BERLIN (AFP) – Reigning Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich face a tough task to bounce back from last weekend’s humbling at Eintracht Frankfurt when they host surprise title challengers Stuttgart tomorrow.
The meeting with third-placed Stuttgart at the Allianz Arena will pit two of Europe’s form strikers against each other in Bayern’s Harry Kane and the visitors’ Serhou Guirassy.
Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern slipped four points behind early leaders Bayer Leverkusen, albeit with a game in hand, after their 5-1 thrashing by Frankfurt, with Stuttgart just one point further adrift and hoping to leapfrog their opponents in the table.
Kane has been a revelation for the Bavarian giants since joining in the summer from Tottenham, with 18 goals in 13 league matches.
Guirassy sits just behind the England captain with 16 goals from 12 Bundesliga appearances this term, already the 27-year-old’s best tally for a single season less than half the way through the campaign.
The Guinean boasts an even better goals-per-minute ratio than Kane, having scored a goal every 55 minutes, compared to the Bayern striker’s every 63 minutes.
Guirassy’s superb form has been key to Stuttgart’s stunning turnaround under coach Sebastian Hoeness.
Hoeness, who coached Bayern’s reserve team to a third-division title and is the nephew of former Bayern president Uli, took over Stuttgart in April, with the club sitting dead last and on course for relegation.
But a run of just two defeats in their final 12 games of last season in all competitions saw Hoeness take Stuttgart to the German Cup semi-finals and stay in the top flight with a two-legged relegation playoff victory over Hamburg.
The five-time German champions have gone from strength to strength under Hoeness this term, winning 13 of 17 matches.
They stayed in touch with the leaders thanks to a 1-1 draw with Leverkusen last Sunday.
Only Bayern and Borussia Dortmund have also taken points off Xabi Alonso’s unbeaten Leverkusen this season.
