BERLIN: Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern Munich bid to claim a rare win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday as the Bundesliga leaders look to get back to winning ways in Germany’s top flight.
Having won their first eight games under Ancelotti in all competitions, Bayern then went three matche\s without a win but got back on track with a 4-1 thumping of PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday in the Champions League.
The Bavarians now return to domestic business, where they have slipped up in recent weeks with draws against Cologne and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Bayern are two points clear at the top of the table but need to build on their emphatic win over PSV when Arjen Robben was outstanding with two assists and a goal.
“I think we absolutely took a step forward, and we have to build on that,” skipper Philipp Lahm said after Wednesday’s match.
Bayern have failed to beat Borussia in their last four meetings and Gladbach claimed home and away league wins over the Bavarian giants in 2015.
Gladbach are buoyed by their 2-0 Champions League win at Celtic which Andre Schubert’s side needed after their 4-0 thrashing by Schalke and frustrating goalless draw with Hamburg, when they missed two penalties.
“Bayern are a very different team to Celtic, you can’t compare them with each other,” Gladbach’s Danish defender Jannik Vestergaard told the club’s website.
“Bayern have a world-class team so we need to work really hard again, but we have to try to play the way we like to, otherwise it’s going to be a long 90 minutes.”
Moenchengladbach no longer enjoy the same rivalry with Bayern as they did in the 1970s, when the clubs shared nine straight Bundesliga titles between them.
But the Foals still present a challenge having only lost once at the Allianz Arena in the last five years.
A battle royale beckons in the capital on Saturday when fourth-placed Hertha Berlin host unbeaten Cologne.
