Ernest Valverde will show his first cards at the helm of Athletic this afternoon. Txingurri started their third leg in Bilbao on July 4 with the first day of pre-season. Two weeks of preparation have passed at Lezama’s facilities and now it’s time to put it on the field. The team arrived yesterday in Germany to carry out the stage until next Saturday 23rd and it is today that it is time to start capturing the work of these fifteen days of preparation on the ground. The triangular match against Borussia Mönchengladbach (5:00 p.m.) and Duisburg (6:00 p.m.) in the so-called Traditions Cup taking place at the Schauinsland Reisen Arena in Duisburg will serve to begin to see what he expects from his team and the positions in which he will occupy place each of his footballers, especially in the case of some who have the virtue of versatility.
The logic would be that the player from Gasteiz takes out two different teams in each of these two friendly matches of 45 minutes each. The strongest block in the first against a Bundesliga rival and the rest in the second against a German third division. The ball begins to roll
BORUSSIA MONCHENGLADBACH
Jupp Heynckes is a myth in the German club
Borussia Mönchengladbach stands out above all for being the team of Jupp Heynckes, the German coach who led Athletic in two different periods (1992-94 and 2001-03). The North Rhine-Westphalia team, with 122 years of history, is currently managed by Daniel Farke, former Norwich City manager, and finished tenth in the last Bundesliga with 45 points, 7 less than the seventh place which allowed them to play in the Conference League. . His top scorer was Jonas Hofmanwith 12 goals in 26 games, and his current team has a large number of internationals: Jonas Hofman, Christopher Kramer, Patrick Hermann there Lars Stindl with Germany; Yann Sommer, Nico Elvedi there Breel’s embolism with Switzerland; Stefan Lainer with Austria; Joe Scally with the United States; Marcus Thuram there Alassane Plea with France and Rama Bensebaïni with Algeria.
Jupp Heynckes managed Borussia Mönchengladbach and Athletic.
Gladbach experienced its golden age in the 1970s with five league titles (1969-70, 1970-71, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77), three Cups (1959-60, 1972-73, 1994-95), two UEFA titles (1974-75, 1978-79). He was vice-champion of the latter competition twice (1972-73, 1979-80) and of the European Cup in 1977.
Heynckes remains his greatest legend. The former Atletico manager was their star striker in the 1970s and he still holds the all-time top scorer status with 294 goals in 410 games played. Jupp he also coached his team between 1979 and 1987 and from 2006 to 2007.
Al Gladbach It is known by the nickname Los Potros for its commitment to attacking football and fielding young players. He first came to the Bundesliga in the 1965-66 season, and since then has been in the top flight in every season except 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2007-08. The team have played at the 54,000 capacity Borussia Park stadium since 2004. Their last Champions League appearances were in the 2012-13, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2020-21 campaigns.
Athletic have faced their first rival this afternoon on three occasions with two victories (1-3 in 2014-15 with the Aduriz hat-trick and 0-2 in 2019-20 and a draw at San Mamés (1- 1) in 1975-76). they will face each other for the fourth time.
DUISBURG
A Third who suffered last season to maintain the category
Athletic will face Duisburg in Germany’s third tier in the second game. It celebrates its centenary this year and was one of the founders of the Bundesliga in 1963. It finished second in the first season of the first division with the new name.
It spent nearly 20 consecutive seasons in the First Division before being relegated to the Second Division in 1981-82. Since then, he has been promoted and relegated several times. His last season in the Bundesliga dates back to 2007-08.
Duisburg plays in the German third division
Their nickname is Las Zebras because of their horizontally striped jerseys and they play at the 31,500 capacity MSV Arena. It opened in November 2004 and is currently called Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena for patronage reasons.
Duisburg struggled to maintain the category last year to finally finish in fifteenth place. Their top scorer was centre-forward Orhan Ademi, with 12 goals in 37 games. The manager is Torsten Ziegne and he joined the club in May 2021 for the last two games of the season. A victory in his first certified permanence.
Duisburg was the surprising Cup finalist in the 2010-11 campaign to lose in the final to Schalke 04 (0-5).
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