The German champions will get the Bundesliga season under way against Julian Nagelsmann’s side at the Allianz Arena <\/p>\n
Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim will face off in the Bundesliga curtain-raiser when the two sides meet at the Allianz Arena on Friday evening.<\/p>\n
Niko Kovac will contest his first Bundesliga fixture in charge of the Bavarians against Julian Nagelsmann’s side, after maintaining a 100 per cent\u00a0start as head coach of\u00a0the German champions with victory in the first round of the DFB-Pokal\u00a0last weekend.<\/p>\n
Bayern will be aiming to win a seventh consecutive German title this season, and with the majority of their squad having returned to full fitness following a post-World Cup holiday, Kovac will be eager to register an opening day win.<\/p>\n
Article continues below<\/span> <\/p>\n Juve on alert: Exiled Icardi may have already played his final game for Inter Sarri vindicated for dropping Kepa as Chelsea & Pedro impress in Spurs win Magnificent Mane takes centre stage as league leaders Liverpool put on a five-star show Lukaku sends reminder that his Man Utd career is far from over <\/p>\n In the\u00a0United States (US), the game will be shown on FOX Sports 1 and livestreamed via the FOX Soccer Match Pass.<\/p>\n In the United Kingdom (UK), the game can\u00a0be watched live on BT Sport 2 on streamed live online via the BT Sport Live app.<\/p>\n Winger Serge Gnabry has been ruled out with a thigh issue.<\/p>\n Potential Bayern XI:\u00a0Neuer; Kimmich, S\u00fcle, Hummels, Alaba; Martinez, Thiago;\u00a0Robben, Muller, Ribery, Lewandowski.<\/p>\n Nadiem Amiri has been excluded from the squad due to fatigue,\u00a0while midfielder\u00a0Kerem Demirbay has an issue with ankle ligaments.<\/p>\n Dennis Geiger is expected not to play a part in the Bundeliga opener with a thigh strain, while the likes of Benjamin Hubner, Lukas Rupp and Andrej Kramaric are also injury doubts.<\/p>\n Potential Hoffenheim XI:\u00a0Baumann; Adams, Vogt, Akpoguma; Kaderabek, Grillitsch, Zuber, Bittencourt, Schulz;\u00a0Szalai, Joelinton.<\/p>\n Bayern\u00a0are priced at odds of winning 1\/6 according to bet 365, while a draw is available at 13\/2. A win for Hoffenheim is priced at 16\/1.<\/p>\n Click here to see all of bet 365’s\u00a0offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.<\/p>\n It was business as usual for Bayern as they wrapped up their sixth successive Bundesliga win in May, and started the current campaign with a\u00a05-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt to lift the German Supercup.<\/p>\n Robert Lewandowski has already been in top form following his hat-trick in that match, and Kovac will be eager to welcome back World Cup star James Rodriguez back to his\u00a0side following an ankle knock he picked up in Russia.<\/p>\n New arrival Leon Goretzka could play a part against Hoffenheim, while Renato Sanches \u2013 who returned to the Allianz following an unsuccessful loan spell at Swansea \u2013 will also be looking to make his\u00a0mark.<\/p>\n It is set to be an interesting season for Bayern following the disappointment of Germany’s group stage exit at the World Cup finals this summer, with the Bavarians\u00a0having\u00a0a slew of German internationals at their disposal \u2013 Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels to name a few \u2013 and they will be eager to put behind the misery of their early elimination.<\/p>\n Hoffenheim finished third in the Bundesliga last season to secure Champions League football for the first time, which has significantly raised the profile of head coach Nagelsmann.<\/p>\n The manager \u2013 the youngest in the Bundesliga \u2013 is set to leave for RB Leipzig following the end of the season but is determined to see out his legacy in the finest manner.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The German champions will get the Bundesliga season under way against Julian Nagelsmann’s side at the Allianz Arena Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim will face off in the Bundesliga curtain-raiser when the two sides meet at the Allianz Arena on Friday evening. Niko Kovac will contest his first Bundesliga fixture in charge of the Bavarians against…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Editors' Picks<\/h3>\n
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