Bayern Munich’s season starts where the last one ended: with expectation, with pressure, and with Harry Kane standing at the centre of it all.
The Bundesliga champions already have their first trophy in the cabinet after a 2-1 German Super Cup win over Borussia Dortmund. Vincent Kompany’s first real test on German soil passed with authority, even if Ramy Bensebaini’s disallowed goal briefly threatened to tilt the narrative. Bayern were sharper, stronger, and far more ruthless in the decisive moments.
Now comes the real business. Stuttgart arrive in Munich on Friday night carrying both respect for the champions and a quiet belief of their own.
Stuttgart’s rise meets Bayern’s standard
Sebastian Hoeness dragged Stuttgart from survival mode to the Champions League places last season. Fourth place and a ticket to Europe’s top table marked a remarkable turnaround, but the table still told a brutal truth: they finished 26 points behind Bayern.
That gap is the benchmark.
The Swabians have every reason to feel optimistic. Pre-season brought encouraging performances, and a 4-0 dismantling of Hansa Rostock in the DFB-Pokal underlined their attacking intent. They don’t come to Munich just to defend and hope.
They come knowing they can hurt teams. Especially away from home.
Last season, 82% of Stuttgart’s Bundesliga away matches saw both teams score. Only Eintracht Frankfurt went higher. They commit bodies forward, they take risks, and they live with the consequences. It’s why this fixture almost always explodes into life.
Goals almost guaranteed
Bayern have started this campaign much as they ended the last one: relentless in attack, far from watertight at the back.
They have now scored in 56 consecutive competitive matches, a run that started, fittingly, against Stuttgart in August last year. The Allianz Arena has become a guarantee of drama. In home league games last season, 71% saw both teams score, with only Freiburg and Köln topping that figure.
The pattern is hard to ignore. Both teams have scored in each of Bayern’s last five matches. Three of Stuttgart’s last five have gone the same way. The numbers point in one direction: both goalkeepers are likely to be busy, and both are likely to be beaten.
The head-to-head record only adds fuel. The last 17 meetings between these sides have all produced at least three goals. Twelve of those cleared the 3.5-goal mark. When Bayern and Stuttgart meet, the scoreboard rarely rests.
Bayern’s fortress, Stuttgart’s problem
There was a pre-season jolt when Bayern lost to Wehen, but context matters. Kompany rotated heavily, several key players were missing, and the result never looked like a genuine measure of the champions’ level.
When it mattered at the back end of last season, Bayern clicked. Six wins in a row, including victories over Aston Villa, RB Leipzig, and Borussia Dortmund, reasserted their dominance. At home in the league, they lost just once. That’s the reality Stuttgart must walk into.
The recent history between the clubs offers little comfort to the visitors. Bayern swept them aside 3-0 in the German Cup final, and Stuttgart haven’t won in Munich since 2018. They usually find a goal, but rarely a result.
The probable lineups tell you how this might look. Bayern are expected to go with Neuer; Laimer, Tah, Kim, Stanisic; Kimmich, Pavlovic; Olise, Brown, Diaz; Kane. Stuttgart should respond with Bredlow; Nartey, Jeltsch, Chabot, Mittelstädt; Prömel, Stiller; Tomas, Undav, Führich, Pejcinovic.
Bayern’s XI screams control and creativity. Stuttgart’s hints at pace, verticality, and a willingness to trade punches.
It’s why a Bayern win combined with over 3.5 total goals feels less like a bold prediction and more like a logical extension of how these sides play.
Kane, again at the heart of it
Harry Kane did not just win the Bundesliga Golden Boot last season; he ran away with it. Thirty-six league goals, almost double Denis Undav’s 19, turned his debut campaign into a statement.
He hasn’t eased off.
In the Super Cup, Kane and Michael Olise shared the highest shot count with five attempts each. Only one of Kane’s efforts hit the target that night, but his volume tells the real story. Last season he fired 119 shots in the league, 67 of them on target, averaging 2.53 shots on target per 90 minutes.
Those numbers make a line of 3+ shots on target entirely realistic for a player who lives in and around the penalty area and rarely turns down a sight of goal.
Stuttgart know this better than most. Kane scored a hat-trick in his last outing against them and hit two hat-tricks in total against the Swabians last season. Eight goals in four meetings is not a quirk; it’s a pattern of dominance.
Prediction: Bayern to set the tone
Everything about this matchup points towards an open, high-tempo game: Bayern’s attacking depth, Stuttgart’s bravery, the recent scoring trends, and the history between the clubs.
A 3-1 Bayern win fits the evidence. Stuttgart to land a punch, Bayern to land several more.
Kane to score twice, Nathaniel Brown and Dzenan Pejcinovic among those capable of shaping the narrative, and another night in Munich where defending feels secondary to the spectacle.
For Kompany and Bayern, it’s not just about three points. It’s about sending a message on the very first night: the title still runs through Munich, and anyone chasing them will have to live with this kind of firepower.
