Curious: The German record champions and the Swabians are meeting for the fourth time this season. Bayern have mostly won the previous three duels clearly: 2-1 in the Supercup, 5-0 away in the first half of the Bundesliga, 4-2 at home in the second half. Effenberg is still convinced: “Stuttgart doesn’t have to hide from Bayern. VfB really deserved fourth place over the season by qualifying for the Champions League. That will give them another boost.”
Ten DFB professionals on the pitch
The 57-year-old warns: “Stuttgart has many weapons in the game going forward – and Bayern always offer something. The offensive with Deniz Undav, Ermedin Demirović, Jamie Leweling and Chris Führich will wait for their chances and can embarrass Bayern.” The numbers prove how dangerous VfB is: with 71 goals scored, the Swabians were the most dangerous team after Bayern in the past season.
In the final on Saturday, a total of ten German World Cup drivers will face each other: Jamal Musiala, Jonathan Tah, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Aleksandar Pavlović and Lennart Karl on the Bayern side, Undav, Leweling, Angelo Stiller and Alexander Nübel on the team of coach Sebastian Hoeneß.
Manuel Neuer, whom national coach Julian Nagelsmann called into the DFB squad for the World Cup on Thursday and made him Germany’s number one, will not be in the Munich goal as a precautionary measure due to calf complaints; Jonas Urbig will replace him again. In the last Bundesliga game of the season against Cologne, Neuer was substituted for Urbig after 60 minutes.
“It makes no sense to put him in goal with the risk that he could get seriously injured,” said Bayern sports director Max Eberl at an event in Berlin on Friday. “That’s why we all decided together, no matter how difficult it was for Manu, to forego the final.”
