Bundesliga
How do Bayern and Leipzig stack up?
Bayern Munich take on recent rivals RB Leipzig in their final game before the winter break. The record champions vs. the young pretenders - how do they compare?
Bayern were denied a 12th consecutive Bundesliga title by Bayer Leverkusen last season, but are top of the table so far this term with four-point cushion on Xabi Alonso's usurpers.
Leipzig are just six points back in the fourth and final UEFA Champions League qualification spot, and a win would be the perfect platform with which to bound into the Rückrunde on a high.
Leipzig beat Bayern in last year's season-opening Supercup, which was avenged to some degree with four of the six Bundesliga points between the two since heading to Munich.
What will separate the sides this time? bundesliga.com takes a closer look…
Star strikers
The aforementioned Supercup was Harry Kane's debut for Bayern. While that ended in a 3-0 reverse, Kane has since racked up 64 goals in 64 games since his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur, with 21 assists thrown in for good measure. Yet he is doubtful for the Leipzig game having missed the last two weeks with a torn hamstring picked up in November's 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund. Thomas Müller has deputised well, but his output is slower.
Leipzig, meanwhile, have two top centre-forwards who are fit and, increasingly, firing, in Loïs Openda and Benjamin Šeško. While Müller has scored once goal in the four games since Kane's injury, Openda has bagged four in that time, with Šeško adding three of his own.
Both teams ultimately have more than one path to goal, but at the tip of the attack, it's Leipzig who look stronger at the moment.
Young stars
Watch: Musiala, from maker to taker
Perhaps most ably supporting Müller in the final third is Jamal Musiala, who has eight goals in the Bundesliga this season - a team second-best to Kane's 14 - as well as 10 more direct goal contributions across all competitions. Still just 21, Musiala is already becoming the complete attacking asset with a bigger percentage of his goals now coming from headers and shots outside the box.
Leipzig have a young star of their own in Antonio Nusa, the 19-year-old Norway international who has helped assuage the injury-enforced absence of Xavi Simons with two Bundesliga goals and a further nine goal-involvements all told, but he doesn't yet affect the outcome of games to the extent Musiala, one of the best young players in the world, does.
A case for the defence
Bayern come into the game having conceded a league-fewest 12 Bundesliga goals, while Leipzig are just three behind with 15 against.
But Bayern No.1 Manuel Neuer, like Kane, has been missing in recent weeks, in his case after breaking a rib, and with Sven Ulreich also absent due to personal reasons, Daniel Peretz has got the nod in goal.
His five goals conceded in the three games since is only one more than Leipzig's Péter Gulácsi has fished out of his net, but the Hungarian also has the best save percentage in the division with 76.7.
Supporting cast
Watch: Olise's rise
As alluded to above, a striker is not either team's only route to goal, and Bayer have perhaps the best supporting cast in the game, let alone the Bundesliga or indeed this fixture.
Take Michael Olise, who is behind Kane and Musiala for attacking output but would still be Leipzig's top scorer in the season so far, having managed five goals and four assists in the league to go with another four and two in each column in the Champions League and DFB Cup.
Bayer also have 11 different scorers in the Bundesliga, while Leipzig have eight. Bayern have scored 42 goals; Leipzig 23. With or without Kane, it might be safe to back the Bavarians.
A Rose-y recent record
Leipzig, and in particular their head coach Marco Rose, have a happy habit of playing spoiler to Bayern, however.
Since he took charge in his native Saxony, his record against Bayern reads: two wins, two draws and just a single defeat from their five meetings so far. The Supercup scalp has been far from the only one.
Even with former employers Borussia Mönchengladbach, Rose put together an impressive record of two wins and two draws across their four head-to-heads.
The meeting between Bundesliga giants old and new looks delicately poised. Who will come out on top? Tune in at 8.30pm local time on Friday to find out!