The curtain for the 2021/2022 Bundesliga season will be officially opened at the home of Borussia Moenchgladbach, Borussia Park Stadium, Saturday (14/8) early morning WIB. The home team is scheduled to face the defending Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich, in the inaugural match on the first week of the 2021/2022 Bundesliga season.
Based on the tradition in the German League, the Bundesliga's opening match always features the winner of the previous season. Bayern Munich, who have won the Bundesliga title in the last nine seasons, have an impressive record every time they appear in their Bundesliga opener.
Die Bayern has never lost in the last 19 occasions to appear in the inaugural Bundesliga match, with 15 wins and 4 draws. However, different from previous seasons, this season, Munich will appear as a guest team in the Bundesliga's opening match.
Despite only being able to finish in eighth place last season, Gladbach proved to be always able to make it difficult for Die Bayern, especially when appearing at the Borussia Park Stadium. Die Bayern was recorded only able to pick two wins in the last six visits to Die Fohlen cage, nicknamed Gladbach.
In fact, in the last two visits to Gladbach's headquarters, Munich always came home with a losing record. Overall, from 106 meetings with Gladbach on the Bundesliga stage, Bayern had 26 defeats.
Together with Werder Bremen, Die Fohlen are the team that has beaten Munich the most in the German League. This record shows that Gladbach does not feel inferior when facing the most successful club in Germany. However, the challenges for Munich in the opening match of this season did not stop there.
Die Bayern, which is considered to be entering a new era with the presence of Julian Nagelsmann in the coaching chair, has not found his best performance. In four pre-season matches, Bayern have never won, with three defeats and one draw. The score for this defeat included the smothering of Gladbach, 0-2, at the end of last July.
Doubts regarding Nagelsmann's ability to bring Munich to a 10th consecutive Bundesliga title began to emerge. The 34-year-old coach admitted that it was quite difficult for his foster children to be able to step on the gas immediately by winning in a number of Bundesliga opening matches.
''We still need time and additional games before entering the competition. So, it is not impossible, our journey will be completely smooth at the beginning of this season,'' said the replacement for Hansi Flick as reported by the club's official website.
Even so, the former RB Leipzig coach emphasized that the presence of a number of senior players, who returned from vacation after appearing at Euro 2020, would boost Die Bayern's performance in the opening match. Robert Lewandowksi, Joshua Kimmich and Manuel Neuer were reported to have joined Die Bayern's training session earlier this week. Even with a number of players recovering from injury, such as Alphonso Davies and Kingsley Coman.
''A number of senior players have appeared in the last pre-season (against Napoli). Three more players have arrived, Finally, we have the chance to train together for the first time. Slowly, we will find our best form again,''said Nagelsmann.
On the other hand, like Munich, which was handled by a new coach, Gladbach was also coached by a new coach. Former Eintracht Frankfurt coach, Adi Hutter, was appointed to replace Marco Rose. Unlike Nagelsmann in Munich, Hutter started his career as Gladbach coach with a pretty convincing score.
In five pre-season games, Die Fohlen managed to pack three wins. The winning streak was obtained by Lars Stindl and his friends in the last three parties. The winning record certainly boosted the confidence of the Die Fohlen players in looking at the opening match of the German League.
Gladbach managed to maintain this confidence and winning momentum when appearing in the first round of the DFB Pokal. Die Fohlen managed to get rid of Kaiserlautern by winning, 1-0, last weekend.
'We are on the right track. We've done what we had to do. Now, our concentration must be fully focused on the opening match of the Bundesliga,''said Hutter as reported by the club's official website.
''Facing a strong team like them in the opening party makes this match even more special. Half of the stadium will be filled with supporters. We will again have the support of the audience. This makes us so anticipating this match,''said Hutter.
In particular, the 51-year-old coach also has a pretty good record when colliding tactics with Nagelsmann. Of the seven meetings with Nagelsmann, Hutter managed to get four wins and only one loss. This can be an additional capital for Hutter to again surpass Nagelsmann in concocting tactics and game strategies on the field.