In other European countries too, the start of the seasons is getting closer. Last up are the German and Italian leagues, the Bundesliga and Serie A respectively, which will start their first matches starting from Friday 18 August.
Bundesliga
It has been since the 2011-2012 season that a club other than Bayern Munich won the title. That means the Rekordmeister have been allowed to raise the shield into the air for 11 consecutive seasons. Yet they did not start their preparations too well this year. In the Super Cup final, they lost against Leipzig, who won 3-0. This year, they also hired a new coach: Thomas Tuchel. This German coach does not have the best reputation, as he had to leave his last three clubs (Dortmund, PSG, Chelsea) with a quarrel. Bayern did strike another great blow with the acquisition of Harry Kane. After the departure of Lewandowski and the mediocre help of Sadio Mané, the Bavarian club needed hit-and-runs again. Another tactic they used was to get players from among their two strongest challengers: Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig.
The Borussen narrowly failed to rob Bayern of their 11th title last year. They needed another win on the final day of play, but drew 2-2. This year, they could finish very high again, but they will have to do so without their star player Jude Bellingham. Who went to Real Madrid for €103 million, and scored immediately in the opening match.
Leipzig will also try to knock Bayern Munich off the throne. They were already able to outclass them in the Super Cup, so it remains to be seen whether they will do the same in the rest of the season. At Die Roten Bullen, they did have a busy transfer summer. They had to let Szoboszlai, Nkunku and Gvardiol go to English teams. In their places come young talents like Loïs Openda and Xavi Simons. Of course, there are also a few established players present, including Timo Werner and Dani Olmo.
Serie A
Last year, Napoli became champions by 16 points. A repeat of that scenario seems unlikely, but Napoli do have good papers. With Victor Osimhen and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, they retain their two best players and championship makers. One person who did leave Napoli was Kim Min Jae, a South Korean who will now try his hand at Bayern Munich. Also notable is that Luciano Spaletti will no longer be the coach. This Italian from Certaldo was Napoli’s coach from May 2021, winning the title convincingly last year. He is taking a sabbatical year after a row with owner De Laurentiis. His replacement will be Frenchman Rudi Garcia, who was previously the trainer of Al Nassr.
Possible challengers for Napoli can be found in Milan. At AC Milan, goalkeeper Mike Maignan has been fit from the first minute this season. Second goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu did get some more playing minutes as a result, but the Milan club still lost a lot of points. On top of that, the attacking line was strengthened, so Rafael Leao will now have the help of Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze. Only the striker position and midfield do not seem to be quite right yet. Olivier Giroud scored 13 goals last year, so he has been very useful, but the 36-year-old Frenchman is not exactly getting any younger either. The midfield also needs a thorough overhaul: after the departure of Sandro Tonali, Brahim Diaz and the injury of Ismaël Bennacer, an entirely new midfield needs to be drafted in.
That other Milan team, Inter, were Champions League finalists last year and finished in third place. In particular, they lost a lot of goalscoring ability when they had to let Romelu Lukaku and Edin Dzeko go. To replace them, Marko Arnautovic and Marcus Thuram were brought in, but it remains to be seen whether they possess the same qualities. After the World Cup in Qatar, winner Lautaro Martinez will also be watched more than ever for goal-scoring.
Maybe Juventus then? They will only concentrate on the Italian league this year, as they were barred from European football for a year after the ‘plusvalenza’ scandal. But their selection is no longer as attractive: Adrien Rabiot, Moise Kean, Weston McKennie and even Paul Pogba are no longer able to pull the team up.
And the Roman teams are no longer as strong either: Lazio finished second last season, but they did lose their best player Milinkovic-Savic to Al-Hilal. So coming second again would already be a fantastic achievement for coach Sarri and his team. AS Roma also have little chance of winning the title. Though hopefully we will be able to enjoy coach José Mourinho’s football entertainment.
