Borussia Dortmund face a tough opening test on matchday one of their Bundesliga campaign as they play host to Eintracht Frankfurt.
It’s been a summer of change for BVB. Edin Terzić’s exit may not have surprised everyone but occurred abruptly during discussions with the club. Assistant Nuri Şahin has since taken over the reigns and had to deal with the loss of elder statesmen Marco Reus, Mats Hummels, and Niclas Füllkrug.
Over the summer, Şahin has gone about restructuring the BVB squad and creating a new core of players, which he hopes can compete at the top of the Bundesliga.
New comers, Pascal Groß (Brighton & Hove Albion, €7m), Waldemar Anton (VfB Stuttgart, €22.5m), Serhou Guirassy (VfB Stuttgart, €18m), and Maximilian Beier (TSG Hoffenheim, €28.50m) will all be looking to make the difference this campaign.
You’d expect most of these to start against Frankfurt with perhaps the only question being do you start Guirassy or Beier up front?
Frankfurt’s Business
Eintracht Frankfurt have continued their partnership with manager Dino Toppmoller after finishing 6th last season. After all, last season was their joint-best league finish from the past 12 seasons.
The Eagles’ biggest loss of the summer window has been William Pacho who joined PSG for €40m. However, reinvestment has come from Paris as they made Hugo Ekitiké’s loan move from PSG permanent for €16.5m.
Another exciting player to watch out for is Can Uzun. The 18-year-old attacking midfielder joined from FC Nürnberg for €11m. Uzun was a key player for Nürnberg last season and has already featured for the Turkey senior national team.
Dortmund vs Frankfurt promises to be an early indication as to where both of these teams are. BVB certainly have had a bigger overhaul this summer whereas Frankfurt have just made slight adjustments.
Predicted Starting XI
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel – Couto, Anton, Schlotterbeck, Ryerson – Can, Groß – Bynoe-Gittens, Sabitzer, Brandt – Beier.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – Kristensen, Tuta, Koch, Nkounkou – Skhiri, Larsson – Marmoush, Gotze, Chaibi – Ekitike.
GGFN | Jamie Allen