Thirteen wins and counting across all competitions, on Saturday Bayern Munich beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0 away at Borussia-Park thanks to goals by Joshua Kimmich (64’), Raphaël Guerreiro (69’), and Lennart Karl (81’). With that win, Bayern Munich equals a record set by AC Milan. The Serie A side started the 1992/93 season with 13 wins across all competitions.
Bayern has started the season by winning the Franz-Beckenbauer Cup against Stuttgart (2-1), the first round of the DFB-Pokal against Wehen Wiesbaden (3-2), the first three Champions League games, and the first eight Bundesliga games.
In comparison, AC Milan started the 1992/93 season with a Super Coppa Italia win over Parma (2-1), seven wins in Serie A, three in the Coppa Italia, and three in the UEFA Champions League. Those three games in Europe were two wins over NK Olimpija and one over Slovan Bratislava in the qualification stage of the competition.
“This record did not come by chance,” Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich said when asked about Bayern’s starting record. “It’s the reward for hard work. We have a good team. We have players who come off the bench and make the difference, like [Karl], Serge [Gnabry], and [Guerreiro] did today. Everyone is happy when the other scores a goal or gets an assist. We’re a very homogeneous group. Of course, there’s competition for spots, but everyone is giving it all for the team.”
Indeed, based on goal differential, this Bayern Munich side can already claim the record. While Bayern started with a goal differential of 47-9, Milan’s goal difference in 1992/93 was 45-13.
It would be perhaps unfair to hand Bayern the record based on goal differential. After all, Bayern is playing in an era in which super clubs are more likely to achieve big scorelines. Instead, it would be fairer to wait until Wednesday to see whether Bayern can set a record when they face 1. FC Köln away in the DFB Pokal.
“Yes, that’s right, but we still can’t stop and have to keep going,” Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany said when asked about the record. “Wednesday, we have a cup game—it will be a different story. We kept another clean sheet today. We’re having a good momentum. But we can’t get too arrogant now, we have to stay calm, work hard, and deliver a result in the next game.”
It has been a sentiment Kompany has repeated repeatedly this season. Fresh from signing a new contract at the club, Kompany has been insistent on his conviction that he thinks one game at a time. “Tomorrow it’s all about three points,” Kompany said ahead of the game. “The statistics aren’t that important. We have to stay focused on the game.”
Giving an impression of calmness and focus on every game has been Kompany’s biggest achievement since joining the club. Too many of his predecessors have gotten involved in club policies or games with the press. Something that Kompany attempts to avoid with great success.
Indeed, his boss, Max Eberl, believes that Kompany’s contract extension will only help Bayern’s continued success. “Vinnie’s contract extension was an important part,” Eberl said. “We feel like we made decisions that have led to us being very stable now. It’s not satisfaction; we did it together. But we’re still hungry and want more.”
Always more, in the current form, it is difficult to see a better team in Europe. And while there might be some dispute on whether Bayern now holds the record for the best start by a top-five league team in history, the Rekordmeister can put those arguments to bed with a big win on Wednesday in the German Cup against Köln.
