Last season Bayern Munich won the title on March 25th, with 7 games remaining. They finished on 90 points, 19 ahead of 2nd place Borussia Dortmund. Winning 19 straight games and being unbeaten in 28. Unfortunately for Pep Guardiola he couldn't repeat the achievements of the previous season, where under Jupp Heynckes they won the treble. It was always going to be a tough ask to follow, but Guardiola is regarded a one of the best managers in the world after what he achieved at Barcelona, where he won 14 major trophies in 4 seasons. Bayern were humiliated in the semi finals of Europe's biggest club competition when they beaten 5-0 over two legs by eventual winners Real Madrid, losing the home tie at the Allianz Arena 4-0. This was hard for the club to take, with many people questioning if Guardiola was as great as he's been made out to be. But a Bundesliga title, the DFB-Polka Cup along with the UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Club World Cup isn't bad for a first season. This season Bayern will look to win everything, and on the back of Germany's World Cup win, (in which Bayern had 6 players in the squad) confidence will be high. For the second season running, Bayern have taken one of their rivals best players. Last season it was wonderkid Mario Gotze who left for £30 million. This time it's harder for the Dortmund fans to take, star striker Robert Lewandowski has joined on a free transfer. He'll team up to form a deadly trio with pacey wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery. Bayern have arguable the best squad in Germany, Manuel Neuer is regarded as the worlds best keeper, and that's hard to argue with after his displays at the World Cup, which earned him the golden gloves award. They also have very versatile players in defence, Philipp Lahm is one of the best right backs in the business, but plays as a holding midfielder where he is equally as good, as to is left back David Alaba who can also play central midfield. Thomas Muller gives them a different option in attack, he drifts from wing to wing as well as centrally and gets his fair share of goals. At just 24 he already has 115 in 291 games for Bayern. It looks like this Bayern team could win everything put infront of them this season.
Runners up Borussia Dortmund will be the main threat as Bayern look to win the title for a 3rd consecutive season. They will have to do this without 20 goal top scorer Lewandowski. It'll be interesting to see how the fans treat him on his return to the Signal Iduna Park. With many more key players being rumoured to leave, they will hope to keep everybody else at the club. Dortmund have a young exciting team, playing good football under manager Jurgen Klopp, which always attracts interest from other clubs. Matts Hummels had a great World Cup being a rock in defence and scoring 2 goals whilst Germany tasted World Cup glory. The former Bayern Munich man has been linked to a move back to Bayern in recent weeks, as well as a move to the Premiership, with Man United and Arsenal interested. If Dortmund were to sell, which doesn't look likely. It'll be a big price to take the 25 year old German away from the club. Marco Reus scored 23 goals last season with 18 assists in all competitions, proving that he's more than capable of replacing the goals of Lewandowski. But an injury ruled him out of the World Cup where he was going to play a major part for Germany. Fitness will be an issue at the start of the season and Dortmund will hope he won't be out for to long, otherwise Bayern could already be out of reach. Another German player to miss the World Cup was Ikay Gundogan, the midfield playmaker is another injury doubt for the start of the season, but he looks like he'll be back to full fitness sooner rather than later. New signing Ciro Immobile joins after a great season in Serie A with Torino, where he finished top scorer with 22 goals in 33 games. As does former player Nuri Sahin who has only played 22 games in 2 years after leaving for Real Madrid and then a loan deal to Liverpool. Premier League fans might want to look out for Sunderland flop Ji Dong-Won who has been signed after an impressive spell at FC Augsburg, where his 5 goals proved crucial to keep them from being relegated. Still only 23 he gets the chance to get his promising career back on track at the Bundesliga giants.
Outside of Bayern and Dortmund, I can't really see any other team challenging for the title. Schalke 04 will look to get into the title mix this season after finishing 3rd last time around. They have a good squad. Which includes Ghana's Kevin Prince Boateng a tough tackling midfielder with an eye for goal, but also who picks up his fair share of bookings. Wingers Sidney Sam and Jefferson Farfan will also help get the goals to ease the pressure on the main man upfront Dutch international Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Huntelaar, who has 91 goals in 139 games for the German club, now seems settled at the Veltins Arena after spells at Real Madrid and AC Milan. But the gem in the team is young attacking midfielder Julian Draxler, many top teams have been interested with him over the last season, but he extended his contract till 2018. Despite being only 20 he has already played over 100 league games for Schalke, and is a World Cup winner. A top four finish is definitely on the cards for the team, but top 2 looks unlikely.
The 4th place finish looks to be between Bayern Leverkusen, Vfl Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach. Leverkusen will look to experienced forward Stefan Kiessling who has 111 goals for the club, to help young promising talents in 22 year old South Korean international Son Heung-Min. He impressed with 10 goals in 33 games in his first season with them last year. Swiss international Josip Drmic joins after an impressive season with 1.FC Nurnberg where he finished the season with 17 goals. Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne will be looking to impress this season. The 23 year old Belgium turned his loan deal from Chelsea permanent in January for £18 million and has become a fans favourite. Veteran forward Ivica Olic will look to be amongst the goals again, after bagging 14 last season, along with Dutch forward Bas Dost. Olic's Croatian international team mate winger Ivan Perisic who impressed during the World Cup with 2 goals in 3 group games, will be a key player. One man who could leave Wolfsburg before the season starts is holding midfielder Luiz Gustavo. Real Madrid rumoured to be wanting to add his to their squad. Borussia Monchengladbach might find the 4th place finish the hardest with a fairly modest squad. Max Kruse and Raffael got 26 goals between them last season and will hope for a repeat this season. Attacking midfielder and new signing Ibrahima Traore will look to impress immediately after joining in the summer, as will Thorgan Hazard who joins on loan from Chelsea.
Down the other end of the table Hamburger SV will look to have a better season than last year. They only managed to stay up after beating Greuther Further in the play off by away goals, after finishing just 1 point above the automatic relegation places. Captain Rafael van der Vaart will be the player they look to for inspiration. At the wrong end of the table last season, were 2 recent league winners. Werder Bremen won the league in 2004 and VFB Stuttgart in 2007, will look to avoid a relegation fight and get back up to the European places. New comers 1.FC Koln and SC Paderdorn will hope its not an instant return to the 2nd tier of German football. Other teams looking to avoid the drop will be FC Augsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt and Hannover 96. Whilst a mid table finish should be the minimum requirement for 1899 Hoffenheim, 1.FSV Mainz 05 and SC Freiburg.
One thing for sure is there will be a buzz around all the ground in Germany this season as the nation rides the wave of winning the World Cup.
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