The 2020/21 Bundesliga season so far in numbers
Robert Lewandowski heads the scoring charts once again, but who else is setting the gold standard heading into the Bundesliga's customary winter break? bundesliga.com weighs up the numbers...
Most goals
Defending Bundesliga champions and leaders Bayern Munich have scored a league-high 39 goals after 13 matches, with Lewandowski accounting for 17 of them at a clip of one every 58.6 minutes. Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland is next on the list with 10, despite missing the final four rounds of 2020 fixtures with a hamstring injury. Andre Silva (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Wout Weghorst (Wolfsburg) have nine apiece, while Lucas Alario (Bayer Leverkusen), Lars Stindl (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim) are all on eight.
Watch: Robert Lewandowski hit his second successive brace in Bayern's table-topping win at Leverkusen on Matchday 13
Most assists
Last season's assist king Thomas Müller has company at the top of the provision charts in the form of teammate Kingsley Coman. Both players have produced seven assists, one more than Union Berlin set-piece specialist Christopher Trimmel. Like Raphael Guerreiro (Dortmund), Daichi Kamada (Frankfurt) and Max Kruse (Union Berlin), Nadiem Amiri (Leverkusen) has set up five. Bayern's Joshua Kimmich is also halfway to double figures, despite being restricted to seven appearances through injury.
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Top of the shots
It may come as no great surprise to learn that FIFA Best Men's Player 2020 Lewandowski has pulled the proverbial trigger 50 times across his 12 appearances so far this season. Silva (43) and Weghorst (33) round out the top-three, while Vincenzo Grifo (Freiburg) and Matheus Cunha (Hertha Berlin) have both had 31 attempts on goal. Josip Brekalo (30) is the only other player to have 30 or more pre-Christmas shots.
Top speed
Alphonso Davies missed almost two months of action due to ankle ligament damage, but hasn't lost an ounce of his searing pace. The Canadian has been clocked doing 22.3 mph (35.94 km/h) - only a fraction short of his Bundesliga record speed of 2019/20 (22.7 mph/ 36.53 km/h). Coman (22.17 mph/ 35.68 km/h) and Schalke's Rabbi Matondo (22.15 mph/ 35.66 km/h) have come closest to outstripping "The FC Bayern Road Runner".
Successful passes from open play
Bayern's passing hasn't been quite as sharp as their shooting, with Leon Goretzka their best for pass completion (89.1 per cent). Instead it's Dortmund's Axel Witsel who leads the way, having hit the money with 94.6 per cent of his attempted passes. Gladbach defender Nico Elvedi (94.5 per cent) and BVB counterpart Manuel Akanji (93.2 per cent) complete the top three, with the Swiss duo followed by fellow centre-backs Willi Orban (RB Leipzig, 92.2 per cent) and Makoto Hasebe (Frankfurt, 91.6 percent).
Challenges won
Promoted VfB Stuttgart's high-flying return to the top flight owes as much to the goals of Silas Wamangituka as it does the industry of unsung midfielder Wataru Endo. The Japan international has been a veritable hive of activity in the engine room for Pellegrino Matarazzo's men, winning a league-leading 212 of his attempted challenges. Daniel Caligiuri has put himself about for the Augsburg cause (178), while Cunha (172) has defended exceptionally from the front for Hertha. Martin Hinteregger (Frankfurt, 167) and Ritsu Doan (Arminia Bielefeld, 161) are also no strangers to getting their hands dirty.
Aerial challenges won
There's not much to separate the Bundesliga's big men. Pushing 6'5", Frankfurt's Bas Dost has won out aerially 73 times so far in 2020/21. You won't catch Bielefeld forward Fabian Klos (71), Dortmund defender Mats Hummels (68), Cologne striker Sebastian Andersson (65) and Schalke centre-back Salif Sane (61) asking for any magic step ladders either. The only surprise is that the German top flight's tallest player, Stuttgart frontman, Sasa Kalajdzic, only scrapes into the top 20 (38).
Most saves
Leipzig have the best defensive record and Schalke the worst - nine and 36 goals conceded respectively - but it's Mainz's Robin Zenter who's had his palms warmed the most (51 saves). Rafal Gikiewicz (Union, 50), Stefan Ortega (Bielefeld, 49), Kevin Trapp (Frankfurt, 48) and Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim, 44) have also been busier than most. For reference, the FIFA Best goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, has repelled 40 efforts, whilst conceding 19.
Distance covered
While keeping goals out is a shot-stopper's primary remit, it's a midfielder's job to run himself into the ground for the greater good of the team. Bielefeld pair Marcel Hartel (98 miles/ 158 kilometres) and Manuel Prietl (94.6 mi/ 152.3 km) have been doing that religiously, sandwiching Werder Bremen's Maxi Eggestein (96.9 mi/ 156 km). Müller is neither a midfielder nor forward, but a Raumdeuter (space interpreter), Bayern's world-class anomaly covering 92.5 mi/ 149 km to the 92.3 mi/ 148.6 km of Hertha's Niklas Stark that completes the top-five.
Most cards
Frustrations can boil over for the best of us, so spare some sympathy for relegation-threatened Mainz duo Danny Latza (six yellow cards) and Moussa Niakhate (five yellows, one red). Hoffenheim's Stefan Posch (five yellows, one red), Dennis Geiger (four yellows, one red) and Cunha (six yellows) have crossed the line more than once, with Bremen's Jean Manuel Mbom, Frankfurt's Sebastian Rode, Stuttgart's Gonzalo Castro and Gladbach's Florian Neuhaus likewise serving mandatory one-match bans after getting themselves into a spot of yellow peril.
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