Bayern Múnich will take its perfect start in Europe to Stavanger on Tuesday, October 13, when it faces Viking at Viking Stadion for the first time. The Champions League match is set for 15:00 ET, and it comes after Bayern opened the league phase with a 5-0 win over Bodo/Glimt.
That is why the search around Bayern Munich is spiking now: this is not just another fixture, but the second matchday of the league phase, with Vincent Kompany’s team trying to build on a ruthless start. Viking enters the game after losing 3-1 to Stuttgart in Germany, so the stakes are immediate for both sides even before kickoff.
Harry Kane has been in spectacular form, and Bayern has attacked constantly, which is a bad combination for a team still chasing its first points in the competition. But Viking is not arriving empty-handed. Before the Champions League match, it beat Brann 2-0 away in Eliteserien, even after Kristoffer Askildsen was sent off and the side played about 50 minutes with ten players. Henrik Heggheim scored in the 10th minute and Peter Christensen added another shortly after, enough to keep Viking at the top of the standings on the same points as Bodo.
That result matters because it shows why the matchup is not a simple formality. Viking has already shown it can absorb pressure and still find a way through, which gives Morten Jensen and Bjarte Lunde Aarsheim a reason to believe their team can make life difficult for a heavyweight even in its first home presentation in the tournament. Georgi Kabakov of Bulgaria will referee the match.
Bayern still carries the cleaner record and the stronger edge, but this is the point in the schedule where those advantages are tested rather than stated. If Viking can turn its resistance into another disciplined night at home, the Champions League picture gets more complicated fast. If not, Bayern’s perfect start becomes the early shape of the group, and there will be little doubt about who set the pace on Tuesday in Stavanger.
