At FC Bayern, Harry Kane isn’t the only striker you can count on this season. The team’s versatility is remarkable – both when compared to other European clubs and when looking back at previous seasons.
Michael Olise didn’t get off to a great start in Leipzig on Saturday, but he went on to show why he is one of the best players in the Bundesliga this season – and made a little bit of history in the process.
His goal to make it 2-2 saw the summer signing become only the fourth Bayern player to score double figures this season. In addition to the designated top scorer Harry Kane (24), Jamal Musiala (12) and Leroy Sané (11) had already broken this mark. That is doubly remarkable.
You have to go back eleven years to find a season in which Munich last achieved this. In 2013/14, six players from Pep Guardiola’s team at the time had scored at least ten goals by the end of the season: Mario Mandzukic (18), Thomas Müller (13), Arjen Robben (11), Mario Götze, Franck Ribery, and Claudio Pizarro (all 10).
Bayern still have two games left to play this season. However, it is unlikely that the current quartet will become a quintet or even more against Gladbach (H) and Hoffenheim (A). The fifth-highest FCB scorer is currently Serge Gnabry with six goals, followed by Kingsley Coman with five. The 2013/14 sextet remains the Bundesliga record to this day, with Eintracht Frankfurt the only other team to have achieved five in 1974/75.
Brentford catches up with Barca thanks to Schade
The international comparison is also remarkable: in Europe’s top five leagues – Germany, England, Spain, Italy, and France – no other team has four or more players with double-digit goals in the current season. There are only two teams with three such players: FC Barcelona with Robert Lewandowski (25), Raphinha (16) and Ferran Torres (10) and – much more surprisingly – FC Brentford with Bryan Mbeumo (18), Yoane Wissa (17) and DFB international Kevin Schade (10).
The latter scored twice in the 4-3 win over Manchester United at the weekend, lifting his club to ninth place in the Premier League table.
