The long summer break comes to an end on Saturday as Eintracht Frankfurt host Bayern Munich in the official curtain raiser to the 2018/19 as the two sides battle it out for the first silverware of the campaign: the Supercup.
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Frankfurt earned their spot in this year's edition thanks to an Ante Rebic-inspired 3-1 win over Bayern in the DFB Cup final in May. The Croatia attacker - a 2018 FIFA World Cup runner-up - is unlikely to feature here after only returning to training on Monday, while new goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow will miss out as he recovers from knee trouble. Otherwise, head coach Adi Hütter should have everyone else available as he looks to get one over on his predecessor Niko Kovac and give the Eagles a confidence boost ahead of their Bundesliga opener against Freiburg, following recent friendly losses to Italian sides Empoli and SPAL.
As 2017/18 Bundesliga champions, Kovac's charges warmed up for this fixture with a commanding display to beat Manchester United 1-0 at the weekend. With everyone bar World Cup winner Corentin Tolisso back in training, the new Bayern coach has virtually his entire squad to choose from, so expect James Rodriguez to be given a run-out as he recovers full fitness following a calf injury sustained at Russia 2018. Robert Lewandowski came off the bench against United, but should be restored to the line-up here, especially with fellow striker Sandro Wagner nursing a minor thigh strain.
Probable line-ups
Frankfurt: Wiedwald - Abraham (c), Hasebe, Salcedo - Da Costa, Torro, Fernandes, Willems - Fabian, Gacinovic - HallerAbsentees: Rebic (fitness), Rönnow (knee)Coach: Adi Hütter
Bayern: Neuer (c) - Kimmich, Hummels, Süle, Alaba - Martinez, Thiago - Robben, Müller, Ribery - LewandowskiAbsentees: Tolisso (rested)Coach: Niko Kovac
Match stats
Bayern have won 53 of the 95 meetings between these sides.
Rebic scored a brace the last time the teams faced off, helping Frankfurt to victory in the DFB Cup final in May.
Bayern have participated in seven of the last eight Supercups, but have only won four of them - most recently in 2017.
The Eagles have only appeared in the Supercup once, losing 2-0 to Werder Bremen in the 1988 edition.
Lewandowski has played in six Supercup fixtures so far, but only scored twice (once for Bayern in 2017 and once for Dortmund in 2012).
Frankfurt have not managed to beat Bayern at their home Commerzbank-Arena since March 2010.