Football
8y

Bayern Munich's Philipp Lahm eyes Bundesliga title as BVB trip looms

Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm hopes to effectively secure a record fourth successive Bundesliga title when they travel to Borussia Dortmund next weekend.

Bayern beat last season's runners-up Wolfsburg 2-0 on Saturday and are currently eight points clear of Dortmund with 11 games of the season to play.

On Wednesday, Bayern host Mainz while BVB head to Darmstadt before a potential title-decider at the Westfalenstadion on Saturday evening.

"It's a crucial week for the championship," Lahm said. "If we win the matches, we can start talking about the title. Then it will be very, very difficult to catch us.

"Our goal is to go to Dortmund with a minimum lead of eight points. Our job there is to win. This would make [Bayern's lead] 11 -- that would almost be decisive."

Bayern were tested against Wolfsburg, only breaking the deadlock on 66 minutes, and Thomas Muller shouted on his way to the dressing room: "Big points! These are big points."

Bayern Munich have picked up 62 points from their opening 23 league games, meaning Pep Guardiola's men have won 89.86 of all available points -- the best return of any club in Europe's top five leagues after Paris Saint-Germain's 2-1 defeat at Lyon on Sunday.

Bayern also have the Bundesliga's top scorer, with Robert Lewandowski, on 23 goals, remaining one ahead of Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after both scored at the weekend.

Lewandowski has now scored more goals after 23 match days than any other Bundesliga player since Bayern legend Gerd Muller in the 1973-74 season.

That season, Muller only added seven more goals and shared the Bundesliga scorer crown with Gladbach's Jupp Heynckes.

Speaking to reporters in Wolfsburg, Lewandowski said that those numbers cannot be compared.

"The football back then was different to the football now," said Poland captain Lewandowski, who has scored 114 league goals in 184 matches for Bayern and Dortmund.

However, he said he is delighted to be mentioned in the same breath as Muller.

"Gerd Muller is of course a great, great player," he said. "That's a very big name."

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