On Saturday, Yann Sommer returns to his former club Borussia Mönchengladbach with new side Bayern Munich for the first time, and the defending champions will be hoping the goalkeeper can retrieve the form that saw him make a Bundesliga-record 19 saves when the two sides drew 1-1 in Bavaria earlier this campaign.

The Swiss custodian produced a performance for the ages in August, thwarting Julian Nagelsmann’s side time and again as the Foals continued their unbeaten start to the 2022/23 campaign, taking eight points from the first 12 on offer.

Gladbach took the lead against the run of play as the spoils were shared when Marcus Thuram broke free of the home defence to slot past Manuel Neuer, and for a long time it looked like being the winning goal as Leroy Sane, Sadio Mane, Serge Gnabry and Co. were all denied by Sommer.

Watch: Highlights of the 1-1 draw in Munich

Indeed, Bayern had 35 shots on goal throughout the 90 minutes, 20 of which were on target, with Sane’s equaliser in the 83rd minute they only attempt to evade Sommer’s clutches.

That the hosts finished the game with an expected goals (xG) metric of 3.27 further underlines the out-of-this-world nature of the then-Gladbach goalkeeper’s display, his 19 saves setting a new league-best mark as the most recorded in a single match since data collection began.

“We knew before the game that we would have a lot of work at the back with our defence, that there would be a lot of crosses, a lot of shots,” Sommer told bundesliga.com at the final whistle.

Watch: Sommer - one of the Bundesliga's best

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“We knew that. So we said, ‘Ok, we’ll try to be compact, try to defend every ball.’ It’s also normal against a team like Bayern that you can’t defend everything, so then you need a goalkeeper. I’m happy that I put in a good performance for us and that we could take this point.”

Perhaps understandably Sommer was reluctant to blow his own trumpet, but teammate Joe Scally had no such reservations.

“He’s the best in the world,” the USMNT full-back told bundesliga.com. “He does this every single week. Last year in our first game against Bayern he did this as well.

“Every game we just expect it from him because we know he’s the best goalie. He gives the defence so much confidence, he gives the team confidence because we know that if something happens then he’s there to save us. He's just unbelievable.”

Watch: Scally: "Sommer is the best goalkeeper in the world"

Head coach Daniel Farke added his voice to the chorus of praise in his post-match press debriefing: “Yann produced a world-class performance. You need that if you want to get anything in Munich.”

Of course, Farke can no longer rely on Sommer, who has had a solid start to life at the Allianz Arena, avoiding defeat in each of his seven matches in all competitions and keeping three clean sheets. If beating Bayern wasn't already hard enough, Gladbach will be under no illusions as to what they will need to produce to get past the 34-year-old.

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