The old champion, Bayern Munich, will face the rookie, RB Leipzig, to determine who will lift the first title of the 2022/23 season in Germany. The confrontation will take place at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, next Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The people of Munich raised the Bundesliga salad bowl for the tenth time in a row last season, once again certifying a dominance that no one can even come close to within the country. For its part, the young team from the 'Red Bull factory' won the first championship in its short history, which began in 2009: the DFB Pokal, equivalent to the Copa del Rey in Spain.
Curiously, it was the season after Julian Nagelsmann left for Bayern, precisely, when Leipzig achieved their first success. The 35-year-old coach took over from Ralf Rangnick in 2019, continued to build the foundations of an inexperienced team and led it to settle in the European positions and even come close to a Champions League final in 2020, falling in the semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain.
Under the orders of Domenico Tedesco they managed to turn around a situation that was becoming complicated in the middle of last season. The team did not finish starting with Jesse Marsch, who was fired in December. Who would have thought, at this point, that they would finish the year fourth in the Bundesliga and win their first title since its foundation in 2009. The main reason has a name and surname: Christopher Nkunku.
The French striker, a former PSG player, scored 20 goals and distributed 15 assists in the Bundesliga, to which he added another four goals and three assists in the DFB Pokal and four more in the Europa League, a competition in which they reached the semi-finals. Fundamental, above all, his appearance at important moments. He scored the equalizer in the cup final against the revelation of the year, Freiburg, who forced extra time and penalties, in which they were crowned champions.
Despite his excellent performance and the rumors that link him to many major teams, he recently renewed with Leipzig and assured that he was not doing it to later leave the club. They did lose other important pieces, such as Nordi Mukiele or Tyler Adams, but they made up for it with the arrival of Xaver Schlager, an Austrian international from Wolfsburg, and with the maintenance of Nkunku, Konrad Laimer or Josko Gvardiol, which is not a small thing.
Bayern Munich needs no introduction. It is still a roller in Germany that nobody manages to overshadow. Borussia Dortmund has strengthened very well this summer, but it seems difficult for the Bundesliga to compete with the Bavarian team. After the departure of Robert Lewandowski to Barça and Niklas Süle to Dortmund itself, Matthijs De Ligt, Sadio Mané, Ryan Gravenberch and Mathys Tel arrived to round out a squad that already had few cracks.
Subscribed to the fight for the Champions League year after year, Nagelsmann's team starts as favorites against the young Leipzig to lift the Superpokal. The two teams display a similar style of play, more so since the coach's transfer to Bayern last season. Attacking football, intense pressure, exchange of positions and constant verticality are the hallmarks of the most powerful team in Germany during the last decade and one of the contenders to snatch the throne in the future.
