Marco Reus is dreaming of the Bundesliga title. And with Borussia Dortmund investing heavily and wisely, and Bayern Munich in transition on and off the pitch, the BVB captain may never have a better chance.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/L. Baron
Advertisement
"We don't have any other choice," said Marco Reus in an interview with German football publication kicker this week. "If we said, with this team, that we just want to keep pace at the top, no-one would take us seriously. Our aim has to be the title."
Indeed, after the considerable investment in the side which finished just two points behind Bayern Munich last season, the Borussia Dortmund captain could hardly say anything else as his club launch a full-frontal assault to break the Bavarians' seven-year stranglehold.
The Black and Yellows have spent a reported €127 million ($142.1 million) on six new arrivals ahead of the new season, stocking up Lucien Favre's squad with some of the biggest names and brightest talents in the Bundesliga.
Preplanned deals for Thorgan Hazard (€25.5 million from Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Julian Brandt (€25m from Bayer Leverkusen) were wrapped up quickly and smoothly at the start of the summer, while Paco Alcacer's loan move from Barcelona had already been made permanent at a cost of €21 million.
"We've become more unpredictable up front," commented CEO Hans-Joachim Watze, but the 60-year-old knows as well as anybody that Dortmund's problems in the second half of last season were at the other end of the pitch, making the signings of German international left back Nico Schulz (€25.5 million from Hoffenheim) and, most notably, former German international Mats Hummels (€30.5 million from Bayern) much more important.
"We have a lot more experience now, which we lacked towards the end," midfielder Axel Witsel told kicker during Dortmund's six-day tour of the United States. "We need to change how we deal with the pressure."
Witsel, 30, was one of the older heads whose influence nevertheless failed to prevent a string of individual errors which saw Dortmund throw away a nine-point lead over Bayern last season. But he's welcomed the return of Hummels (30), saying it's as if the former BVB title winner has never been away.
"The more leaders, the better," he insisted. "You need balls, you need courage. You can practice defending set-pieces for hundreds of hours but in the end it comes down to your head: are you focused? Now with Mats, we've gained a hugely experienced player."
Not only have Dortmund strengthened in key areas, there is also a feeling in western Germany that the window of opportunity to beat Bayern hasn't closed just yet, with the double-winners still undergoing significant transitions on several levels.
Bavarian transition
Defensively, the Bavarians are well-stocked, French World Cup winners Benjamin Pavard (€35m from VfB Stuttgart) and Lucas Hernandez (€80 million from Atletico Madrid) compensating for Hummels' departure.
Further forward however, it remains to be seen whether Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman can establish themselves as genuine successors to Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, while there is unlikely to be any development in Bayern's interest in Leroy Sane until the player returns from Manchester City's tour of the Far East next week.
Top of the tree: Nico Kovac and Bayern Munich face their biggest domestic challenge in yearsImage: Reuters/M. Dalder
Changes are also afoot off the pitch on in Munich, with club president Uli Hoeneß planning not to stand for re-election in November. "Mister FC Bayern" will reportedly give way to former Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer, while Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge will start making way for Oliver Kahn in January 2020. "Bayern are showing the classic symptoms of a club in transition," writes Die Welt.
"To finish ahead of Bayern, everything has to fall into place from matchday one to matchday 34," said Reus. "Bayern win games 3-0 without breaking sweat whereas we still have to work extremely hard against the same opponents, and that ultimately takes its toll."
The 30-year-old, who became a father in March, was crowned Germany's Footballer of the Year for the second time this week, but he's dreaming bigger: "It's always been my dream to win the league with this club, to stand on a truck on Borsigplatz and celebrate with 500,000 people," he said. "League champions in your home city, what could be better?"
If Reus' dream is to come true, there's probably never been a more opportune moment for Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern Munich President Uli Hoeness: A reign ends
Almost 50 years after he began playing for them, Uli Hoeness' time at Bayern Munich is drawing to an end. The club president has decided not to run for a new term as president of the German record titleholders.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Balk
Calling it quits
A relationship that began in 1970 when Bayern Munich signed an 18-year-old from TSG Ulm 1846 has come to an end, with Uli Hoeness announcing that he will not run for another term as club president. He shaped one of the most successful eras in German football history. Former Adidas boss Herbert Hainer, who already holds a position with the German champions, is his replacement.
Image: picture-alliance/SvenSimon/F. Hoermann
Goal scorer
Long before current events, Hoeness the player was a forward who was part of the Bayern team that won both the Bundesliga and the European Cup three times. Playing for West Germany, he won both the EuropeanChampionship and the World Cup. For a few years, Hoeness and Gerd Müller formed one of Europe's most potent strike forces. However, his playing career was cut short by a knee injury.
Image: Getty Images
The youngest manager
After an unsuccessful attempt to come back from the injury while on loan to Nuremberg, Hoeness hung up his boots and became the Bundesliga's youngest general manager at the tender age of 27 on May 1, 1979. Here he is pictured with then-Bayern President Willi Hoffmann (left) on this third day on the job – when he got his first victory as manager with Bayern winning 3-1 in Darmstadt.
Image: picture-alliance/S. Simon
A nose for business
Even before Hoeness became manager, he negotiated a deal with truck maker Magirus-Deutz as Bayern's jersey sponsor. The funds allowed Bayern to bring West Germany star Paul Breitner back to Munich from Braunschweig in 1978. Here, Breitner is seen holding up the trophy after Bayern won the 1981 Bundesliga title. The two but have recently fallen out over Breitner's criticism of Bayern's management.
Image: Imago Images/Sportfoto Rudel
A stroke of luck
On February 17, 1982, Uli Hoeness was the sole survivor of the crash of a private jet, while he was on his way to a West German national team friendly. The three other people on board the plane died. Hoeness, who was asleep on the back seat of the plane when it crashed, remembers nothing about it.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Sausage producer
Hoeness, the son of a master butcher, started up the HoWe sausage-making company in Nuremberg in 1985, which now supplies major businesses such as Aldi and McDonalds. HoWe, which is where Hoeness made a lot of his money, has been taken over by his son Florian.
Image: imago/MiS
From manager to president
After 30 years as general manager, on November 27, 2009, Uli Hoeness moved up in the Bayern Munich hierarchy, winning election at the club's annual general meeting as its new president. More success would soon follow, with Bayern doing the double that same season and later, beginning in 2012-13, going on a run of six-straight Bundesliga titles.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Gebert
Personal feud
Hoeness has had his share of personal animosity. A feud with former Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen coach Christoph Daum began when both appeared on a sports talk show. It reached its climax with the cocaine scandal surrounding Daum, who looked set to become Germany coach in 2000. Daum never took up the post after a test on his hair turned up positive for cocaine.
Image: picture-alliance/Alfred Harder
Big winner
Uli Hoeness won his share of silverware as a player, but has won almost countless titles as an executive. In 2013, Bayern Munich won the treble; the Bundesliga title, the German Cup, and the Champions League. "An unbelieveable year," said the top club executive, who was still a free man, despite the fact that a warrant for his arrest on tax-evasion charges had already been issued.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Fall from grace
March 13, 2014: Hoeness was convicted of evading €28.5 million ($32 million) in taxes and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail. Hoeness began serving his sentence on June 2, 2014, making the fall from grace of a German soccer legend complete.
Image: Reuters
President again
A day after his conviction, Uli Hoeness resigned as Bayern president, however he would return to the post two and a half years later, winning election at the club's annual general meeting on November 25, 2016. He was the only candidate after current President Karl Hopfner, who had stood in for him during his time in prison, agreed earlier in the year not to run for re-election.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/L. Preiss
A helping hand
Hoeness has always there with a helping hand for a friend in need. Clubs like St. Pauli and even rivals Borussia Dortmund have been known to profit from his generosity. He has also reached out to help former teammates like Gerd Müller, who struggled with alcohol, or players Sebastian Deisler who suffered from burnout and Dietmar Hamman, who was stricken with both alcohol and gambling addictions.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Family man
For the most part, Uli Hoeness keeps his private life to himself. He has been married to his wife Susanne for more than 40 years and his two children, Sabine and Florian are grown up. Hoeness enjoys a quiet life at home, and there have been no known scandals involving his family.
