Bundesliga: Koln a Threat to Bayern’s Dominance

Koln vs Bayern Munich

Sixth plays first at the RheinEnergieStadion on Saturday when the Bundesliga match between Koln and Bayern Munich is the entertainment on offer, and I’m happy to bet the fans will get some fantastic value for money.

Three wins on the bounce have lifted Koln up into the European places and the hosts are a free-scoring side, while the whole football world knows just what Bayern Munich offer in attack.

But the Bavarians had a wake-up call last week when defeat at home to Borussia Monchengladbach reminded Julian Nagelsmann’s men that no one is about to roll over and wave them through for yet another Bundesliga title, and that includes Koln.

Talking Points

Modeste can fire Koln into Europe

Die Geissbocke come into the game in good shape with three wins on the bounce, over Stuttgart and Wolfsburg before the winter break and then they returned with an impressive 3-1 win away to Hertha Berlin last week.

Veteran French striker Anthony Modeste opened the scoring in Berlin to make it 12 goals from 18 appearances and he could be the man to keep Koln’s European dream alive.

The former Bordeaux and Hoffenheim star returned from a foray in the Chinese Super League with Tianjin Quanjian and has found his best form again in the Rhine region of Germany.

Head coach Steffen Baumgart seems to be getting the best out of the much-travelled striker and he’s on target to make it 20 for the season. And that’s quite an achievement at a club that flirted with relegation last term.

Bundesliga: Anthony Modeste is currently Koln's top scorer — Anthony Modeste during Koln’s match against Bayer Leverkusen

A 16^th-placed finish meant a play-off against Holstein Kiel which Koln navigated with a 5-1 win away after losing the home leg 1-0. And they have certainly made the most of their reprieve with a strong challenge this season.

Bayern looking for a bounce back

After the winter break, Die Bayern were caught napping by Borussia Monchengladbach as Die Fohlen took all three points away from the Allianz Arena thanks to goals from Florian Neuhaus and Stefan Lainer.

The leaders had some COVID absentees and injury issues. But head coach Julian Nagelsmann will not have been pleased to see their lead cut to six points even though at SBOTOP odds of 1.01 to win their 10th successive Bundesliga title, Die Bayern seem to have one hand on the trophy. There are still 48 points to play for, however, and Borussia Dortmund are in good form although they’re six points back.

Marco Rose’s Dortmund have a test at home to SC Freiburg on Friday night and a win over the fourth place team will give Die Schwarzgelben more wind in their sails and we could still see a title race.

As a matter of interest, Koln are at 1001.00 which is significantly shorter than Leicester City were when they won the Premier League in 2016, but I’m keeping my cash in my pocket.

Bayern have the know-how and the players to see the job through. While the prolific Robert Lewandowski leads the race for the Golden Boot with 20 goals, with 15 assists Thomas Muller will be top of that particular tree once again this season.

The goals are bound to keep flowing while there should be a return for Manuel Neuer in goal after he was absent for the defeat to Die Fohlen.

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And there is better news on the progress of injured midfielder Leon Goretzka, who won’t require surgery on his knee according to German newspaper Der Bild. He won’t be ready for this game though and will sit it out alongside Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane.

History

The two teams met in the second match of the current campaign and Koln gave the champions a real run for their money as they recovered from a two-goal deficit to level before being edged out 3-2.

Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry put the Bavarians in charge before goals from Anthony Modeste and Mark Uth in a frantic three minutes made it 2-2, but Gnabry fired in a thunderbolt to seal the points.

While Bayern have dominated the German league for the last decade, their opponents too have been the kings of Germany. Koln have won the Bundesliga twice, most recently in 1978 and they were runners up in 1989 and 1990 while winning the DFB Pokal five times.

Koln’s Bundesliga 2022 results has been good with four wins, one draw, and one defeat and they are strong at home with a record of five wins, three draws, and a single defeat in this campaign. Bayern’s away record of six wins, one draw, and a single loss is slightly better.

The head-to-heads have seen the Bavarians win just under two thirds of the last 46 encounters at 30 victories, while Koln have won six and there have been 10 draws.

Betting Tip

	Koln vs Bayern Munich	Total Goals 4-6 @ 2.03
	January 15, 22:00 (GMT+8)

The Bundesliga 2022 betting odds offer a fair price of 7.14 on a Home win and 4.84 on a Draw or 2.97 the Double chance, Koln or Draw. Each of the last six meetings have yielded three goals or more and five of those games had between four and six goals, so we can certainly hope for more on Saturday.