Audi Cup: Bayern Have Turkish Delight in Sight

Bayern Munich vs Fenerbahce

Bayern Munich’s pre-season campaign continues with the Audi Cup. This will be the sixth edition of the tournament, which will once again be hosted by Bayern at their home, the Allianz Arena.

Bayern’s first opponents in this year’s competition are Fenerbahce, and the winner of the match will go on to face either Real Madrid or Tottenham Hotspur.

One doesn’t need to see the Audi Cup 2019 betting odds to know that Bayern will be heavily favoured against Fenerbahce. But the Turkish giants have added reinforcements this offseason after a disappointing league campaign and will be eager to make a statement against the German champions.

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Bundesliga

Talking Points

Bayern bounce back well in ICC

Bayern are fresh off their participation in the International Champions Cup. After their loss to Arsenal in their opening match, they bounced back by reeling off wins against Real Madrid — ruining Eden Hazard’s debut — and Milan.

Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry were the two standout performers for the German champions during the tournament. They scored three of the team’s five goals and accounted for a huge portion of their shots. Both were rested in their final match against Milan, but they still won with relatively few problems.

Bayern are still busy trying to reinforce their squad before the summer transfer window closes shut. To date, their only notable acquisitions have been defenders Lucas Hernandez — who is still rehabbing a knee injury — and Benjamin Pavard, as well as teenage striker Jann-Fiete Arp.

But they are still not giving up their chase for Manchester City winger Leroy Sane. Bayern boss Niko Kovac is apparently “very confident” that a deal will push through for the exciting young German.

But with Sane still not sorted out, Bayern will likely continue to roll with Kingsley Coman and Gnabry either side of Lewandowski in attack. That trio should be more than capable of coming up with a few Audi Cup 2019 highlights if they do play against Fenerbahce.

Audi Cup: Robert Lewandowski is expected to lead Bayern Munich in front versus Fenerbahce — Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski acknowledges the fans after the 2018/19 Bundesliga match against Nurnberg

Fenerbahce fall from grace

Last season was quite a disappointing one for Fenerbahce. The 19-time Turkish champions were stuck in the bottom half of the league table for virtually the entire season and were even in the relegation zone midway through the campaign.

Luckily, they picked up enough results in the last four weeks of the season to finish in somewhat respectable sixth place, 23 points adrift of champions Galatasaray.

Ersun Yanal, who took charge for most of the campaign, returns as Fener manager, and he will have a couple of key summer additions at his disposal.

They signed centre-forward Vedat Muriqi, who was one of the best players in the division last season while playing for Caykur Rizespor. He was the second-leading scorer with 17 goals and also added eight assists.

They also added veteran forward Max Kruse on a free transfer from Werder Bremen. Kruse, who had 11 goals and nine assists last season, will be all too familiar with Bayern having faced them several teams during his Bundesliga career.

Fenerbahce also brought back veteran midfielder Emre Belozoglu for a third stint with the club. The 38-year-old had spent the past four seasons with Basaksehir, which came so close to winning the title last season.

With an improved forward line led by Muriqi and Kruse, Fenerbahce will be eager to give Bayern Munich’s defence a stern examination.

History

This is the first time Bayern Munich and Fenerbahce will face off against one another in a football match. And the Turkish side will be hard-pressed to come away from their first meeting against the German giants with a win.

Unsurprisingly, Bayern have a strong record in a tournament that’s held in their own stadium. They’ve ended up winning three of the five editions of the Audi Cup. Although, they had their worst ever performance during the last edition in 2017 as they lost both matches to Liverpool and Napoli.

Betting Tip

	Bayern Munich vs Fenerbahce	Bayern Munich Asian Handicap -2.50 @ 2.05
	July 31, 02:30 (GMT+8)

Bayern are overwhelming favourites to defeat Fenerbahce and move on to the final. SBOBET odds have the Bavarians priced at 1.17 to win, while the Turks are a whopping 12.00 to score the upset on the 1X2 market.

It would be a significant shock if this match resulted in anything but a convincing win for Bayern. Aside from having home-field advantage, they also possess superior quality compared to Fenerbahce.

That’s why I’m going with Bayern on the Asian Handicap market. Even if they field a team that’s not quite full strength, they should still have more than enough quality to defeat the Turkish side by more than a single goal.