Bayern Munich host RB Leipzig in all-Bundesliga pre-season showdown
Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig will hope to sign off pre-season in perfect fashion, and perhaps gain a psychological edge, when the two Bundesliga sides face off in their respective final warm-up fixtures at the Allianz Arena on 15 August (3.30pm CEST).
Both sides have had interrupted pre-seasons, with plenty of star names having taken part in this summer's FIFA World Cup. However, the outfits are now almost back to full strength ahead of the start of the new campaign, with this intriguing Telekom Cup encounter their last chance to get up to speed.
Bayern's preparations began with a surprise 2-1 defeat to third-division side Wehen Wiesbaden, before thrashing FC Rottach-Egern 15-0. They them embarked on a tour of South Korea and Hong Kong, where they beat both Jeju SK FC and Aston Villa by a margin of 2-1. That latter fixture saw many of Bayern's World Cup stars return to action, with the likes of Manuel Neuer, Jonathan Tah, Aleksandar Pavlović and new signing Nathaniel Brown all featuring.
RB Leipzig, meanwhile, started with wins over German lower division sides Altglienicke, Ingolstadt and SC Verl before English Premier League Leeds beat them 2-0 last time out.
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Being Bundesliga rivals, the two sides have met frequently over the years, but last season Bayern had the clear upper hand. In the league, the Bavarians won both meetings by an aggregate margin of 11-1 before also knocking Leipzig out of the DFB quarter-finals 2-0. The last time Leipzig beat Bayern was three years ago in the DFB Supercup when they came away 3-0 winners to lift the season-opening trophy.
Although the likes of Michael Olise and Harry Kane are yet to return to Bayern training ahead of this game, Vincent Kompany does have a few other big names who have been stepping up their recovery ahead of this one: Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl, Jamal Musiala and summer signing Ismael Saibari are all back in training after issues of varying severity.
Martín Demichelis, meanwhile, does have a couple of injury concern to contend with as both Christoph Baumgartner and Assan Ouédraogo are set to miss out with respective hamstring and shoulder injuries.
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After this one, both teams are set to get their 2026/27 seasons underway. Bayern will face Borussia Dortmund in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup on 22 August, with Leipzig travelling to Eintracht Trier for the first round of the DFB Cup on the same day.
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