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Borussia Park will surely stand up and applaud as their prodigal son will return as a champion to their ground for one last time. Jupp Heynckes will coach for the last time in his lifetime in the Bundesliga. He will walk Bayern out to the pitch, but surely, his heart will beat for Gladbach. He previously stated, slightly out of anger, that he is a Gladbach man, more so than a Bayern man. That might not be the case today. However, an ending at Borussia Park as head coach of Bayern is perhaps the perfect end to the career of a legend.
The Opposition
Gladbach has nothing to play for this season. They have had a satisfactory one, unable to reach the heights of the last one due to the inconsistencies of the new signings Alvaro Dominguez, Granit Xhaka, Luuk de Jong etc. They had a good journey in the Europa League. Bayern has not managed to beat Gladbach this season. The earlier meeting between the teams ended in a 1-1 draw with Gladbach defending very well following a Thorben Marx penalty. Xherdan Shaqiri of course ruined the party by scoring late on.
Last weekend, the Gladbach faithful called out the name of a possible new hero, Branimir Hrgota. Hrgota took the ball off of the designated penalty taker to score, using a Panenka (!), against Mainz. He added two more, the third of which was a cheeky lob over the keeper's head to sign off on an impressive debut. Indeed, will the young man have a chance against the Champions this weekend?
The Mighty Bavarians
Only a week remains until the deciding game of Bayern's season. Everyone knows that winning the double will not mean a thing to Bayern if the failures of the past in Europe continue to haunt them. There are no suspensions for the final; Jupp Heynckes will hence probably field his best team to give them some match practice prior to the mother of all German battles in Wembley.
This weekend, aside from Holger Badstuber and Toni Kroos (who are busy advertising jerseys and smiling till their cheeks hurt), Heynckes will have all his players available. Gladbach has no injury worries either. Jupp will expect his boys to win this one to close off the campaign in style. Bayern has usually ended up happy on last days including last season. The priority will be to avoid injuries and to not be rusty ahead of next weekend.
Here is the possible lineup:
Philipp Lahm- Jerome Boateng- Dante- David Alaba
Bastian Schweinsteiger- Javier Martinez
Arjen Robben- Thomas Müller- Franck Ribery
Mario Mandzukic
Who will take the game that nobody cares about? This should be a fun friendly to watch!
As usual, thanks for reading!