Bayern Munich - Hamburger SV Preview: Defending champions look for another good start

Bayern Munich kick off their campaign and the first match of the new Bundesliga season this Friday at the Allianz Arena against Hamburg as they look to once again, as favourites to win a fourth straight German league title. With new signings into the squad, Pep Guardiola's side is surely a team that has the ability to once again be Germany's most supreme.

Bavarians in fine form

Bayern had a good warm-up for their first league clash of the season last week, winning their DFB-Pokal opener against fifth-division opponents FC Nöttingen by a score of 3-1. Prior to that however, they brought in players such as Douglas Costa from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk and Arturo Vidal from Juventus to help replace those that did leave such as Bastian Schweinsteiger, who went to Manchester United in the Premier League.

Shortly after that, they won the Audi Cup and finished fourth in the Telekom Cup. However, a bit of a headache occurred went they lost yet again in the DFL–Supercup to Wolfsburg on penalties. Nevertheless, this will be a completely different side with much more depth as they look to contend yet again for the title.

How are Hamburg looking?

Things went just the opposite for Hamburg in the Pokal, with Bruno Labbadia’s men falling behind twice to Carl Zeiss Jena only to equalize in each instance, with the score ending 3-2 to the fourth division side.

After only managing to stay in the Bundesliga after winning a relegation play-off in each of the last two seasons, Hamburg will be well aware of the danger that could come with humiliation with this loss as well.

However they face a true mountain to climb against Bayern, who have dominated the head-to-head matches between the clubs in recent years, winning nine of their last 11 games against Hamburg, the Bavarians scored a combined 47 goals and conceded just seven.

Team News:

For Bayern, Javi Martinez, Franck Ribery, Holger Badstuber and Jan Kirchhoff will all miss the Hamburg match due to their respective injuries, while Sinan Kurt, Gianluca Gaudino and Julian Green are expected to play with the reserves this weekend.

Hamburg, on the other hand, will have a strong squad. Jaroslav Drobny will miss the match, as will Petr Jiracek and Ashton Götz. A few positions are unclear as of now, notably that of right forward, as to whether Ivica Olic or Nicolai Müller is most likely to play.