The Borussians will start their title defence against a relatively inexperienced Werder Bremen as they look to get off to a winning start.
Jurgen Klopp’s German champions will take on Thomas Schaaf’s Werder Bremen in the league opener on Friday, August 24, at the Signal Iduna Park. The two teams are coming from a rather impressive pre-season campaign and it will be
interesting to see which side will have the upper hand in the game although, the Black Yellows will start as favourites.
Borussia Dortmund
The Borussians have been mighty impressive in the last two seasons and have developed into one of the best teams in Europe. The side secured their second consecutive league title last term and also won the German Cup, defeating
rivals Bayern Munich for the honour.
The champions secured a record 81 points at the end of the season to win the Bundesliga and will be aiming for a hat-trick of league titles when they start the new season. The team saw the departure of star midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Shinji-Kagawa-c33364
to Manchester United earlier this summer which led to talk that Dortmund may struggle in the next campaign.
However, the side spent big money to acquire Marco Reus from Borussia Monchengladbach as a direct replacement for the Japanese international. Dortmund will certainly start the league as favourites, but Bayern Munich have also spent
millions to strengthen their squad.
Werder Bremen
Thomas Schaaf had a huge responsibility of rebuilding his side in the summer when big names such as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/VfL-Wolfsburg-c40881, Chelsea and Bayern Munich respectively.
The manager had to develop a squad from scratch again as he made some important additions in the form of Nils Petersen (on-loan from Bayern Munich), Eljero Elia, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786).
Bremen now consists of some very talented players who have the capability to perform big at the highest stage.
Team News
Jurgen Klopp will have a full squad to choose from as Mario Gotze also returned to training after spending weeks on the sidelines with a groin injury. Marco Reus will start behind http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robert-Lewandowski-c31255 in a second striker role to
create more chances.
Thomas Schaaf also has no major injury woes in his team. Nils Petersen is tipped to lead upfront with support from the wings from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Eljero-Elia-c12318 and Kevin De Bruyne.
Players to watch
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marco-Reus-c23733 will definitely be the player to watch out for next season. The attacker had a sensational season with Gladbach where he scored 18 league goals and led the side to a UEFA Champions League berth. It will be interesting
to see how the German international adjusts himself to the new system under Klopp.
Nils Petersen has a huge responsibility of filling in the boots of Pizarro next season. The player is expected to score goals for his new side and has a point to prove that he was not a flop at Bayern Munich.
Prediction
The home side are expected to win the home game as they have a very strong team. The Borussians will be looking to get their title defence off to a winning start against a relatively inexperienced Bremen team. Dortmund will win
the game comfortably with a 3-1 margin.
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