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Julian Nagelsmann was criticized somewhat after the first leg because Bayern lost control of the game after Kylian Mbappe came on. Containing the Frenchman will be the chief challenge of the second leg. With Benjamin Pavard missing due to a red card suspension (thanks to a tackle on Messi in the first leg) the coach will need to rethink his lineup if he wants a positive result.

FC Bayern 0-3 RB Leipzig | Photo gallery

FC St. Gallen 1879: Watkowiak – Cabral (61. Lüchinger), Musah, Basil, Traore (46. Kempter) – Staubil (38. Sutter), Jacovic (61. Görtler), Schmidt (61. Youan) – Besio (61. Duah), Guillemenot (61. Schubert), Diarrassouba (61. Münst)

The scenario: Prior to last Monday’s 2-1 defeat away to SC Verl, head coach Jan Zimmermann’s U23 side had previously gone five games in a row without a loss. Before the clash with SV Elversberg, Borussia were in 14th place, six points clear of the relegation zone. The league leaders from Elversberg had recently gone three games in a row without a win, but were still perched comfortably atop the 3. Liga standings with 67 points. The reverse fixture at the beginning of November was won 3-1 by Elversberg.

Providing a cutting edge on debut A first competitive game for Borussia, a first brace and...

Head coach Enrico Maaßen named four new signings in the starting eleven for the first competitive game of the season, in the form of goalkeeper Finn Dahmen, Patric Pfeiffer, Tim Breithaupt and Sven Michel. Irvin Cardona was not in the squad and remained in Augsburg due to back problems.

The Bavarians are riding high after what appears to be a newfound Champagne XI pulling off a 2-0 win in the Champions League against PSG. In the league, however, Bayern’s position is far from assured. More dropped points could lead to yielding top spot in the table to Borussia Dortmund, who face hapless bottom-feeding Schalke this week.

With the Nordtribüne full of SC fans creating a great atmosphere chanting “away win”, SC got their first competitive game of the new season underway. As usual this was in the DFB-Pokal, a competition that SC have enjoyed success in in the last two seasons and which Streich described as an “excellent competition.” As expected, SC played with a high line, Matthias Ginter was the furthest player back standing on the halfway line, but Oberachern defended diligently and when they won the ball back they didn’t just play directly forward immediately, but tried to play with the ball on the ground, exactly as Streich predicted. After an error in build-up from SC, it was the fifth-division side that had the first chance, with Maximilian Eggestein just able to prevent a shot (7’). Oberachern played with a lot of courage and didn’t shy away from any challenges.

Finn, pre-season is drawing to a close, the season will finally start up again with the DFB-Pokal tie away to VfB Lübeck on Monday. Are you looking forward to the opening competitive game?