Elversberg – Bayern Munich

The German champion's debutant will play an end-to-end, high-scoring game.

Elversberg as early as the year before last could reach a historic peak in its development. Horst Steffen, who had become a great figure for this club and for the entire city, from the 2021/2022 season first won the Southwest Regional League, then the Third League, and in the year before last championship reached the playoff matches for promotion to the Bundesliga. Then Elversberg, on aggregate of two matches, lost to Heidenheim, and Horst Steffen himself moved up to the Bundesliga with the club that had not yet become his home, signing a contract with Werder Bremen. Now Steffen is unemployed, and Elversberg in the past season brought to the Bundesliga its successor – Vincent Wagner. Under the guidance of the young coach the club finished in second place and, without needing to gain experience in the playoffs, for the first time in its history went directly to the elite of German football. At a time when the newcomers to the English Premier League spent in the off-season 100–200 million euros, Elversberg bought for 12 million, betting on young players from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, as well as on loan deals. Despite modest investments, Elversberg delivered a crazy start to the season. Wagner's wards in the debut Bundesliga match at one point were beating Bayer 3–0, but were quite satisfied with the final score 3–2. A goal frenzy involving Elversberg also occurred in Monchengladbach, where the local Borussia were stunned by a 3–4 defeat, still at the 65th minute having a two-goal lead – 3:1. Interestingly, two goals for the Mönchengladbach club were scored by Moritz Krattenmacher, bought for two million euros exactly from Bayern. The German champions began the season quite confidently. The opening matches of the football year in the German Super Cup, the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Champions League were victories for Vincent Kompany's team. Meanwhile, in the sequence of Bayern's usual successes, an interesting period emerged that suggests the main German squad is still getting into the season. In the latest matches against Schalke (0:0) and Bodø/Glimt (5:0), Bayern delivered three halves in a row without scoring. The hosts are playing on momentum; they are quite capable of at least once troubling the currently poorly motivated guests.