Bundesliga
Martinez, Thiago and James pulling Bayern's strings
Bayern Munich wrestled back top spot from Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 25, and it is there they will be looking to stay until the end of the season – thanks in no small part to the contribution of their magic midfield triangle of Javi Martinez, Thiago Alcantara and James Rodriguez.
Since it has clicked in the middle of the park, Bayern have not only recovered ground on Dortmund in terms of points, they have also overturned an inferior goal difference, ultimately taking them ahead of their rivals with nine games to go.
Coach Niko Kovac has been royally rewarded for his decision to place Martinez and Thiago in front of the defence and James ahead of them. They set the team alight in a 5-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach and were even more impressive 6-0 rout of Wolfsburg. How have they done it?
Let bundesliga.com explain…
Watch: How Bayern's latin midfield trio rules!
Javi Martinez: a natural born winner
It's not been an easy season for the Spanish midfielder, who struggled to find a fixed place in the team for much of the early part of the campaign. After months spent drifting between the starting XI and the bench, he grasped his opportunity after Kovac softened his approach to squad rotation and his performance at Anfield was the best proof of the value he brings to the team.
Since then, he has unsurprisingly been a regular starter.
He's scored two goals in Bayern's past four fixtures and merely a glance at the statistics would be enough to convince Kovac he is backing the right horse with the Spaniard. In the 17 Bundesliga games Martinez has started this season, they have picked up a whopping 44 points – an average of 2.6 per game. Without the 30-year-old, that ratio drops to 13 points from eight games, just 1.6 per game.
Thiago: the deep-lying playmaker
When Thiago is fit, he generally plays. The 34-times Spain international has appeared in 21 of Bayern's 25 games so far this season. In the four games the Bavarians have had to do without him, they have drawn two and lost two.
His regular starting position is just in front of the defence, where he can assume the number six and number eight roles with equal aplomb, showing also a more attacking dimension to his game. The 27-year-old shines above all through the quality of his passing, with just seven per cent of his passes not reaching their designated target.
It is often overseen, though, that Thiago does not only play the ball well, he wins it well too, winning 64 per cent of his tackles – the highest of any midfielder in the Bundesliga this season.
James: the number 10
James can play on the right, on the left or in the middle, in an attacking capacity; ten is not just his shirt number. The 68-times Colombia international is almost a complete midfielder, with excellent passing and shooting ability.
James has only started 15 of Bayern's 36 competitive fixtures this season, although eight of those have come consecutively in recent weeks. A knee injury set him back between November and the start of the second half of the season, but as his fitness and condition have returned, so too has the 27-year-old rediscovered some of his best form. His importance to the Bayern cause can be measured in the four goals and three assists he has provided in just 16 Bundesliga outings.