Bayern Munich hosts Bodø/Glimt in Champions League with Luis Díaz in the squad

Bayern Munich is back in the Champions League, and it's returning to the fortress it knows best. This September 10, Vincent Kompany's side hosts Bodø/Glimt at the Allianz Arena in the opening round of the league phase, with Luis Díaz now part of the Bavarian squad. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m. Colombia time (4:00 p.m. in Argentina), with the match airing on Disney+ for South America.

If one stat sums up why Bayern is the clear favorite, it's what happens when the club plays at home in this competition. Since that 2-3 loss to Manchester City in December 2013, the German side hasn't lost at the Allianz Arena in Champions League group stage or league phase play. That's 36 wins and just two draws in their last 38 home matches at this stage of the tournament, essentially an impenetrable fortress for more than a decade.

Kane, a predator in Europe

And if the stadium is one argument, Harry Kane is the other. The English forward joined Bayern in 2023 and has since racked up 33 Champions League goals, the highest total of any player over that span. This isn't a hot streak over a couple of matches either: Kane has scored in his last seven appearances in the competition, and if he finds the net in two more, he'll match Robert Lewandowski's record of scoring in nine straight matches between 2020 and 2021.

There's another milestone within reach for the club: Bayern sits just one goal away from 900 goals in European Cup and Champions League history. Only Real Madrid has reached that mark so far, so the chance to make history is right there for the taking tonight.

The visitor isn't just any opponent, though. Bodø/Glimt arrives in Munich on an 18-match unbeaten run across all competitions, a streak that has carried it back into the Champions League's main phase following a European campaign that put the Norwegian club on everyone's radar. The confidence is there, no doubt, but the test at the Allianz Arena is on a different level entirely.

Can Bodø/Glimt put an end to Bayern's home dominance? On paper, the gap is massive. But European soccer has seen its share of upsets from Scandinavian sides that showed up confident and unfazed by the occasion. What does seem clear is that Kane will get his shot at closing in on Lewandowski, and Bayern will get theirs at closing in on a round number that very few clubs on the continent can claim.