Records and landmarks to come in 2019/20

There are perhaps some Bundesliga best marks that will stand forever. Gerd Müller’s 40 goals in a season, Karl-Heinz “Charly” Körbel’s 602 appearances or even Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 12-0 win over Borussia Dortmund are unlikely to ever be broken, but bundesliga.com has a number of records to look out for in 2019/20.

Alaba and Müller’s title haul

Franck Ribery ended his Bundesliga career in fitting fashion last season, scoring on his final appearance in Bayern’s 5-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt to secure him a ninth Bundesliga title. It’s the most of any player or coach in the league’s history, but could the Frenchman soon have company as the Bundesliga’s most successful player?

Watch: Ribery and Robben’s fitting farewell

Long-time teammates David Alaba and Thomas Müller are hot on the winger’s heels with eight winner’s medals apiece and would equal the record should the Munich club extend their own record of consecutive titles to eight in 2019/20.

Neuer’s clean sheets

Bayern captain Manuel Neuer begins the season 28 games short of 400 Bundesliga appearances and 24 clean sheets away from equalling the all-time record held by his predecessor Oliver Kahn. However, this would take an unprecedented effort in 2019/20 because the record for clean sheets in a single season is 21, although that was set by Neuer himself in 2015/16.

Lewy into the top 3

Breaking records is nothing new for Robert Lewandowski. The Poland international in fact holds four Guinness World Records relating to his historic five-goal haul against Wolfsburg in 2015 and he is the Bundesliga’s all-time non-German goalscorer. While his 202 career goals in the league is remarkable, it may be beyond even Lewandowski to ever overtake Gerd Müller’s record of 365.

The striker will, however, have his sights set firmly on third place in the all-time standings this season. Lewandowski is 11 goals away from matching Manfred Burgsmüller in fourth place and then needs just seven more to equal his former coach Jupp Heynckes in third. Eighteen goals in 2019/20 is certainly feasible for the four-time top scorer who has managed at least that total in all but two of his nine Bundesliga campaigns to date. He may also fancy a tilt at the record for goals in a season by a non-German, currently held by former Dortmund teammate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (31 in 2016/17).

Watch: Lewandowski's rise to global stardom

Impact sub

No players have scored more Bundesliga goals from the bench than Claudio Pizarro and Nils Petersen (21 each), and the pair are still playing. It means the holder of this record could well change hands over the course of 2019/20, but these two may not be the only ones in the race.

Lewandowski is fourth on the list with 16 substitute goals (and he’s previously scored five in one game), while there is also BVB’s Paco Alcacer. The Spaniard may be nine goals behind Pizarro and Petersen but in just one season of Bundesliga football he netted a record 12 from the bench.

Watch: 21 Pizarro goals from 21 years

Record club

Bayern may hold the most Bundesliga titles (28) but they have not played the most games in the league. That record is currently jointly held by Werder Bremen and Hamburg, who have completed 1,866 fixtures prior to 2019/20. They have both featured in all but one of the Bundesliga’s previous 56 campaigns, but HSV’s continued absence down in Bundesliga 2 means Bremen will now claim the record as the Bundesliga’s longest-serving club outright when they play on Matchday 1 on the weekend of 16-18 August.

One milestone we may have to wait a little longer for belongs to Gladbach. The Foals have scored 2,946 goals in their top-flight history and could become the fourth team to break the 3,000 mark after Bayern, Dortmund and Werder. They are 54 strikes short of that landmark – last season’s fifth-placed side bagged 55 in 2018/19…