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Bundesliga Focus - Schalke prepared for renewed battle with Bayern as Supercup returns
After a hiatus of 14 years, the Bundesliga’s version of the Premier League’s Community Shield, the Supercup, has been reintroduced to Germany’s football calendar for the 2010/11 season, and much to the delight of every Bundesliga follower, tomorrow evening’s fight for the first piece of silverware of the campaign will showcase the Bundesliga’s freshest and most piquant rivalry: Bayern München against Schalke 04.
First played for at the outset of the 1987/88 season between the previous season’s Bundesliga winners Bayern and DFB Pokal victors Hamburg, the Supercup had become something of a captivating curtain-raiser to the new season before it was forsaken after the 1996 event, when Borussia Dortmund beat Kaiserslautern on penalties. But now it is back, with a brand-spanking new trophy to boot, it is an opportunity for either last season’s double winners Bayern or league runners-up Schalke to land a significant psychological blow in what, thanks to last season’s thrilling race for the title, is fast becoming a burgeoning rivalry.
Schalke’s 3-1 victory over Bayern just last Sunday in the final of the LIGAtotal! Cup, a pre-season tournament held in Gelsenkirchen comprising of 60 minute matches, will feel rather empty due to Bayern giving their 2nd XI a run out in that game, but the Supercup will certainly mean more, with Louis van Gaal sure to recognise the possible psychological benefits available to what should be his club’s closest competitors for the Bundesliga title once more.
Felix Magath’s ‘Königsblauen’ will without doubt be prepared for their maiden Supercup clash tomorrow, which is being held at the impuls arena in Augsburg, but more importantly they are likely to be more prepared than Bayern come the start of the season in two weeks time. Many of Van Gaal’s star men who competed at the World Cup have only this week come back to train with the club and will probably be a little off the pace for the first few weeks of the campaign. Furthermore, the club, in total contrast to Schalke, have done very little in the transfer market in terms of bringing in new additions to the squad. The only players who have been added are those who were out on loan last season, such as Toni Kroos, Jose Ernesto Sosa and Edson Braafheid. And as if Bayern’s pre-season had not been enough of a disjointed and displeasing farrago, Tuesdays discovery that last season’s majestic match-winner Arjen Robben has come back from South Africa with a substantial tear in his left thigh muscle and will be out for around eight weeks, rubs some stinging salt in the premature wounds of the Bundesliga Rekordmeister.
On the other hand, pre-season in Gelsenkirchen has gone fairly swimmingly, with Magath’s transfer policy being far more rigorous than Van Gaal’s. The three-time Bundesliga champion has got rid of 15 players now, bringing 10 into his squad. Magath is held in such a high regard these days, and is respected throughout Germany and the world, that he finds it easy to replace quality players with appropriate successors. Key players in his team last term were Kevin Kuranyi, Heiko Westermann, Marcelo Bordon and Rafinha. Yet Magath has exchanged these players for Raul, Christoph Metzelder, Tim Hoogland and Sergio Escudero. His ability to nurture young talent is now notorious, as is his financial acumen, and with the board granting him 25 million Euros for further investments, do not be surprised to see a further glut of fresh faces before the start of the season.
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