A sell-out crowd of 80,667 at Signal Iduna Park and millions of fans watching the game on ZDF and Sky are looking forward to the first big game of the season in Germany - and not only them. “We are fired up for this match. We play at home, we want to beat them and win the first trophy of the season,” said Sebastian Kehl in the build-up to the Supercup match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich on Wednesday (kick-off: 1800 CET).

 

Jürgen Klopp expects “a match played at the highest level against one of the world’s best teams.” The Dortmund coach also said: “It brings together two teams who have had to deal most with the aftermaths of the World Cup, and who have had and still have a most complex preseason.”

In Gündogan, Sahin, Blaszczykowski, Reus and Hummels, BVB will have to do without the services of five potential starters, with Roman Weidenfeller, who has only returned to training on Saturday, also doubtful. According to Klopp, the game will be won by the team “who can best fix their problems and forget about them for 90 or 120 minutes.”

For the third time in a row (and the fourth time overall), the Supercup final will be between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, with BVB holding a 2-1 advantage. The games against Bayern are always special and have a “high priority” as Sebastian Kehl confirmed: “We saw last year how much interest there is in this match and what euphoria it generated. It is always special to play Bayern.”

It’s about a trophy about which Jürgen Klopps, just like last year, said “The team that wins has every reason to be happy; the team that loses doesn’t have to be distraught and tell themselves that it was just the Supercup. The others can add it to their collection.”