RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich meet this Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
On the one hand, the best player in the German championship of the past season and on the other, a Liverpool icon transferred to Bayern Munich: Christopher Nkunku and Sadio Mané have an appointment on Saturday (8:30 p.m.) in Leipzig in the German Supercup .
For this first title of the season – or the last of the previous year, it is according to the Super Cup poster has often proposed a duel between Bayern and Borussia Dortmund. Eight times in the last ten editions.
This year, symbol of the rise of Leipzig in German football, it is an unprecedented confrontation which is proposed, between the Munich, winners of a tenth consecutive national title, and the RB Leipzig, creation in 2009 of the group of Red Bull energy drinks and winner of their first major trophy, the German Cup, two months ago.
“It’s an important match, because there is a title and because it’s also an opportunity to make an impression,” said Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann at a press conference on Friday, then that the Bavarians will continue next week with another competitor for the title of champion, Eintracht Frankfurt, at the opening of the Bundesliga.
Omnipresent on the transfer market this summer, Bayern achieved the big blow in Germany by attracting Mané, winner of the CAN with Senegal, winner of the 2019 Champions League with Liverpool and a time in the ball race. Gold 2019.
“Send a small signal”
Of the many new recruits -Ryan Gravenberch, Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt, the very young Mathys Tel (17)- it is the 30-year-old Senegalese who has the best chance of being lined up from the kick-off on the lawn of the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, said Nagelsmann.
“We realize that he is a real pro. He trained thoroughly from the start, physically very committed. Before the match, we feel how he raises the tension, he is very active in training and he coaches”, rejoiced Nagelsmann, who was on the Leipzig bench from 2019 to 2021.
“I’m sure he’s going to have a very good match,” he added, hoping to see his players “send a little signal” to the competition and “show their strengths”. This Super Cup will be a life-size test for Bayern without its Polish center forward Robert Lewandowski, a goal machine for eight seasons in Munich and left for FC Barcelona this summer.
“They no longer have their classic striker, who guarantees them 40 goals per season”, estimates for the German specialized site Ran the Slovenian midfielder from Leipzig Kevin Kampl, who however trusts Nagelsmann, “tactical fox” to find a solution.
Faced with Mané, who has been inhaling the atmosphere of German football on the coast of Säbener Strasse for a few weeks after six seasons in Liverpool, Christopher Nkunku is now a regular, he who is starting his fourth season in Saxony with Leipzig.
This time, the Ile-de-France trained at Paris SG is starting the season with a very different status, he who exploded last season with his 20 goals and 13 assists in the league and who was named best player of the season by his peers. of the Bundesliga.
Manchester United and PSG have shown interest, but the native of Seine-et-Marne has extended two seasons until 2026, accompanying his signing, according to the German press, with a salary increase and a release clause estimated at 60 million euros from the summer of 2023.