Borussia Monchengladbach will look to get their season underway when they host Bayern Munich on Saturday. While the visitors have won their first two games, they can enter the international break with a spotless record.
Preview (Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Bayern Munich)
Gladbach’s head coach Daniel Farke left for Leeds United during the summer. His replacement, Gerardo Seoane was fired by Bayer Leverkusen in October. He is ushering in a new era for the team. The 44-year-old came to Germany with a great reputation after winning three straight championships with Young Boys. He then led Leverkusen to their best finish in six years by finishing third in their inaugural season.
After that, though, things swiftly fell apart for him, making last weekend’s 3-0 loss to Gladbach, his former team. Victor Boniface scored twice, one after the other, and Jonathan Tah scored late in the first half. It gave Xabi Alonso’s team the three points they deserved for their commanding performance. Seoane will be hoping his team tightens up defensively as soon as possible after drawing 4-4 away at Augsburg. It may have to wait given that they play the defending champions on Saturday night. However, since the 2011–12 season, Gladbach is the only side to have scored 35 points against the Bavarians. Die Fohlen has gone undefeated in their previous five encounters with the German team.
Gladbach has established themselves as Bayern’s Angstgegner (bogey team) due to their historically excellent performance against them, so there will be plenty of anxiety when the defending champions visit Monchengladbach this weekend. However, Thomas Tuchel’s team has looked strong in their initial triumphs, defeating Werder Bremen 4-0 in the Bundesliga opener and Augsburg 3-1 in their most recent match at the Allianz Arena. Following his $100 million transfer from Tottenham Hotspur, English striker Harry Kane has already scored three league goals. The 30-year-old is filling Robert Lewandowski’s somewhat sizable shoes after the renowned forward joined Barcelona last summer.
Team News
Gladbach now has a large number of players out injured, which isn’t exactly helping Seoane adjust to his new position. While Stefan Lainer’s return date is unknown following the full-back’s lymph node cancer diagnosis last month, Luca Netz, Nico Elvedi, Hannes Wolf, Christoph Kramer, Fabio Chiarodia, and Manu Kone are all anticipated to miss Saturday’s crucial match before possibly returning after the international break. Both Joe Scally and Maximilian Wober have colds, but Seoane is unlikely to make any changes to the lineup that lost to his former team Leverkusen last weekend. This is especially true given the hosts’ lack of choices.
Due to muscular problems, Bayern will be without Jamal Musiala, Bouna Sarr, and Raphael Guerreiro throughout their trip. Guerreiro, who last month came on a free transfer from Dortmund, has resumed using a football in training and will be hoping to make his debut against Leverkusen following the break. But it is apparent that Gabriel Marusic and Manuel Neuer won’t be back in a matchday squad anytime soon due to their respective broken legs and torn ACLs. The likes of Thomas Muller, Konrad Laimer, and Matthijs de Ligt may have to be content with being utilized from the bench at some point during the match because Tuchel may not see much reason to alter a winning XI after handily defeating Augsburg in their previous match.
Borussia Monchengladbach 0 – 4 Bayern Munich
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