1860 Munich take on Borussia Dortmund in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on Friday.
1860 Munich are set for their fifth successive season in the third tier of German football, with Dortmund hoping to finally end Bayern Munich’s stranglehold of the Bundesliga in the last decade.
Since being relegated from the second division in 2017, 1860 Munich have failed to return despite finishing fourth in each of the last two seasons.
Michael Kollner’s side ended up only two points behind third-placed Kaiserslautern, who defeated Dynamo Dresden 2-0 on aggregate in the promotion play-offs to replace them in 2. Bundesliga.
Having defeated Dynamo Dresden 4-3 in last weekend’s opening league fixture, though, Kollner will be hopeful of another promotion push this season to finally restore 1860 Munich to a level more befitting of their historical status.
Kollner’s team were ruthless when dispatching local side Rodelmaier 7-0 in the Bavarian Cup on Tuesday, too, but the 52-year-old will be acutely aware of the massive step up in class awaiting his players when they welcome Dortmund to the capital on Friday.
As has become second nature in recent years, there has been plenty of upheaval at Dortmund this summer, with Edin Terzic reinstated as manager in place of Marco Rose.
Star striker Erling Braut Haaland has departed for Manchester City after the English champions activated the 22-year-old’s release clause, with the likes of Axel Witsel, Roman Burki and Dan-Axel Zagadou leaving on free transfers.
Sebastian Haller, Karim Adeyemi, Nico Schlotterbeck, Niklas Sule, Salih Ozcan, Marcel Lotka and Alexander Meyer have so far joined to fill the void for a combined outlay of around £77m.
Terzic, who guided Dortmund to win this competition in his spell as interim manager in the 2020-21 season, will hope that these purchases prove enough to close the gap somewhat on Bayern.
In the meantime, though, the 39-year-old must ensure that his players guard against complacency on Friday before starting the new league campaign in a positive manner against Bayer Leverkusen next weekend.
1860 Munich form (all competitions):
WW
We say: 1860 Munich 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
Even without Haller in attack, we cannot see anything beyond a resounding Dortmund victory on Friday.
BVB should simply have far too much quality for the hosts to deal with, especially having added Schlotterbeck and Adeyemi at either end of the pitch.