Before the start of the new Bundesliga season, we take a look at the direct BVB opponents Munich and Leipzig. In addition, VfL Bochum reports back to the House of Lords after a long period of abstinence:
FC Bayern Munich:
It’s a performance that the bosses like. As part of the team presentation, FC Bayern Munich presented a prominent “newcomer” at the beginning of August. Tennis star Alexander Zverev appears in the Allianz Arena three days after his Olympic gold in Tokyo. Beaming, he holds his medal in the cameras, confesses his love for FCB, kicks a little in the All-Star selection and receives a jersey from President Herbert Hainer. Nice pictures, good vibes. Finally.
Record champions with major problems during preparation
Because reality is different this summer on Säbener Straße. Similar to long-term rivals Borussia Dortmund, Munich have to struggle with a dissolute preparation. The EM returnees are only staggered and very late in training again, important players are injured and there is also a corona infection in between. Corentin Tolisso was last caught at the end of July. The test matches are also going differently than expected. First a 2: 3 against 1. FC Köln, then a 2: 2 against Ajax Amsterdam. Most recently a 0: 2 against Borussia Mönchengladbach and a 0: 3 at the dress rehearsal against SSC Napoli. Only four goals of their own in four test matches and ten goals against them – a record that can hardly meet the high demands of the record champions.
The industry leader has been wearing the fifth star for 31 championships since this season. If the Bavarians see themselves as they do, title number 32 will follow next year. Most recently, Bayern won the cup with a 13-point lead over RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund. This year the tableau could shuffle again.
The Bavarian era of Hoeneß and Rummenigge ends
“The competition will chase us like seldom before. We have to be aware of that, ”says Oliver Kahn. After the glittering era under Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummennige, it is the most urgent task of the titans to lead the club into a new phase of success as the new chairman of the board at the side of Herbert Hainer. But Bavaria’s hegemonic position may be in jeopardy if the persecutors from West and East succeed in penetrating the phalanx of the permanent champion and preventing his tenth championship title in a row.
High expectations are placed on Julian Nagelsmann. And the 34-year-old, who has been a Bayern fan himself since childhood, internalized the association’s self-image. It is a nice feeling to be in Munich. “But it only gets cozy and warm when I win titles. Only then did I really arrive at FC Bayern. Until then, it’s an unfinished feeling, ”Nagelsmann is quoted as saying on the club’s website. The bosses will be happy to hear it. FC Bayern needs positivity. More than ever.
RB Leipzig:
You can think what you want of RB Leipzig. One thing is certain: With the exception of FC Bayern and BVB, there is no team in Germany that plays football at such a consistently, attractive and successful level at such a high level. In the five years they have been part of the Bundesliga, the ambitious Saxons have been twice runner-up, twice third and once sixth.
Leizig wants to win the first title with Jesse Marsch
In the past three years they have also reached the DFB Cup final in Berlin twice. But both in 2019 against Bayern (0: 3) and this year against Borussia Dortmund (1: 4), the Red Bulls were led through the arena by their superior opponents on the nose ring.
The longing for the first title in the club’s history is great in Leipzig. Julian Nagelsmann, who was very successful for three years and moved to Munich, is followed in Jesse Marsch by a trainer with a stable smell. The American has been employed by the shower manufacturer’s football group since 2015 – first for New York Red Bulls (2015 to 2018) then at RB Salzburg (2019 to 2021). In the 2018/2019 season, the 47-year-old was also assistant coach under Ralf Rangnick in Leipzig.
Andre Silva is supposed to provide the necessary goals in Leipzig
He wants “more intensity, aggressiveness and verticality,” says the new RB trainer. “The goal is to have total control of the game and your opponent.” Well then, onward, march. But there is one catch. Since Timo Werner’s departure to Chelsea in 2020, Leipzig has lacked an attacker who reliably scores goals. In the last series, Marcel Sabitzer was the best Leipzig shooter with just eight hits.
In Leipzig they know about the weak point and have remedied it accordingly. From Eintracht Frankfurt they have signed Andre Silva, the second best gunner of the previous season with 28 hits, for 23 million euros. It was to be expected that the personnel restructuring measures would not be completed at the start. The results from the four test matches also testify to this. There the Leipzigers were still a long way from their furious offensive game. They also want to hibernate in the premier class. One thing is certain: there is certainly no lack of ambition with a view to this mission.
VfL Bochum:
Football lovers don’t have to do without a Revier derby in the new season either. FC Schalke 04 may have left the Bundesliga, but VfL Bochum, the smaller, also traditional neighbor, has returned to the upper house. Both their own supporters and their rivals had to wait eleven years. The VfL marketing department took the opportunity and printed T-shirts with the slogan: “Sorry, it took longer.”
Reis and Schindzielorz are the builders of Bochum’s success
While younger Bochumers will see their first Bundesliga game this Saturday in Wolfsburg, the two most important builders of the success have already experienced 225 first division games with the blue-whites. Coach Thomas Reis and Sebastian Schindzielorz played for VfL at the end of the 90s and at the beginning of the new millennium before they returned to Castroper Straße in a new role a few years ago. Schindzielorz became Managing Director Sport at his youth club at the beginning of 2018, while Reis returned to Castroper Straße in September 2019 as head coach. Together they stabilized the club, which was at times closer to the third division in terms of sport and economy than the first, and led it back to the upper house of football with team spirit and fast-paced football.
Relegation is the only goal of Bochum this season. How well VfL can keep up with the big players depends primarily on the promotion team around captain Anthony Losilla, goalkeeper Manuel Riemann and attacker Simon Zoller. The best-known newcomers are Elvis Rexhbecaj (previously Cologne and Wolfsburg), Konstantinos Stafylidis (Hoffenheim, Augsburg, Leverkusen) and Olympic participant Eduard Löwen (Hertha, Augsburg, Nuremberg).
VfL Bochum is experiencing a bumpy preparation
The preparation was bumpy. In the DFB Cup, VfL struggled to the next round at Wuppertaler SV, only winning the game in extra time. The defensive allowed too many scoring opportunities, but the offensive missed too many. An improvement should not be long in coming.
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