With Leverkusen and Dortmund in transition after losing key players, the stage is set for champions to reign againThe newly named Franz Beckenbauer Supercup has many uses. Unlike some of its continental counterparts, this curtain-raising meeting between league and cup winners tends to brim with a pleasing intensity. It unfolds in a partisan atmosphere too, taking place at one of the two competitors’ stadium rather than at a neutral venue, so we feel the real straight away.Telling us what to expect for the coming nine months in the Bundesliga, however, isn’t often one of the Supercup’s strengths. Bayer Leverkusen gave a faithful impression of their double-winning form in emerging victorious in last year’s edition by punking Stuttgart with a late Patrik Schick goal before winning on penalties, having played a huge chunk of the match with 10 men. The year before, Harry Kane made an inauspicious Bayern Munich debut at the end of “a crazy 24 hours”, entering the field to tumultuous acclaim only for his new team to subsequently be flattened by Dani Olmo’s hat-trick for Leipzig. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, never won it in his three years at Bayern. Continue reading…