FC Bayern is facing a truly grueling schedule following the upcoming extended international break. While the Bundesliga takes a break for nearly three weeks, numerous Munich players will be away with their national teams. Once club soccer resumes, the matches will come one after another.
Between October 10 and November 3, Vincent Kompany’s team will play eight competitive matches in just 25 days. Bundesliga, Champions League, and DFB-Pokal matches will alternate at nearly three-day intervals.
It all kicks off on October 10 with an away Bundesliga match against FC Augsburg. Just three days later, the team heads to Norway. In the Champions League, the record-holding German champions will face Viking Stavanger on the road on October 13.
After that, the caliber of the opponents will rise significantly. On October 17, Bayern will host RB Leipzig at the Allianz Arena. Four days later, the same venue will host a Champions League showdown against Arsenal.
Arsenal, Dortmund, and Atlético within two weeks
After the match against the Gunners, the Munich side will also have only a few days to recover. On October 25, they travel to face SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga, before hosting 1. FC Magdeburg in the DFB Cup on October 28.
The transition to the next Bundesliga match will be particularly demanding. As early as October 31 at 6:30 p.m., Bayern will host Borussia Dortmund for the classic derby. That leaves just three days between the Cup match and the clash with BVB.
But even after that, there will be no respite. On November 3, the extreme stretch of games will conclude with an away Champions League match at Atlético Madrid. Bayern will wrap up its eight games in 25 days at the Metropolitano, of all places.
The schedule makes it clear why Kompany is already placing such great emphasis on fielding as many players as possible on a regular basis. The Bayern coach will need nearly his entire roster during this phase.
Kompany now needs his entire Bayern squad
The condition in which the numerous national team players return is likely to be particularly important. The long Bundesliga break by no means means three weeks of rest for them. Instead, travel, training sessions, and several international matches are on the schedule.
Players like Tom Bischof, Lennart Karl, Ismael Saibari, and Nathaniel Brown could therefore take on an even bigger role after the break. Jonas Urbig also offers Kompany additional options for rotation.
The 2-1 win over Elversberg already showed that the second string needs to step up. Bayern struggled for a long time after making several changes to the starting lineup. In October, however, Kompany will have little choice but to rotate his lineup regularly. Starting key players like Harry Kane, Joshua Kimmich, or Michael Olise eight times in 25 days would be an enormous strain.
The stretch begins with Augsburg and Viking—two opponents considered to be of supposedly lower caliber. After that, within 14 days, Bayern will face Leipzig, Arsenal, Freiburg, Magdeburg, Dortmund, and Atlético.
The first few weeks of the season were thus merely the opening act. After the extended international break, Bayern will face its first real test of the season: eight games, three competitions, and practically no time to catch their breath.