Of all of Europe’s top five leagues, the Bundesliga has emerged as the least competitive. In the last 14 seasons, there have been just two German champions, with Bayern Münich winning 13 titles and Bayer Leverkusen pipping Die Roten to the title once.
Bayern got its 2026/27 campaign off to a good start, and it’ll look to make it two wins from two on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. local), when it plays Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen. Die Knappen, the fourth-most successful team in the history of the division, are back in the Bundesliga after three seasons away.
Die Roten are -700 favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook to take all three points, and Schalke is +1100. There are +700 odds that the teams will draw.
Below, I’ll break down this matchup of German giants and provide my favorite bet.
Schalke vs. Bayern Munich Best Bet:
- Bayern Munich to Win in Shutout (+115): Schalke was awful in the attack in the 2.Bundesliga last season, scoring just the 10th-most goals in the second division, and even though Manuel Neuer’s age concerns me, Bayern still has the country’s best defense. Die Knappen couldn’t score against Augsburg, and it’s hard to see them doing much better against Die Roten.
Schalke vs. Bayern Munich prediction, pick
After winning the title by 16 points last season, it’s been business as usual for Bayern to start 26/27, as Die Roten pipped archrivals Borussia Dortmund to the Supercup title, picked up a 5-1 win over Stuttgart in the league, and advanced 4-1 over 2.Bundesliga side Osnabrück to advance to the DfB-Pokal Round of 32. As in 2025/26, when Die Roten won each of their first 16 matches in all competitions, they look smooth and in control. It’ll be tough competition for Die Knappen, whose latest top-flight stint began with a 3-0 defeat to Augsburg. Still, Schalke did top the 2.Bundesliga last season by a solid eight points, and it made light work of 3.Bundesliga side Hallescher in the DfB-Pokal Round of 64. Die Knappen will also have the rest advantage, as Münich played its DfB-Pokal game on Wednesday and Schalke hasn’t played since last Sunday.
Die Knappen have one big name on their roster, as 40-year-old Edin Džeko played 15 minutes off the bench in their Bundesliga opener. They also held onto Kenan Karaman, who had at least 13 goals in each of the past three seasons in the 2.Bundesliga, as well as Malian Moussa Sylla, who had 16 goals in 2024/25 and seven last season. All in all, Schalke returned every multi-goal scorer on a team that ranked 10th in the 2.Bundesliga in goals and fifth in shots on target. To their credit, Die Knappen did produce plenty of chances in their opener, managing 2.10 expected goals’ worth of chances, although they failed to turn any of their shots into goals. Schalke’s calling card is its defense; it allowed just 31 goals in the 2.Bundesliga last season and returned every defender with at least 10 starts except for Moussa N’Diaye. Although Die Knappen weren’t very good defensively in their opener, allowing the third-most expected goals and a whopping 13 shots on target while winning fewer than 40% of both their ground and aerial duels, at least they managed 51 recoveries, and they managed to catch Die Fuggerstädter offsides three times. They also pressed at the fifth-highest frequency, although they only managed to turn five of those presses into high turnovers. If Schalke can play more cleanly, it has a solid shot-stopper in Loris Karius, who ranked fifth in goals prevented in Matchweek 1 and ranked third in the 2.Bundesliga in save percentage last season.
Bayern’s roster needs no introduction. Harry Kane is arguably the best striker in the world, and he could win his first Ballon d’Or next month. Additionally, Die Roten managed to hold onto Michael Olise despite interest from Real Madrid and PSG, and they added Ismael Saibari, arguably Morocco’s best player during the World Cup. In the season opener, Saibari and Joshua Kimmich both assisted twice and four different players found the scoresheet as Bayern managed 4.06 expected goals from 21 shots (nine on target). Die Roten also completed 10 more crosses than any other team. Plus, Bayern should be expected to thrive defensively again this season after allowing the second-fewest goals and fewest shots on target in the league last season, and it got off to a strong start in its opener, giving up the third-fewest expected goals and winning at least half of its ground and aerial duels. Die Roten also allowed the third-fewest touches in the box, and Manuel Neuer did his job, saving three of the four shots on target he faced.
Die Knappen might have enough defensively to stay up eventually, but playing a home opener against Bayern is tricky. Die Roten have simply been an unstoppable machine, and Schalke simply isn’t good enough in the passing lanes to not be exposed by Bayern’s clinical attack. Die Knappen could catch Die Roten offsides a few times, and their defensive discipline might give Bayern fewer set-piece opportunities than usual, but ultimately, they lacked clinical finishing in the 2.Bundesliga and didn’t adequately address it. Schalke also might take a while to adjust to defending at the top level, failing to impress on that side of the ball against a much weaker attack in Augsburg. Furthermore, Die Knappen made the most errors leading to a shot in their opening match, and that simply won’t cut it against Die Roten. It’s hard to pick anything other than for Vincent Kompany’s men to win in a shutout.
