Bayern Eleven Clear And Still Unbeaten
FC Bayern München have won ten of eleven Bundesliga games and lead by eight points, while Hamburg stay unbeaten but draw their way out of the chase.
Who in Germany is supposed to stop this? FC Bayern München answered the question themselves in Düsseldorf, where a single goal was enough to win 1-0 and take them to 31 points from eleven games, ten of them won, one drawn, none lost.
The lead is now eight points. RB Leipzig are second on 23, but they have played eleven games and Bayern have a game in hand in all but name. Wolfsburg also have 23, though they needed thirteen matches to get there — and they did their bit to keep the chase interesting by winning 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt. Dortmund's 3-2 win at Wolfsburg on 11 November was the weekend's best argument that someone down there can still play; it lifted them to 22 points, but it also handed Wolfsburg one of their four defeats. Mainz's 4-0 dismantling of Frankfurt the same day shows how quickly the middle of this table can turn nasty.
Hamburger SV are the other unbeaten side, and that is where the story curdles. Nineteen points, seven draws, no defeats: a team that cannot be beaten and cannot finish anyone off. Fifth place is a fair reflection of a season spent settling for a point.
At the bottom, Leverkusen's 6 points from twelve games leave them last, with Bielefeld and Nürnberg on seven, separated only by goal difference. None of the three has found a win when it mattered.
Bayern's week does not get easier: Juventus await in the Champions League on 28 November. The domestic question is no longer whether Bayern are the best team in Germany. It is whether anyone intends to make them prove it.