Cup campaign, Bundesliga returns again on
Friday as titleholders Bayern Munich host
Wolfsburg at the Allianz Arena.
Head coach Pep Guardiola's men dominated
Germany's top flight last season and finished an
impressive 19 points clear of runners-up Borussia
Dortmund to clinch their 24th title. They will
consequently start the 2014-15 campaign as the
team to beat.
However, things will not be as easy as last term
for Bayern as Dortmund will be determined to put
up more of a fight in the new season, while
ambitious teams such as Schalke, Bayer
Leverkusen and Wolfsburg will also hope to
improve on the previous campaign.
Although the Bundesliga lost Mario Mandzukic
and Toni Kroos, there are still plenty of high-
profile names to be found. Arjen Robben, Franck
Ribery, Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, Mats
Hummels, Kevin De Bruyne, Klaas Jan Huntelaar,
Julian Draxler and Lars Bender are among the
standouts.
Former Dortmund man Robert Lewandowski's
move to Bayern is arguably the most eye-catching
deal ahead of the new season, but the transfers of
Matthias Ginter, Ciro Immobile, Hakan
Calhanoglu and Sidney Sam will not go unnoticed
either.
The key to success in Bundesliga is not necessarily
the presence of individual quality, however, as
Bayern Munich's biggest strength last term was
their ability to retain possession as a team.
The Bavarians' possession-figure of 71.2 per cent
over 2013-14 is not only more than any other
team in Europe's five top leagues - including
Barcelona (67.7%) and Paris Saint-Germain
(64.6%), who complete the podium - but is also a
remarkable 17.2% higher than the second-ranked
team in Germany, Borussia Monchengladbach.
Last term's runners-up Dortmund even had to
settle for a mere 53.8% possession.
Want to keep track of all the key statistics in
Europe's top five leagues? Keep an eye out for
the Huawei European Team Ranking, due to be
launched in the first week of September
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.