Borussia Monchengladbach vs Bayern Munich
The 2021/22 Bundesliga season is set to start with a bang as a blockbuster clash between Borussia Monchengladbach and champions Bayern Munich kicks off the new campaign.
This fixture turned out to be one of the best matches of last season, with Gladbach defying the Bundesliga 2021 betting odds as they came back from two goals down to stun Bayern 3-2.
But Julian Nagelsmann will be keen to avoid a repeat of that result in his first Bundesliga match in charge at Bayern.
Talking Points
Gladbach could be without key starters
Borussia Monchengladbach are starting this season with more or less the same squad that finished a rather disappointing eighth under Marco Rose last year.
None of their big stars have been sold, and their most notable signing has been Hannes Wolf, who was brought in from RB Leipzig on a permanent deal after his loan spell last season.
However, coach Adi Hutter, who guided Eintracht Frankfurt to a fifth-place finish last year, could be without some key players for his first Bundesliga game in charge of the Foals.
Striker Marcus Thuram and left-back Ramy Bensebaini are both injury doubts, while Swiss striker Breel Embolo is sure to miss out due to a knee injury.
But despite missing those three players, Gladbach still got the 1-0 win over Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal in midweek.
Hutter started captain Lars Stindl as the lead striker in the cup match, and the skipper scored the winning goal after 11 minutes. The 32-year-old is coming off a career year as he scored 14 goals with eight assists in the league.
Alassane Plea and Jonas Hofmann, who scored six league goals each last season, both came on as substitutes and could join Stindl in the starting lineup to add more firepower to the Foals’ attack.
Nagelsmann still looking for first win at Bayern
It has been a rough preseason for Julian Nagelsmann. The new Bayern boss has yet to win his first match in charge after losing to Koln, Gladbach, and Napoli and drawing with Ajax in their four preseason friendlies.
Granted, Bayern have been far from full-strength during those matches, with many of their stars only just returning after summer holiday.
Although, Nagelsmann has consistently been able to field his top summer signing, centre-back Dayot Upamecano, who joined him at Bayern from RB Leipzig. With veterans Jerome Boateng and David Alaba gone, Upamecano figures to be a key player for Bayern this season.
However, Upamecano’s likely regular partner at centre-back at Bayern – Lucas Hernandez – has only just returned to training after knee surgery and might not be ready to start the season against Gladbach. Tanguy Nianzou has started alongside Upamecano in favour of Niklas Sule during preseason and could get the nod to start at Gladbach.
Up front, Thomas Muller did not feature at all in preseason, but he has been back in training and looks set to create more Bundesliga 2021 highlights alongside record-breaking Robert Lewandowski, who bagged an astonishing 41 goals last term.
There has been speculation that Nagelsmann plans to tweak Bayern’s system, with both Lewandowski and Muller playing a bit deeper than usual. As Nagelsmann showed during his time at RB Leipzig, he is a terrific tactical manager capable of getting the best out of his attackers, and this Bayern side will have by far the best collection of talent he’s ever worked with.
History
Borussia Park has not been a happy hunting ground for Bayern in recent years. Aside from last year’s stunning defeat, they also lost away to Gladbach the previous season.
In total, Gladbach have claimed an impressive four wins in their last eight league meetings against Bayern, with three coming at home.
Although, Bayern did go some way toward restoring order as they battered Gladbach 6-0 in the reverse fixture at Allianz Arena last season. Robert Lewandowski scored inside two minutes on his way to a hat-trick.
Betting Tip
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Borussia Monchengladbach vs Bayern Munich | Bayern Munich Asian Handicap -1.00 @ 1.86 |
| August 14, 02:30 (GMT+8) |
Unsurprisingly, SBOTOP odds have Bayern Munich as strong 1.55 favourites to open their season with a win. Gladbach are priced at 5.00 at home, with a draw at 4.40.
There’s certainly a strong case for Gladbach to come away with a positive result given their impressive recent history against Bayern. Meanwhile, many of Bayern’s players could be a bit rusty after a busy summer and have to get readjusted to a new system under Nagelsmann.
But it’s hard to bet against Bayern, who will be keen to avoid another defeat at Gladbach. With the tactical mind of Nagelsmann and the attacking talent of Lewandowski and co., look for Bayern to begin the season with all three points.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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