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Tonight Munich’s Allianz Arena will witness the curtain raiser of the 50th Bundesliga season, the 2012 German Super Cup, in which Bundesliga and German Cup runners-up FC Bayern Munich take on German double winners Borussia Dortmund.
This year’s German Super Cup has gained special significance due to the fact that Dortmund has won the last five meetings of the two clubs in the Bundesliga and German Cup and Bayern Munich would like to win this prestige encounter for the psychological advantage of having beaten their bitter rivals from the west.
But Bayern Munich go into the match with numerous injury worries and will have to start with a part-time left back in Can or Gustavo. The side-backs David Alaba, Rafinha and Diego Contento are all out injured, likewise midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and striker Mario Gomez. The only piece of good news is that Claudio Pizarro is back in the squad following a hip injury.
Borussia Dortmund meanwhile come to Munich with only injuries to midfielders captain Sebastian Kehl and Sven Bender for whom teenager Moritz Leitner and Ilkay Gündogan are set to start at the heart of midfield. A lot of eyes will be on the lost son Marco Reus, who takes Shinji Kagawa‘s place in attacking midfield.
The pre-season is slowly coming to an end and the first real test for the two sides reckons tonight at the Allianz Arena.
The match which kicks-off at 20.00 CET (19.00 GMT // 23.30 IST) will be shown live in 199 countries and territories. In Germany the match will be live on ZDF, while in India it will be shown live on Neo Prime.
Likely STARTINGS LINE-UPS
Bayern MunichManuel Neuer – Philipp Lahm, Dante, Holger Badstuber, Emre Can – Luis Gustavo, Toni Kroos – Arjen Robben, Thomas Müller, Franck Ribery – Mario Mandzukic
Borussia DortmundRoman Weidenfeller – Lukasz Piszczek, Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer – Ilkay Gündogan, Moritz Leitner – Jakob Blaszczykowski, Marco Reus, Kevin Grosskreutz – Robert Lewandowski
