Bayer Leverkusen vs. Stuttgart Supercup preview: Team news and predicted lineups
German football returns from its summer break this weekend with the first round of the DFB-Pokal and the DFL-Supercup.
In the first DFL-Supercup since 2011 without Bayern Munich, German double winners Bayer Leverkusen host VfB Stuttgart at the BayArena.
The DFL-Supercup usually features the winners of the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal competitions from the previous season. But since Leverkusen won both, they will face last season's Bundesliga runners-up, VfB Stuttgart.
So far, Leverkusen have generally kept last season's successful squad together, with their most notable departure so far being Josip Stanisic, who has returned to Bayern Munich after his loan spell.
Jonathan Tah has been heavily linked with Bayern Munich, but is now expected to stay and could even wear the captain's armband against Stuttgart if Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso opts to start Matej Kovar in goal instead of captain Lukas Hradecky, as he did in cup competitions last season.
In terms of arrivals, winger Martin Terrier, central midfielder Aleix Garcia and central defender Jeanuel Belocian have all been added to the squad. Garcia could even start alongside Granit Xhaka on Saturday, although Robert Andrich is also an option.
As for Stuttgart, they've had to say goodbye to three of their key players from last season, as Waldemar Anton (Borussia Dortmund), Hiroki Ito (Bayern Munich) and Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund) have all left the club.
Their voids will be difficult to fill, although Stuttgart have been active on the recruitment front themselves, bringing in the likes of Ermedin Demirovic, Jeff Chabot and Yannik Keitel, while also making a number of loan signings permanent, including key player Deniz Undav from Brighton & Hove Albion.
It remains to be seen whether all the key players will be fit enough to start against Leverkusen, with Olympic silver medalist Enzo Millot and Euro 2024 stars Chris Führich, Maximilian Mittelstädt and Deniz Undav only recently returning to training.
In terms of absentees, Leverkusen will be without the injured Exequiel Palacios. Leonidas Sergiou, Nicolas Nartey, Luca Pfeiffer, Joshua Vagnoman, Dan-Axel Zagadou and Luca Raimund are all out for Stuttgart.
Click here to see our predicted Bayer Leverkusen vs. VfB Stuttgart lineups.
