There is no other team in the Bundesliga with a better home record against Bayern than Saturday’s opponents Schalke 04. Of 37 meetings in Gelsenkirchen, just eight have finished in a win for Munich, with 18 draws and 11 victories for the Royal Blues. Indeed, you have to go back almost nine and a half years for Bayern’s last success away to Schalke, a 3-1 triumph on 17 October 1998.

Matters hardly improved from a Bavarian point of view after Schalke quit the venerable Parkstadion in summer 2001 for their magnificent new stadium on the same site. Some would say a curse lies over Bayern’s trips to the Veltins Arena, where the Reds have played six, lost four and drawn two, scoring just four goals and conceding 12.

“We’ve never won there, so it’s high time we did,” coach Ottmar Hitzfeld declared in the build-up to Saturday’s showdown. The General has presided over nothing but defeats at the Arena, losing with FCB on four separate occasions. The weekend clash is his last opportunity to set the record straight. “In terms of probability, our first win there must be coming closer,” Hitzfeld commented wryly. “Bayern will definitely be fired up by the idea of leaving the Veltins Arena with three points for once,” agreed S04 general manager Andreas Müller.

Lifting the curse of the Arena is only part of Bayern’s mission this weekend. “We want to maintain our lead,” Hitzfeld advised. After 21 matches, the General’s men lie four points clear of Werder Bremen, and six ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburger SV. Both of the northern clubs are at home this weekend: Werder entertain Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, with Eintracht Frankfurt visiting HSV and Leverkusen away to VfL Bochum on Sunday.