Will Vincent Kompany start his Bayern Munich tenure with a “W” against Wolfsburg? How many fireworks will we see between Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt in Maximilian Beier’s debut? And will Bayer Leverkusen pick up where they left off or will Borussia Monchengladbach awaken from their slumber with a statement in Friday night’s opener?
Here are the score predictions and preview for the Bundesliga’s three biggest battles on Matchday 1 of the 2024/25 season.
Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Although Borussia Monchengladbach are known to be good for a surprise or two and have a new-look attack in 2024/25 with Bundesliga veteran creators Tim Kleindienst and Kevin Stoger joining Gladbach’s assist leader Franck Honorat up top, there’s no doubt Bayer Leverkusen are the favorites.
In fact, Leverkusen will be favored more than any other club heading into Matchday 1 – and not just because they were the undefeated champions of the previous campaign.
Gladbach, in truth, are a far cry from the squad that once boasted Marcus Thuram and Yann Sommer – now champions of Italy. There are serious flaws in the side, and the Foals have not finished in the top half of the table since Marco Rose was their coach in 2020/21.
Meanwhile, Leverkusen are just as strong as they were last season, as they didn’t lose any of their superstars. Jeremie Frimpong, Victor Boniface, Alex Grimaldo, and Florian Wirtz will all be back in town for the 2024/25 season.
Leverkusen’s Bundesliga triumph was impressive enough last season, but the real challenge is winning back-to-back champions. In German football, Bayern Munich are the only ones who can say they are able to achieve this consistently.
So the match against Gladbach on Friday night will be a tone-setter for Xabi Alonso, who has his eyes on shocking the world in the Champions League this time, now that Die Werkself are back in the competition they once nearly won more than 20 years ago against Real Madrid.
Prediction: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-3 Bayer Leverkusen
Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
Borussia Dortmund have won twice as many of their head-to-head encounters as Eintracht Frankfurt since 1988, and the whole world will expect nothing less than a BVB victory on Saturday in the Topspiel, even if Eintracht are certainly no pushovers as recent Europa League winners.
However, as disappointing as Dortmund were in the league last season, they nearly won the Bundesliga in 2022/23 and were Champions League finalists in 2023/24 against the odds, falling only to Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid.
Dortmund already have a new-look squad in 2024/25 with Jadon Sancho heading back to Manchester United (for now) and Niclas Fullkrug making his way to the Premier League, too, with Stuttgart star Serhou Guirassy replacing him.
As has become their trademark in recent years, Dortmund poached another top player from Stuttgart, who finished above BVB last season, in star center back Waldemar Anton.
Guirassy won’t be available on Saturday against Eintracht, but Dortmund will still have a breakout Bundesliga star from another notable German club starting for them at striker, as they also signed Maximilian Beier from Hoffenheim ahead of interest from Premier League heavyweights like Chelsea.
Speaking of stars in the Premier League, Dortmund’s third blockbuster signing of the summer window was Brighton legend Pascal Gross, who is the deep-lying playmaker Dortmund were desperately begging to sign for years.
Dortmund were serious about making splashes to help new manager Nuri Sahin, and with this sort of investment after a dismal season and a failed title race in the preceding campaign, nothing less than a Bundesliga title is expected; Dortmund fans have gone too long without one.
Eintracht Frankfurt have not beaten Dortmund since 2021, and with the Yellow Wall standing tall, you wouldn’t bet against BVB taking this one in a firecracker with Beier and Gross playing a starring role in the first game of the post-Marco Reus era.
Prediction: Dortmund 3-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Bayern Munich vs. VfL Wolfsburg
Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg will both have a handful of injuries ahead of their Bundesliga opener on Sunday, but there will still be plenty of star power on the pitch with Jonas Wind, Patrick Wimmer, Lovro Majer, Serge Gnabry, Mathys Tel, Serge Gnabry, and the record-breaking Harry Kane all available.
Gone is Niko Kovac and in his place at Wolfsburg is German coaching cult hero Ralph Hassenhuttl, who proved his mettle in the Premier League before returning to Germany to help lead one of its hapless purgatory big business clubs back to European football.
Wolfsburg have intriguing young talents like Wimmer, who is one of the best-kept secrets in European football and honestly wouldn’t look out of place as a squad player for Bayern.
But that’s the thing, Wolfsburg’s most talented players would merely be squad players for Bayern, and even though Bayern feel weaker after an underwhelming offseason overhaul, it’s still hard to count them out.
Vincent Kompany is a big risk at manager, but he comes into Bayern with less pressure after how Champions League-winning coach Thomas Tuchel fared against the growing juggernaut that is Bayer Leverkusen.
Of course, “less pressure” doesn’t really mean anything in Bavaria, as Bayern Munich are a pressure cooker operating at levels of intensity on par with Real Madrid in terms of expectations.
Even Kompany will be expected to immediately deliver a title and a turnaround despite the turmoil, and if Bayern don’t beat Wolfsburg convincingly, questions will immediately be asked of the new coach.
Unfortunately, that tends to be the operative theme in Munchen. Look for Wolfsburg to steal a point at the Allianz Arena, with the main takeaway from the match being a dissection of Bayern looking very un-Bayern rather than high praise for a fairly mediocre Wolfsburg.
Prediction: Bayern Munich 1-1 Wolfsburg
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.