Bundesliga is back with a crash of thunder, a flash of lightening and one hell of a bang as the first two weekends of the new season have got under way in Germany.
Already in the opening eighteen games German football has seen eight-in-a-row champions and current holders of the European Cup Bayern Munich crash in an extraordinary 4-1 loss away to Hoffenheim, whilst nearest challengers Borussia Dortmund, who have highly coveted UK players Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham in their ranks, limped to a 2-0 loss against last season relegation strugglers Augsburg.
Match report: BVB 4 – 0 Freiburg as Sancho goes missing
The big questions
Is anyone in contention to beat Bayern? Who’s looking over their shoulder at the drop and who are the players to watch?
Title race
The most exciting team in world football: In Bayern’s last four games 21 goals have been scored, the Bavarian juggernaut beating Schalke 8-0, losing to Hoffenheim 4-1 and lifting both the UEFA Super Cup and German Super Cup. No matter what, Bayern Munch will have a say in who lifts the Meisterschale this year.
Nearest opponents last term Borussia Dortmund should be closest contenders having managed to keep prized asset Jadon Sancho away from the claws of Man Utd, whilst RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen’s challenges may have weakened somewhat having lost key personal Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, both to Chelsea.
What could play into the hands of the underdogs is fatigue. Bayern’s turnaround from beating PSG 2-1 in the Champions League final to the first game of this season was a mere three weeks.
Relegation
Four time champions and one of the most established teams in Bundesliga; Werder Bremen survived the drop last season in what was an extraordinary turnaround after sitting in automatic relegation on the last day of the campaign.
Bremen, who have played in the most Bundesligas ever (56 ), won their final league game 6-1 to leapfrog Dusseldorf and then made it through the relegation play-off by the skin of their teeth, beating Heidenheim on away goals to secure the club’s illustrious legacy.
This season Bremen boss Florian Kohfeldt will be hoping for a much less rocky campaign.
Bremen have got off to a reasonable start having won one, lost one, but the Die Werderaner (River Islanders) already face a pivotal tie coming up against newly promoted Arminia Bielefeld at the weekend.
For Bielefeld it’s their first return to the Bundesliga in twenty years after being crowned Bundesliga 2 champions last term.
The other newly promoted side is VFB Stuttgart, however the word ‘new’ is somewhat of a contradiction with Die Roten. Stuttgart have both Bundesliga and Champions League pedigree and it’s no surprise they’re back in Germany’s top flight. It must have been particularly intimidating for Bundesliga 2 teams to go to Stuttgart and play in a 60,000 plus seater stadium in Germany’s second-tier of football.
Big name players
Lewandowski, Sane, Haaland, Muller, Hazard, Reyna, the list of stars in Bundesliga is long.
Bayern’s Polish striker Robert Lewandowski is the hottest striker in world football right now having scored 55 goals in 47 appearances for the Bavarian side last season and already gotten off the mark this campaign.
Bayern also recruited the services of attacking midfielder Leroy Sane from Manchester City for £60m after the German international decided to leave the Etihad due in part to a testy relationship with manager Pep Guardiola.
UK players
There is a strong contingent of UK talent in Bundesliga after an extensive history of success for British born players in Germany, including Scotland great Paul Lambert, Owen Hargreaves and most recently Jadon Sancho. Three to look out for include:
Jude Bellingham: Even Sir Alex Ferguson’s private tour of Carrington couldn’t convince the former Birmingham City striker to stay in the UK. Bellingham chose to switch to Dortmund instead and join the growing number of exciting young talent gathering at Signal Iduna Park.
Liam Morrison: Morrison is a guaranteed Scottish star of the future. The 17-year-old centre-back moved from Celtic to Bayern last summer and has already made strides in Bavaria having been promoted to the Bayern U19s and now training under the tutelage of ex-Argentine international Martin Demichelis.
Jamal Musiala: Striker Musiala was born in Stuttgart but, having lived in London when he was young, has played for both Germany and England at international youth level. Musiala moved from Chelsea to Bayern in the summer of 2019 and has already broken club records including becoming the youngest goalscorer for the first team, netting in the 8-0 victory over Schalke on the first game of this season at just seventeen years of age.
Fans are back in Bundesliga
It’s no surprise that the famous German efficiency means fans are allowed back in stadiums months before the UK. Especially after it was announced by the British Government that allowing supporters into UK stadia could be curtailed for up to six months.
In Germany covid testing results are transmitted on a weekly basis and if the home clubs’ town has an R rating below 35/100,000 twenty per cent of the stadium is allowed to be filled with support.
That there is vorsprung durch technik in action.
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 