When Bayern Munich's now-traditional Weihnachtsshow (Christmas show) lit up the Allianz Arena after the final game of the year at the Allianz Arena last week, most in attendance could allow themselves to nod in approval at a satisfying restoration of former realities.
After Bayer Leverkusen mischievously stole the glory in 2024, 2025 has been Bayern's year.
Ordinarily, a wild 2-2 draw against the team bringing up the rear in the Bundesliga would be a slight cause for concern, but failure to beat Mainz was more of minor annoyance than anything likely to derail Bayern's ambitions to win trophies. Christmas guest Thomas Müller, in typical fashion, kept on smiling despite the contest's incessant highs and lows.
As sporting CEO Max Eberl said after the game, everyone associated with the club would have accepted a nine-point lead at the top had it been offered to them at the outset. That is correct.
The Rekordmeister in its current guise wears the look of a side too strong for its competitors, and Vincent Kompany has gone from the coach they took a calculated gamble on, to the man with a plan who fits the club in every imaginable way.
When the precocious Lennart Karl bagged Bayern's 50th league goal of the season on Sunday, it made Bayern the fastest team ever to hit that milestone in the Bundesliga. Would anyone bet against them smashing the record of 101 goals set by Gerd Müller & Co. back in 1971-72?
Karl, at 17, recently became the youngest player ever to score in three successive UEFA Champions League matches, and he's far from the only plus point Bayern can derive from the first four months of the season. Several players have improved their own personal standings, most notably Konrad Laimer, Dayot Upamecano and Serge Gnabry.
Laimer has gone from valuable utility squad member and Pressingmonster to one of the first names on the team sheet week in, week out at right back.
Upamecano has emerged as the re-signing priority, and the signals appear highly positive as regards a renewal for a defender oft criticized for occasional meltdowns earlier in his career. The France international has smoothed out some of the rougher edges and represents a key plank in Bayern's push for honors in the years ahead.
Gnabry may have to wait for his detailed contract talks with Eberl and sporting director Christoph Freund but has acquitted himself superbly in a period when Bayern have been shorn of attacking impulses Alphonso Davies and Jamal Musiala due to long term-injury. Davies is now back, although still being used cautiously, and Musiala will be on his way back just after everyone has uttered the annual guten Rutsch greeting to mark the turn of the calendar.
Kompany may well soon have a Luxusproblem (problem of luxury) on his hands in the creative positions. After all, how do you accommodate the superb Michael Olise, the driven Harry Kane, the effervescent Luis Díaz and then Karl, Gnabry, Musiala and of course Nicolas Jackson? Good luck to a prospect such as Wisdom Mike getting any significant minutes.
If you've read this far, you mighty think Bayern have no worries whatsoever, but that is not the case. The Champions League is still the club's ultimate Maßstab (measuring stick), and the defeat suffered away to Arsenal -- Bayern's lone reverse in any competition this term -- saw them come up short against excellent opponents. In my view, Bayern are good enough to win Europe's premier club competition, but could just as easily fall at the quarterfinal stage. That's how fractious it can be against Europe's elite.
Bayern have put pressure on themselves to win the DFB-Pokal, a competition that has not been their friend in recent years. Their quarterfinal meeting with RB Leipzig on Feb. 11 has the appearance of a tight contest in the making. Even if they negotiate that hurdle, though, quality sides like Leverkusen and holders VfB Stuttgart could still be waiting in the wings to mess things up for Bayern in the semifinals or the final in Berlin in late May.
Kompany and his entire coaching staff had their contracts extended immediately before the Mainz game, and while they all have rightly been praised for their technical and tactical work as well as on the menschlich (human front), there is nevertheless Luft nach oben (room for improvement).
Should Manuel Neuer get another year? Whether yes or no, is it time to more often start matches with Jonas Urban if he's going to represent the future?
Six of Bayern's 11 league goals conceded have been of the set play variety, leaving them only middle of the Bundesliga pack. Since the end of October in all competitions, Kompany's team have found themselves trailing in games on no fewer than six occasions.
That the Rekordmeister has found a way to overcome these deficits shouldn't paper over the cracks, not that any of that will be lost on Eberl, Kompany and the entire playing staff. Part of being Bayern is never settling for second best.
After the short trip to Heidenheim on Sunday, they can all enjoy a brief battery recharge before the business end of the season begins.