Bayern Munich open Bundesliga Matchday 4 at home to Union Berlin on Friday evening, with kick-off at the Allianz Arena at 20:30 CEST. It is the last match Bayern play in the Bundesliga before a three-week international break, and it falls shortly before the start of Oktoberfest, for which the club have produced a special Wiesn shirt.

Vincent Kompany's side sit fourth, level on seven points with Augsburg and two behind Freiburg and Borussia Dortmund. They beat Stuttgart 5-1 at home on the opening weekend, drew 0-0 at newly promoted Schalke and won 2-1 at Elversberg on Sunday. Bayern play first in the round, so three points would put them top of the table at least until Saturday afternoon.

Fourteen meetings, no defeats

The record Bayern are defending on Friday has no parallel in the league's history. They have met Union 14 times in the Bundesliga and won nine, drawn five and lost none, and no other club has faced an opponent that often without ever losing. They also knocked Union out of the DFB-Pokal in the round of 16 last season, winning 3-2 in Berlin. The day of the week helps as well: Bayern have won each of their last nine Bundesliga matches played on a Friday, and a tenth would equal the competition record.

Harry Kane scored the winner at Elversberg and now has 99 goals in 97 Bundesliga appearances. A hundredth would make him the quickest player to the mark in the competition's history, ahead of Dieter Müller, who needed 129 games. He leads a front line that also includes Michael Olise, the France winger who has played mostly on the right since joining from Crystal Palace in 2024, and Luis Díaz.

Union's worst start in the top flight

Union have taken one point from three matches, the club's poorest start to a Bundesliga season and the first time they have failed to win any of their opening three. They have conceded ten goals already. Mauro Lustrinelli, appointed in May from the Swiss champions FC Thun, has moved the side off the back three that carried Union through their Bundesliga years and onto a back four, and has already used all three centre-back pairings available from Leopold Querfeld, Zeno Van den Bosch and Felix Uduokhai. The pressing has arrived faster than the structure behind it: only Bayern have produced more pressing sequences in the league this season. Three of Union's four goals have come from set pieces.

Kompany said he has his full squad available, and Serge Gnabry is in line for his first appearance of the season, possibly in the number 10 role. Union are without Josip Juranović, who is ill, with Christopher Trimmel the likely replacement at right-back. Andrej Ilić, still recovering from an appendix operation, is out along with Stanley Nsoki, Oliver Burke and Marvin Friedrich.

Kompany was asked about the break that follows. "First, we intend to get the job done and pick up three points against Union. After that, I'll head to the Wiesn and enjoy watching the national team's matches," he said.

Lustrinelli framed the trip differently at his press conference on Wednesday, in remarks translated from German. "For me it is a great challenge to play against a team whose ambition is to win the Champions League," he said. "We have nothing to lose."

Union's next league game is at home to Elversberg on 10 October, the day Bayern travel to Augsburg.