Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany is confident Jamal Musiala will thrive in 2026 once he returns from a long injury lay-off.

Musiala has not featured at all this season, after fracturing his fibula while featuring for Bayern against Paris Saint-Germain at the Club World Cup.

Having starred at Euro 2024 for Germany, Musiala played 40 games for Bayern last term across all competitions (not including the Club World Cup).

The playmaker scored 18 goals and provided five assists, while creating 73 chances for his team-mates.

While Musiala has not yet returned to training, Kompany said he is not far away.

"Musiala still has a little way to go, but everything is going well," he said ahead of Saturday's clash with Stuttgart.

"If he can train with us a few more times, we’ll be very happy. Hopefully, 2026 will be his year."

Another long-term injury absentee for Bayern has been Alphonso Davies, who is now nearing a comeback from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

Kompany hopes to have the Canada international back in action next week.

"If everything goes according to plan, he could get his first minutes of playing time against Mainz," he said of Davies.

"We're really happy about that. It’s looking good. He’s very close to a comeback. We’ve been patient; a comeback in 2025 is a bonus for us."

Bayern are eight points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

They have four games left in 2025 until the winter break, with Bayern taking on Sporting CP in the Champions League next week before Bundesliga matches against Mainz and Heidenheim.

"I'll be happy if we get four wins," Kompany said.

"There's a lot of focus on that. We wanted to still be in all three competitions going into the new year, which we've done. Now we want to win our remaining games. We've had some great moments in 2025. We want to keep that going and do even better in 2026."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Stuttgart - Deniz Undav

Undav has scored each of Stuttgart's last six Bundesliga goals, a new club record, surpassing Jurgen Klinsmann's five consecutive goals for the club in March 1986. Among all players with at least 100 minutes played in the Bundesliga in 2025-26, only Harry Kane (69) has a better minute per goal ratio than Undav (75).

The forward contributed to nine Stuttgart goals across all competitions in November (seven goals, two assists) – the most of any player in Europe's five big leagues, ahead of Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe (eight).

Bayern Munich - Luis Diaz

Diaz provided his fifth assist in the league this season last time out, equalling his Premier League best from the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns for Liverpool after just 12 games this term.

Only team-mate Kane (17) has more than his 12 goal involvements (seven goals, five assists) in the Bundesliga this term (Michael Olise also has 12).

MATCH PREDICTION: BAYERN MUNICH WIN

Including their Supercup meeting in August, Stuttgart have lost 15 of their last 16 home matches in all competitions against Bayern, with the only exception being a 3-1 Bundesliga win in May 2024.

In Bundesliga history, no other club has recorded as many victories against a single opponent as Bayern have against Stuttgart (71 in 112 games).

Stuttgart have failed to win in consecutive Bundesliga matches for the first time this season (D1 L1), and have secured just one victory in their last four league games (D1 L2), after five successive wins prior to this run.

In these four matches, Stuttgart have conceded at least two goals in four consecutive Bundesliga games under Sebastian Hoeness for the first time.

However, Stuttgart have won their first five home games in the league this season, doing so for the first time since 1992-93.

With 34 points after 12 matches, Bayern are having the joint-best season in Bundesliga history – only Bayern themselves in 2015-16 and Bayer Leverkusen in 2023-24 had previously collected as many points after twelve league games.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Stuttgart - 18.9%

Draw - 20.5%

Bayern Munich - 60.6%