alaba, Vedad Ibisevic, Isaac Vorsah, Sejad Salihovic and more all representing their respective countries. This means that a full 90 minutes may be beyond some of them. "The international players all came back uninjured, but it obviously takes time to for the body to recover", explained Pezzaiuoli. Ibisevic and Salihovic are the biggest concerns as they had to travel all the way to the USA to face Mexico and jet lag could play its' part. Elsewhere Pezzaiuoli continues to be without Jens Grahl, Manuel Gulde and Chinedu Obasi, while Brois Vukcevic returned to training following a bout of the flu. Matthias Jaissle on the other hand is a doubt after suffering a thigh strain that limited his involvement in training. Edson Braafheid starts his two-match suspension and is the only other player missing for 1899 who aren't looking at this match as any different to their previous Buindesliga encounters. "We didn't concentrate on Bayern's strengths in training, rather our own. We keep mentioning their shortcomings and we want to add to those", exclaimed the 42-year old, who went on to add: "We want to steal the points against Bayern and really push their buttons."

Stats and Facts

Goals are guaranteed in this one. FC Bayern and Hoffenheim are to of the most dangerous teams in front of goal this season, with the Munich team in 2nd in the league having found the back of the net on 42 occasions, while Hoffenheim have celebrated on 39 occasions putting them in 4th. 1899 are unbeaten in their last 8 league matches winning 3 and drawing 5, but Bayern have won the last 6 matches in a row inside the Allianz Arena.