Mainz aim to make history, Bayern look to bounce back

Surprise-package Mainz are bidding to write themselves into Bundesliga history this weekend when they face Hoffenheim while Bayern Munich need a win at Dortmund to keep the German media at bay.

Only two sides, Kaiserslautern in 2001/02 and Bayern Munich in 1995/96, have ever won all seven of their opening Bundesliga games.

Now Mainz’s young guns are hoping to become the third team by adding to their dream start with a seventh win at home to Hoffenheim on Saturday.

Their success has come on the back of some outstanding performances, especially when they won 2-1 at defending champions Bayern Munich last Saturday.

Midfielder Lewis Holtby, 20, and teenage striker Andre Schuerrle have scored five goals between them and their excellent performances have even earned the attentions of national coach Joachim Loew.

While Mainz’s fairytale has caught the media’s imagination in Germany, coach Thomas Tuchel says he has no time to daydream. His side have not finished higher than fourth in the league in the last decade.

They only won promotion back to the Bundesliga in 2008 after being relegated the season before.

“We have no time to dream. We have to stay on our path. Everything else is just a nice snapshot,” said Tuchel.

“We have to fix our concentration and focus on our next task.

“This is just a game for the media, it is not something that will help us and we must allow nothing to distract us.”

Hoffenheim are fourth in the table, but already seven points behind the leaders who have a faultless 18 points.

Defending champions Bayern are looking to bounce back from last Saturday’s humiliating defeat at Munich’s Allianz Arena when they travel to Dortmund on Sunday.

Bayern are ninth in the league with eight points from six games, while second-placed Dortmund are flying high and captain Mark van Bommel says his side needs a win to keep the German press off their backs.

“If we don’t win in Dortmund this weekend, the next few weeks are going to be made difficult for me,” admitted the Dutchman after his side won 2-1 at Basel in the Champions League on Tuesday.

“We had a good win in Basel which was important for us.

“The task now is to keep it up away to Dortmund.”

Without injured playmakers Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, Bayern are struggling to turn posession into goals.

Dortmund have no such problems with midfielders Shinji Kagawa, Kevin Grosskreutz and striker Lucas Barrios scoring 10 goals between them so far this season as Jurgen Klopp’s team go from strength to strength.

Werder Bremen have the chance to recover from their 4-0 hammering at defending Champions League holders Inter Milan in midweek when they travel to Leverkusen on Sunday.

Fresh from their 2-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League, Schalke 04 are looking to break out of the bottom three when they travel to fellow strugglers Nuremberg on Saturday.

Likewise Stuttgart coach Christian Gross needs to get his side off the bottom of the table when they host Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

Having hammered Moenchengladbach 7-0 a fortnight ago, Stuttgart have lost to Nuremberg and Leverkusen in recent weeks.

Saturday

Hamburg v Kaiserslautern

Mainz 05 v Hoffenheim

Borussia M’gladbach v VfL Wolfsburg

Freiburg v Cologne

Nuremberg v Schalke 04

Sunday

VfB Stuttgart v Eintracht Frankfurt

Bayer Leverkusen v Werder Bremen

Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munich