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Bayern Munich’s win against Cologne on Wednesday meant the Bavarian giants equalled the record points tally at the halfway stage of a Bundesliga season – while scoring far more goals than any German top-flight side has ever managed after 17 matches.

It is not unusual for Bayern Munich to top the Bundesliga table at the halfway stage of the season but things are a little different after 17 matches in 2025-26.

The 3-1 victory against Cologne at the RheineEnergieStadion extended their unbeaten league start to 15 wins and two draws from 17 matches – tying the Bundesliga points record of 47 at this stage, set by Pep Guardiola in his first season with Bayern in 2013-14.

However, Vincent Kompany’s team have achieved the feat in finer style, scoring a record 66 goals at the halfway stage – 22 more than Guardiola’s team managed 12 years ago.

In 2013-14, Guardiola’s Bayern went on to win the Bundesliga title with 90 points, 19 points ahead of Borussia Dortmund in second. The title that year was settled with seven games still remaining.

Kompany’s Bayern are already 11 points ahead of second-placed Dortmund this season and may well be targeting the Bundesliga record tally of 91 points.

The sheer scale of Bayern’s scoring has not been seen at this stage of any leading European league since the 1930s.

Athletic Bilbao were the last club to have scored more than Bayern’s 66 goals after 17 fixtures, netting 72 in 1930-31 – and they proved crucial as the Basque club went on to secure the La Liga title on goal difference after three teams finished level in an 18-game season.

Bilbao’s goal difference was 28 better than Racing Santander in second.

However, it is an industrial town in Lancashire, rather than a sun-kissed port of northern Spain, that boasts the all-time goals record after 17 matches.

Blackburn Rovers scored 73 goals as they finished third in Division One in 1889-90 – a total unsurpassed in any major top flight.

More recently, Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City set the Premier League’s existing record after 17 games, scoring 53 goals in 2011-12 as they ended a 44-year wait for the title – a team captained by Kompany.

The star of Bayern’s goal-happy show has undoubtedly been striker Harry Kane, whose prolific form since swapping north London for Germany has reached new levels this season.

The England captain has already scored 31 goals in just 27 games, including 20 in 17 league appearances – and only failed to find the net in eight.

In Kane’s first campaign with Bayern in 2023-24, he averaged a goal every 79 minutes. In his second it was every 92 minutes.

Before Wednesday’s match, the 32-year-old was scoring a goal every hour he is on the pitch.

And Kane’s goals come in flurries – his hat-trick in the 5-0 win at Stuttgart on 6 December was his third of the season and a remarkable 11th overall since joining Bayern in 2023.

Overall, the former Tottenham striker has scored 82 goals in the Bundesliga for Bayern – the most of any player in the top five European leagues since his debut.

If Kane has been the protagonist, Bayern have also boasted an impressive supporting cast.

Seven different players scored in the 8-1 win against Wolfsburg last weekend, meaning Bayern have had 15 scorers this season – the most of any Bundesliga side.

It was also the 11th time they have scored four or more goals in a game this season.

Seven Bayern players have contributed at least three goals, which is second only to Arsenal across the major European leagues.

However, while the Gunners can sometimes be reliant on set-pieces to win matches, 50 of Bayern’s 66 league goals have been scored from open play, with only 10 coming via a corner or free-kick, plus six penalties.

This means the German champions can now target toppling another record – the most goals scored in an entire Bundesliga season, which stands at 101 by Bayern themselves in 1972.

Should their scoring rate continue at such a pace they may also be able to target Torino’s Serie A total of 125 goals in 1948 – an all-time record for a major European league.

Bayern’s current scoring average of 3.8 goals per game projects a total of 132 by May.

Northampton fly-half Fin Smith is suffering with a calf strain that may put him out of England’s Six Nations opener against Wales on 7 February.

The 23-year-old withdrew from the Saints line-up to face Bordeaux-Begles on Sunday and is awaiting the results of a scan on the injury.

“We’re still waiting to see how long that is from a scan point of view,” said Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson.

“It’s probably minimum two weeks, but with a muscle injury it’s hard to give a timeline beyond that.

“It’s not months and months and he’s not going to be back this weekend, so somewhere in between that.”

England take on Wales in three and a half weeks, with their Six Nations squad set to be named next week.

After the opening round of action, England travel to Scotland on 14 February and then take on Ireland at Twickenham on 21 February before the Six Nations’ rest week.

Smith came off the bench in the opening-round defeat by Ireland in last year’s competition and was promoted to the starting XV for the remaining four matches of England’s campaign.

Steve Borthwick’s side finished second in a hugely encouraging campaign, and Smith won selection for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia over the summer.

However, while Smith endured a disappointing time with the Lions, unable to exert pressure on Finn Russell for a Test spot, George Ford impressed in England’s Tests against Argentina and the United States.

Ford was preferred during the autumn, starting at 10 in victories over Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, while Smith, unable to offer Marcus Smith’s versatility, was restricted to a win over Fiji and the fringes of the matchday 23.

“It is hard to take,” Smith told BBC Radio Northampton’s Saints Show in December.

“I have absolutely loved how good it feels to wear the England 10 shirt; having that taken away from you does hurt.”

For Mohamed Salah, it was a familiar feeling of anguish on the international stage.

The Liverpool forward looked on in dismay and disbelief as the referee’s whistle sounded at the Grand Stade de Tangier on Wednesday night and consigned Egypt to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Senegal in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final.

In a stale and largely uneventful affair in Morocco, it was Sadio Mane’s thumping effort 12 minutes from time that was enough to secure Senegal’s place in Sunday’s final.

This was not in the script for Salah nor Egypt, who arrived in Morocco last month openly targeting a first Afcon title since 2010.

Speaking to BBC World Service after the game, Mane said of his former Liverpool team-mate: “It is not easy for him – but still best of luck.

“He did everything to carry his team until now. Unfortunately one of us had to [lose]. I’m happy [to be] in the final.”

For Salah, the sight of Mane – with whom he reportedly had an indifferent relationship with at Anfield – soaking up glory on the international stage, while he suffered hurt, has been one that has become all too familiar in recent years.

In the 2021 Afcon final, Mane – still at Liverpool with Salah – scored the decisive spot-kick to upset Egypt and clinch his nation’s maiden title.

A couple of months later, when the two sides met in a two-legged tie for a place at the 2022 World Cup, it was Mane again who converted the winning penalty in the shootout to seal his side’s place at the Qatar showpiece after Salah had blazed his effort over the bar.

Since moving to Liverpool in 2017, Salah has won every major club trophy on offer, including the Premier League twice and the Champions League.

But it is continental kingship the 33-year-old has spent the twilight years of his career chasing.

“Nobody, even in Egypt, wants to win this trophy more than me,” said Salah after helping his team beat Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals last week.

“I have won almost every prize. This is the title I am waiting for.”

It would be hasty and premature to suggest this will be Salah’s last Afcon with Egypt.

The forward, who has amassed more than 110 caps for the Pharaohs since his debut in 2011, could still feature in the 2027 and 2028 editions of the tournament before it switches to a four-year cycle.

But with his age, and long-term future at Liverpool unclear after a public outburst at Elland Road last month, it could be the last time Salah features in the competition as a Premier League talisman.

Speaking after the game, former Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel said: “He has been waiting. We are all fans of Mo Salah, I played with him, great guy.

“He has won everything at club level but everyone wanted him to win this title. Now he needs to go back to Liverpool and carry on with his career.”

Meanwhile, former Morocco midfielder Hassan Kachloul warned Salah he was running out of time to lead Egypt to an eighth Afcon title.

“He will not stop until he gets his rewards. He will play again in two years,” said the 52-year-old, who had spells at both Southampton and Aston Villa in his career.

“He will try to concentrate on the next tournament and win the title – or else it will be the one that gets away as there won’t be many more chances.”

Everything seemed set up for Salah to finally end his long wait for his first Africa Cup of Nations title here in Morocco.

He was playing better than he ever has during this tournament. By his own admission, he was enjoying himself as much as he ever has on international duty, talking about the fun with his team-mates away from the scrutiny and pressure he normally experiences at Afcons because their team camp was in beautiful, private surroundings, on the beach in Agadir.

Egypt also seemed to be improving with every game at this Afcon and peaking at the right time. They were excellent in the quarters against Ivory Coast.

Yet again, though, Egypt’s old problems during the Salah era came back to haunt them. They were too negative and too reliant on Salah or Omar Marmoush to pluck a moment of magic out of very little service.

This will be heartbreaking for Salah. His generation followed an Egypt generation that won three Afcons in a row.

Off the field, political issues impacted his early years with the national team, but then he came so close to lifting the trophy as defeats in the 2017 and 2021 finals were followed by this loss in the semis against Senegal.

The question now is, will he follow Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez by making this his last Afcon?