After a lacklustre Champions League display against Benfica, treble-seeking Bayern Munich return to their Bundesliga bread and butter with a trip to relegation-haunted VfB Stuttgart for the Southern Derby.
After his first substitute appearance of the year in midweek, Mario Gotze should get another start, at least to reward his patience while sitting on the bench. He's languished there for the full 90 minutes in seven out of the last eight games and it's clear that, barring unforeseen injury to Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller, Gotze will remain a bit-part player in Munich under Pep Guardiola.
Contracted till next summer, Gotze is, for all intents and purposes, in the shop window, hoping to catch the attention of Premier League clubs armed with an overflowing treasure chest. Gotze would be wise to use his sporadic club appearances, as well as Euro 2016, to find a home elsewhere. The World Cup final winning goal scorer's only faint hope is that the Catalan's successor, Carlo Ancelotti, may be an admirer of his undoubted talents. That's provided Gotze is still at the club when the Italian maestro gets cracking in the summer.
Compare Gotze's diminished status to that of the effervescent Franck Ribery. Both players returned from injury at roughly the same juncture. But while Gotze remains on the fringes, the Frenchman, who turned 33 on Thursday, was welcomed back with open arms.
Ribery has repaid that faith with a string of quality performances and may have earned himself a well-deserved breather ahead of the second leg in Lisbon. After almost 11 months out due to injury, two games in four days (Frankfurt and Benfica), closely followed by the derby in Stuttgart, would be too much too soon.
The knock-on effect would mean that the Frenchman's summer replacement, Douglas Costa, will get some game time. To be blunt, since Ribery returned to the fray, Costa has been a shadow of his 2015 self. Against Benfica, the Brazilian struggled to make an impact on the right, while Ribery impressed on the opposite flank, and was hooked off for Kingsley Coman with 20 minutes remaining.
Costa garnered high praise on the left-hand side during Ribery's lengthy absence, boasting 12 Bundesliga assists and a couple of goals in his first five months in Bavaria. Yet, as we saw against Benfica, he's simply not as effective on the right. Costa is much more flexible position wise than the Frenchman who operates solely on the left. Costa was at his most impressive when moved to the middle as Bayern chased the game against Juventus. Guardiola waxed lyrical after his side retrieved a two-goal deficit to keep their European dream alive: "The biggest difference against Juve was when Douglas played in the middle for the final half hour."
It's been a tale of two winter breaks for Bayern's biggest signings of the summer. Compare Costa's stuttering form since the hibernation period to Arturo Vidal, who's been "reVidalized" this year. The Chilean has reserved his liveliest displays for the Champions League. Firstly, former employer Juventus felt his full force in the round of 16, while his early header after 108 seconds against the gallant back-to-back Portuguese champion ensured that Bayern will take the narrowest of leads to Lisbon. He's recovered brilliantly from a timid start to his time in Bavaria and his current form and leadership qualities are exactly what the Bayern inner sanctum had in mind when coughing up €37m for his services.
Vidal's elevated status in the midfield hierarchy means that he'll likely sit out Saturday's less than crunch game, with 33-year-old Xabi Alonso getting another chance to run the show from the quarterback position. The Basque has slipped down the pecking order for the recent bigger games, in the same way as Bastian Schweinsteiger fell out of favour after Alonso arrived from Real Madrid last season.
As is so often the case these days, at least in the Bundesliga, anything other than a routine victory for the league leaders would be a massive shock. Despite possessing the fourth best record during the second half of the season with 18 points, struggling Stuttgart sit in 12th spot, only six points from the danger zone. The Swabians endured a miserable period before the winter break, and still have the second worst defence in the league, leaking on average two goals per game. Bayern's well-oiled machine fires over two goals per game (2.35) and can also boast the best defensive record (a miserly 13 goals against).
If the above stats weren't depressing enough for three-time Bundesliga champions VfB, Bayern have prevailed in the last 14 competitive games, racking up 41 goals in the process -- including the historic 2013 German Cup final treble-clincher in Berlin under Jupp Heynckes.
The Bavarians' last defeat against this opposition came under Louis van Gaal's topsy-turvy stewardship just over six years ago. Yes Manchester United fans, Bayern also used to taste defeat quite regularly under the Dutchman's tutelage.
With their only challengers Borussia Dortmund facing a tricky Ruhr Derby at Schalke the following day, Bayern will look to lay down a marker on Saturday and, at the very least, maintain their cushy five-point advantage at the top of the table. Once the three points from Stuttgart are safely in the bag, Bayern can turn their attention to sealing a fifth straight Champions League semifinal spot.
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