To see how dominant Bayern Munich has been this Bundesliga season, just look at the goal difference.
With 51 goals scored — more than 3.6 per game — and only 11 conceded, Bayern's goal difference is a whopping +40.
Best of the rest is second-place Leipzig's +13 and no team below sixth has a positive goal difference, in part because of the bruising, high-scoring losses many of them have suffered at the hands of Bayern and Harry Kane.
Bayern's last game of 2025 promises another big win. Sunday's opponent is Heidenheim, the team with the worst defensive record in the league.
After a rare slip-up in a 2-2 draw with Mainz last week, facing relegation-threatened Heidenheim offers Bayern a chance to get back to business as usual. But it will have to do without injured goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Bayern leads Leipzig by nine points and Heidenheim is 17th but won two of its last three games.
The Africa Cup of Nations leaves Bayer Leverkusen in an awkward spot ahead of its game against second-place Leipzig on Saturday. Leverkusen has four players at the tournament, the most of any Bundesliga team, including defensive stalwart Edmond Tapsoba and talented young midfielder Ibrahim Maza. Leipzig misses one of its top youngsters, winger Yan Diomande.
Sixth-place Stuttgart and fifth-place Hoffenheim meet Saturday in a local rivalry in southwest Germany which could leave the winner in the Champions League places over the winter break.
More scoring landmarks loom for Kane. One goal against Heidenheim would take him to 35 for club and country in all competitions this season. Scoring twice Sunday would see Kane hit 20 Bundesliga goals, just six fewer than the tally which made him Bundesliga top scorer last season.
U.S. attacking midfielder Gio Reyna faces his old team as Borussia Moenchengladbach hosts Borussia Dortmund on Friday.
As well as missing the injured Neuer, Bayern is without Kane's main backup. Nicolas Jackson is with Senegal at the Africa Cup.
A rocky season for Eintracht Frankfurt gets trickier against Hamburger SV on Saturday since Frankfurt will have to do without midfielders Ellyes Skhiri and Fares Chaibi, both of Africa Cup duty.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Bayern Munich players celebrate after Bayern's Jonathan Tah, second right, scored his side's third goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Sporting CP in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow’s troops were advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine, voicing confidence that the Kremlin's military goals would be achieved.
Speaking at his highly orchestrated year-end news conference, Putin declared that Russian forces have “fully seized strategic initiative” and would make more gains by the year's end.
Russia's larger, better-equipped army has made slow but steady progress in Ukraine in recent months.
The annual live news conference is combined with a nationwide call-in show that offers Russians across the country the opportunity to ask questions of Putin, who has led the country for 25 years. Putin has used it to cement his power and air his views on domestic and global affairs.
This year, observers are watching for Putin’s remarks on Ukraine and the U.S.-backed peace plan there.
U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push to end nearly four years of fighting after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, but Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Putin reaffirmed that Moscow was ready for a peaceful settlement that would address the “root causes” of the conflict, a reference to the Kremlin’s tough conditions for a deal.
Earlier this week, Putin warned this week that Moscow would seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands.
The Russian leader wants all the areas in four key regions captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also has insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured yet — demands Kyiv has rejected.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to attend his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, speaks during his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during his annual news conference and call-in show at Gostinny Dvor, in Moscow, on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks at the annual board meeting of the country's Defense Ministry in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
