A glance at the recent past since the Dortmund U23s gained promotion shows that the Meiderich outfit can certainly be regarded as a favourite foe. The reverse fixture at the Stadion am Zoo in Wuppertal ended in a 2-0 victory, with Moritz Broschinski and Marco Pasalic scoring the goals. And in the season before that, the Black & Yellows ran out 3-1 and 4-1 victors against the Zebras. The aim will now be to continue this winning streak in the fourth meeting.

Mané didn’t play in the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain but he thought the team controlled the game very well. Bayern head back to Munich in a good situation but anything can happen against such a strong team.

While the winter break brings a chance for most of the Zerofivers to enjoy a deserved rest, the season continues for a handful of their teammates. Silvan Widmer, Edimilson Fernandes (both Switzerland) and Jae-sung Lee (South Korea) are all off to Qatar for the World Cup, while Leandro Barreiro and Ben Bobzien will be playing friendlies with their national sides. Barreiro and Luxembourg will be facing Hungary and Bulgaria in friendlies on 17th and 20th November, while Bobzien and the Germany U20s will take on the Czech Republic (16th November), Norway (19th November) and Portugal (22nd November).

The match will be played in front of 7,600 spectators with 380 tickets reserved for the away section. According to the local health and safety regulations, only seats can be occupied. Saturday’s game goes ahead under 2G-Plus conditions — this means, proof of vaccination or recovery must be accompanied with a negative test. The booster vaccination counts as an exception to the additional testing.

after improving their attack with Fabio Carvalho and Darwin Nunez in the summer market.

The U19 head coach has already taken a lot of pressure off his players in the build-up. “I’ve congratulated them on a very good season. The Final Round of the German Championship is now the encore. The form on the day will decide the outcome of the semi-finals,” Tullberg emphasised and explained: “Our major goal was the West German championship; that’s the reward for and the result of our work throughout an entire season. The fact we were also the only German team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Youth League and only just failed to go through cannot be overstated.”

Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said afterward that Union’s hectic schedule may have played a role.

Head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo’s team will be holding their training camp in Kitzbühel from 15 to 22 July. Not far from the legendary “Streif”, the foundations will be laid for what will hopefully be a successful 2023/24 season. And you can accompany TSG to Austria – the Hoffenheim Fan Representatives are organising a trip for you.

There will be no training at 1. FSV Mainz 05 until 30th November, with 67 days...