New-look Bayern favored to continue dominance in Bundesliga

BERLIN: Bayern Munich kick off their Bundesliga title defense against Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday, hoping an off-season spending spree will account for the loss of star striker Robert Lewandowski.

With five Champions League participants for the first time ever this season, German football is in rude health, although Bayern will still be favored to claim their 11th straight domestic title.

While Lewandowski, who scored 344 goals in 375 games in all competitions during eight years at the Allianz Arena, will be missed up front, coach Julian Nagelsmann will take some solace from Saturday’s 5-3 Super Cup triumph over RB Leipzig, which saw five different players get on the scoresheet for the Bavarians.

Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn believes the acquisition of Sadio Mane from Liverpool could work in the German champions’ favor by making Bayern less predictable in attack.

“You could see how many opportunities we had going forward, how many different formations we had, how surprising we can be,” Kahn said in the aftermath of Bayern’s tenth Super Cup victory.

While the goals may not be in short supply, it is at the back where their transfer efforts will truly be tested.

In bringing in centerback Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus, Bayern are looking to shore up a leaky defense.

On evidence of the three second-half goals conceded in the Super Cup, Nagelsmann still has some work to do.

Last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund will head up a chasing pack looking to dethrone the perennial German champions.

After conceding 52 goals last year, more than any other side in the top eight, Dortmund loosened the purse strings to bring in German national team centerbacks Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Suele from