Düsseldorf (AP) – The 1st matchday of the Bundesliga will open on Friday evening with the game Borussia Mönchengladbach against Bayern Munich. The other games at a glance:
VfL Wolfsburg – VfL Bochum (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
SITUATION: Wolfsburg coach van Bommel is in focus after his substitution error in the cup and before his league debut as a coach. Bochum is making its Bundesliga comeback after eleven years in the second division.
STATISTICS: In March 2010 (4: 1) there was the last of eight Wolfsburg home wins against the Ruhrpott Club. The climber was able to win four games at Lower Saxony.
STAFF: Arnold should be in the starting line-up for the hosts. Rexhbecaj, on loan from Wolfsburg, will play in the league for the first time for Bochum. In return, the Bochumers are missing the two offensive players Holtmann and Blum in addition to the newcomer Löwen.
SPECIAL: All Bochum players together have 43 Bundesliga goals, Wolfsburg striker Weghorst alone has 63 on the account. Bochum’s coach Reis worked in Wolfsburg from 2016 to 2019 – as the coach of the U19 team.
1. FC Union Berlin – Bayer Leverkusen (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.)
SITUATION: Union Berlin is confidently entering its third Bundesliga season. 16 home games in a row are unbeaten. However, the ironists are still pushing the favorites to the guests, with new coach Seoane making an optimistic debut.
STATISTICS: Union has corrected its Bayer weakness. After five defeats in the cup and league, the Werkself were 1-0 at home in the preseason and 1-1 on the penultimate matchday.
STAFF: Union coach Fischer had to integrate twelve new ones. Voglsammer, Baumgartl and Khedira have the best chances of starting out. Bayer are missing five potential regular players: Alario, Wirtz, Bellarabi, Fosu-Mensah and Tapsoba.
SPECIAL: Seoane will meet a Swiss compatriot on his Bundesliga debut. Union coach Fischer described him as a “great talent”, and Seoane Fischer, conversely, as a “role model”.
VfB Stuttgart – SpVgg Greuther Fürth (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
SITUATION: Newcomer Greuther Fürth is starting the season as the number one relegation candidate. Stuttgart does not seem very stable because of the sale of high performers and many failures.
STATISTICS: In the only joint Bundesliga season 2012/13 so far, Fürth won 2-0 in Stuttgart, but lost 1-0 at home in the first half of the season.
STAFF: VfB striker Kalajdzic, Coulibaly and Nartey are absent due to corona infections, and there are other failures such as top performers Silas and Mangala. Meyerhöfer and Itter are back at Fürth, Nielsen’s starting eleven is questionable.
SPECIAL: Guest trainer Leitl takes expert predictions that his team will be relegated in a moment, with humor. Even before his two seasons with the Franks in the 2nd division, they were considered a relegation candidate. He thinks 16th or 15th place is possible.
FC Augsburg – TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
SITUATION: Augsburg and Hoffenheim are among the so-called insurmountable in the Bundesliga. FC Bayern, Bayer Leverkusen, VfL Wolfsburg, Union Berlin and RB Leipzig have never been relegated either.
STATISTICS: In Augsburg, the Hoffenheim team have already left the pitch six times as winners. Nowhere else did they do that so often.
STAFF: The U21 European champion Maier, on loan from Hertha, is an option at FCA a few days after his arrival. Vargas can play after suspension, and captain Gouweleeuw is fit again. The guests have significant problems, at least seven players are out.
SPECIAL: A year ago, FC Augsburg made a six-point start for the first time in their tenth Bundesliga year (3-1 at Union Berlin, 2-0 against Borussia Dortmund).
Arminia Bielefeld – SC Freiburg (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
SITUATION: Arminia seems to have strengthened itself well after the somewhat surprising relegation, at least in terms of width. Freiburg, tenth in the previous year, has the most well-rehearsed squad in the league: No external newcomer and of last year’s regular players only goalkeeper Florian Müller is no longer part of the squad. The loan ended.
STATISTICS: Bielefeld has won all of the last four first division home games against Freiburg. The Ostwestfalen have never managed five home wins in a row against a club.
STAFF: Both teams are almost complete. The only thing missing from Arminia is newcomer Vasiliadis, SC striker Petersen.
SPECIAL: It is the first time that the two teams face each other in two consecutive seasons in the Bundesliga. In the years before, one of the two clubs was relegated in a joint season.
Borussia Dortmund – Eintracht Frankfurt (Saturday, 6.30 p.m.)
SITUATION: On matchday 27, Eintracht won in Dortmund, but Borussia caught the Frankfurt team in the fight for the Champions League. BVB is starting the season with cautious optimism, Frankfurt has to deliver after the cup in Mannheim.
STATISTICS: Before the defeat last year, Dortmund had won nine home games in a row against Frankfurt.
STAFF: Dortmund are missing eight players, including Hummels, Brandt and Guerreiro. Can is questionable. Painting should make his debut right from the start. Frankfurt is missing Captain Rode for a short time, otherwise everyone is on board.
SPECIAL: BVB has always won on the first matchday in the past six seasons. Of course, FC Bayern holds the league record with seven opener wins in a row.
FSV Mainz 05 – RB Leipzig (Sunday, 3.30 p.m.)
SITUATION: At Mainz 05, three players and an assistant coach tested positive for the corona virus before the Bundesliga game against runner-up Leipzig. Ten other people had to be quarantined. The team training was canceled on Wednesday and Thursday.
STATISTICS: The Rheinhessen won only two out of ten games against RB, both at home. At the start of the second half of the previous year, the 05er won 3-2.
STAFF: After the corona alarm, it is open which Mainz players can participate. Henrichs, Sörloth and Halstenberg are canceled near Leipzig.
SPECIAL: First Bundesliga game as head coach at Leipzig for Marsch: The American was coach at Red Bull Salzburg and Svensson at their farm club FC Liefering. The Dane was considered Crown Prince von Marsch until he moved to Mainz.
1. FC Köln – Hertha BSC (Sunday, 5.30 p.m.)
SITUATION: In Cologne, new coach Baumgart aroused optimism and even a little euphoria. After finishing 16th in the previous year, his goal is twelfth. The mood in Berlin is better than it has been for a long time. They got through the preparation without defeat and even beat Liverpool.
STATISTICS: Last year both games ended goalless. In the previous season, the away team won high: Cologne 5-0 in Berlin, Hertha 4-0 in Cologne.
STAFF: Skhiri should play for FC despite rumors of emigration, for him Hector would move to the left behind. Hertha doesn’t have any major worries. Captain Boyata is probably fit again, Matheus Cunha has happily returned with Olympic gold.
SPECIAL: “De Prince kütt” – Kevin-Prince Boateng returns to the Bundesliga after three years. For Hertha, the boy from the Wedding district is both a sporty driver and a brand ambassador.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210813-99-832111 / 2
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