Borussia Dortmund will start the new Bundesliga season on the hottest day of the year.. And it will be a very heated game, just so we all stay in the picture, against an opponent who are "strong at running, compact, don't shirk any challenges and can switch play very effectively."

The Mainz team can treat the words of their former Head Coach as the highest accolade for what they achieved last season with their present Head Coach Martin Schmidt. That is why Tuchel makes it quite clear for his charges. He is very satisfied with them after a long but difficult preparation phase, where they integrated the 'late-comers' over various stages: "that is why we need to find solutions and we need to prepare well for this game. We have a good feeling because the principles we are trying to instill are starting to take root and because everyone in the team is getting on well with each other and they bring each other up to a high level." He added: "this is how  you create real trust. This applies to every training session, every pre-season friendly, the 60 minutes in the Supercup and the Cup match in Trier."

It will be exciting to see what formation Tuchel will line his team up in for Saturday's game (kick-off 15:30 hrs). The core of the team is there: it will be those eleven players who were in the starting line-up against Bayern Munich and Eintracht Trier. But others are also pushing for a place: Lukasz Piszczek, the 'leader of the pack' on the right; Julian Weigl, who came through last season in flying colours; Raphael Guerreiro, the European Champion. And then you also have Marco Reus, Mario Götze, Sven Bender and Matthias Ginter, all who are not (yet) part of the squad for different reasons. Even though Götze was able to take part in full training on Friday, 'but it's not enough to be involved in this game yet', according to Tuchel. The silver medal winners Bender (has a slight knock anyway) and Ginter will be rested, so that they can recuperate from the mental and physical strains of taking part in the Olympics.

The fight for places will heat up even more after the international break and will be hotter than the weather and the game..

Boris Rupert

This is how they could play