Page 66 - Soccer360 Issue 104

BUNDESLIGA SPOTLIGHT
DID YOU KNOW ?
Munich’s Harry Kane (L) celebrates with teammate Munich’s Dayot Upamecano (R)
Serhou Guirassy made an amazing start to the Bundesliga season
Serhou Guirassy is currently second in scoring
competition, Wirtz should be a shoo-in for that tournament - provided, of course, that he manages to stay fighting fit between now and the end of
the season.Despite his young age, he has shown great fortitude to regain his footing after such a long injury lay-off. Indeed, Wirtz, who missed the rest of 2022 as he recovered from his ACL injury, did not make a competitive appearance for Bayer Leverkusen until January 2023, and now appears
to be fully recovered as he has become a key protagonist for Alonso’s team both in domestic and international competition. The BayArena club are on their way to enjoying one of their best seasons in quite some time, and although it is still only around the halfway mark, they have put themselves
in strong contention to possibly challenge for the league title - and that is largely thanks to Wirtz’s key contributions, which have seen him both
serve as goalscorer and assister.Having finished
in sixth place in the Bundesliga last season, Bayer Leverkusen are also involved in the Europa League, where Wirtz again has been playing some brilliant football - with one standout performance being in a group stage match against Qarabağ where he was directly involved in four of Leverkusen’s five goals, scoring one and assisting the rest.
Wirtz’s performances have predictably generated plenty of buzz about his future with Bayer Leverkusen, with clubs such as Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and not surprisingly, Bayern
Munich’s Harry Kane (2-R) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 2-0 lead during the UEFA Champions League Group A match between FC Bayern Munich and Galatasaray SK
Stuttgart’s Deniz Undav (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring the 1-0 lead during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart
64 SOCCER360
FIRST TO SCORE 18 IN 12
Bayern München’s Harry Kane
is the first player in Bundesliga history to score 18 goals in the first 12 matchdays of a season, as well as the first Englishman to score 18 goals in a single campaign in the competition.
THE MOST GOALS IN
ELEVEN GAMES
With their third goal against Heidenheim, FC Bayern have scored their 41st goal of the Bundesliga season - the most ever by a team through their first 11 games of a BL season.
AN INCREDIBLE FEAT
FC Bayern have reached the last 16 of the Champions League for the 20th time, only Real Madrid have done this more often (21 times).
A JOINT-RECORD
Deniz Undav has scored seven goals in his first nine Bundesliga appearances for VfB, a joint-record for Stuttgart along with Hartmut Weiß in 1965, Fritz Walter in 1987 and Adhemar in 2001.