Bundesliga matchday 1 preview

The Bundesliga is back for its 58th season in 2020/21 and kicks off with a bang. The
traditional curtain raiser doesn’t just see the title-holders open the action, but the
reigning European champions, as treble-winners FC Bayern München host FC
Schalke 04 at the Allianz Arena. And as if Hansi Flick’s all-conquering team, unbeaten
in 30 competitive outings, didn’t already look formidable enough, they are set to
hand a debut to their latest attacking reinforcement, former Royal Blue Leroy Sane.

It’s a daunting task for David Wagner’s Schalke, who haven’t won a game since
January. The Gelsenkirchen side welcome back Ralf Fährmann as first-choice
goalkeeper, whose first job is to deny treble top scorer Robert Lewandowski.
American midfielder Weston McKennie has left for Juventus, but attacking
reinforcements have arrived in Vedad Ibisevic and Goncalo Paciencia.

The big-name action continues on Saturday (September 20) with the Battle of the Borussias. With
captain Marco Reus fit again, Borussia Dortmund’s attacking prospects are
frightening – and young – in Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland and Gio Reyna, while
Jude Bellingham also scored on his debut in the DFB Cup. They face a Borussia
Mönchengladbach team a year into life under Marco Rose and with a top-four finish
already under their belts. Leaders for long periods last season, can the Foals go the
distance?

RB Leipzig return to Bundesliga action for the first time since reaching the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. Now without perennial top scorer Timo
Werner, Julian Nagelsmann is tasked with taking the club to the next level
domestically. They begin against a solid-looking 1. FSV Mainz 05 attempting to
make good last season’s 8-0 thrashing at the Red Bull Arena and improve on their
13th-place finish.

Improvement is very much the order of the day for SV Werder Bremen and Hertha
Berlin. The Green-Whites only survived the drop on the away-goals rule in the playoff against 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 and will be desperate to avoid a repeat down at the bottom, with USA international Josh Sargent now the focal point of the attack.

They welcome a Hertha side with lofty ambitions of their own as they attempt to
make the leap from mid-table to Europe.

Two teams also looking up are UEFA Europa League representatives VfL Wolfsburg
and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who meet on Sunday. Die Werkself have brought in Patrik
Schick to replace the goals of Kai Havertz and Kevin Volland, while the Wolves still
have Wout Weghorst in their ranks coming into a fixture that averages 4.1 goals per
game in the last seven years.

The third side in the Europa League, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim have continued their
tradition of trusting young coaches with the appointment of 38-year-old Sebastian
Hoeneß. The son and nephew of legendary Bayern pair Dieter and Uli respectively,
he’s the only new face in a Bundesliga dugout this season, arriving on the back of
the third-division title with the Bayern reserves. His tenure begins away at 1. FC
Köln, who are without a win in 10 league games but have strengthened with the
addition of striker Sebastian Andersson and playmaker Ondrej Duda.

Former champions VfB Stuttgart are back in the Bundesliga after a year’s absence
under American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo. They kick off at home to regional rivals
Sport-Club Freiburg, who only missed out on Europe by a single point last term and
go into their ninth full season under Christian Streich.

The other new team this year is DSC Arminia Bielefeld. The Bundesliga 2 champions
return after an 11-year hiatus, giving Uwe Neuhaus his first taste of top-flight action
as a coach at the age of 60. They begin away at Eintracht Frankfurt, who haven’t
conceded a goal on the opening weekend since 2015.