Is £55 million enough for Bayern?

Having won the treble last season, Germany's finest Bayern Munich in pursuit of remaining the best shelled out over £50 million.
They brought in the best coach in world football and spent more than £50 million to strengthen their squad, primarily spending on Mario Gotze from rivals Borussia Dortmund and also bringing in Thiago Alcantara from Barcelona.

Pep Guardiola's job will be to repeat the success the club attained last year, and they have certainly added more than enough quality over the last few months to claim the best squad in the league once more.
 But is it good enough to conquer Europe again?

Bayern Guide to champions League

BAYERN MUNICH 

History : Five-times European champions, bettered only by Real Madrid and Milan. They have lost as many finals as they have won.
2012/13: German and European Champions. Bested Borussia Dortmund to the domestic title and demonstrated their class against the same opposition in the Wembley final to end 12 years of pain.
Status: Favourites to win it all. Last year’s exceptional squad, with addition of Pep Guardiola, Gotze and Thiago Alcantara, could, in principle, refine recent achievements.

Coach: Replacing Jupp Heynckes , Pep Guardiola must feel the pressure of previous season triumphs but Pep has a starry resume of his own winning it all and many times with Barcelona.

Captain: A star performer for club and country, Philipp Lahm has shown himself to be one of—if not the—finest full-back of his generation.

 CL group 

CSKA Moscow
If the current Russian champions have any hopes of qualifying for the next round, they will be hoping to take at least something from Bayern when they travel to Moscow.
Seydou Doumbia, the Ivorian forward, is a tricky striker who's likely to lead the line forCSKA, while adequate support from goalscoring winger Ahmed Musa and Alan Dzagoev, the highly coveted Russian playmaker, should give Guardiola plenty to think about when this unknown quantity come up against his defending champions.

Manchester City 
A side that should appear a little easier to grasp is English Premier League side Manchester City, who entered the group in the third pot, but will undoubtedly pose the greatest threat to Bayern's hopes of winning the group.
Yet the side that completely capitulated to fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund in last season's tournament seems to be long gone, as new coach Manuel Pellegrinihas arrived along with a host of new stars.
FC Viktoria Plzen 
The final side in Group D are Czech Republic champions Viktoria Plzen who join this company of clubs as something of a minnow. Yet despite the odds that will be firmly stacked against them, Viktoria will be able to attack each game with a whimsical lack of pressure and truly throw everything they have at each game.

 Prediction: Winners

Bayern won as Thiago and Gotze disappoints

Bayern Munich extended their unbeaten record to 28 consecutive matches in the Bundesliga, beating Nurnberg 2-0 at the Allianz Arena. Goals from Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben helped them to claim all three points in the Bavarian derby, leaving them with a perfect nine points from three matches in the 2013-14 Bundesliga campaign keeping up with Dorutmund.

Guardiola continued his vision for a new Bayern Munich style by starting both new signings, Thiago Alcantara and Mario Gotze, in the central positions of his roaming front four, alongside Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, while Mario Mandzukic led the line.
The first half offered no more than another troublesome 45 minutes for Bayern and their fans as the central pairing of Thiago Alcantara and Mario Gotze struggled. In the former Dortmund playmaker's first Bundesliga start for his new side, both he and Thiago offered very little in terms of attacking options, as both not only failed to adapt to their own roles in the side, but also to the strong defense of their stubborn opponents.
There were moments of brilliance from the defending champions, unsurprisingly through the ever-reliable Franck Ribery as he skipped past Timothy Chandler on the left-hand wing and continuously sought the attention of Nurnberg's remaining back line. Arjen Robben was also of use throughout the first half, peppering the right wing with his direct runs.
Bayern surprisingly began the second half with the same starting eleven intact, yet with a different range of instructions as Ribery and Robben put a greater emphasis on crossing the ball for their towering striker in the box.
By the 60th minute, Nurnberg's box was in utter bombardment from the service offered to Mandzukic, as the striker duly complied and threatened to open the scoring if not for an excellent effort by Schafer to push the Croatian's header over the box.
Change finally came in the following 10 minutes as the two first-half culprits, Thiago and Gotze, were eventually replaced by Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos. The difference was immediate and in the 69th minute Franck Ribery broke the deadlock with a passionate header. With the home side finally getting their goal, all that was left for Nurnberg was to simply sit by and helplessly witness a wonderful goal from Arjen Robben deep in the later stages of the half as he skipped by three rushing defenders and slotted the ball past the stunned goalkeeper.

 A goal that will go down as an "Arjen Robben trademark," as the icing on the cake of this incredibly comfortable win for the Munich side in the 187th Bavarian derby.

Predicting Bavarian derby with Bayern playing against Nurnberg

Pep Guardiola's side will be hoping to get back to business this weekend when they face their old enemy, FC Nurnberg in a David vs Goliath fight.
In the 187th Bavarian derby between the two clubs, Bayern Munich will be hoping to continue their undefeated campaign in the Bundesliga thus far, as Nurnberg will be desperate for at least a point in this tasty encounter. Bayern have came through their two initial games unscathed, albeit against pedestrian opponents in Gladbach and then Frankfurt on Saturday, with six points intact as Pep and his squad continue to mould a new age for the German and European champions.
Nurnberg, on the other hand, have struggled in both of their initial fixtures. First, against fellow relegation battlers Hoffenheim in which two late second half goals were enough to rescue them a point, and then again against Hertha Berlin the following week in which Hiroshi Kiyotake's last minute free-kick again saved them from blushes.
No more than simply hanging on, for Michael Wiesinger's side at the moment.

Bayern player to watch:
Franck Ribery

Although Bayern's new season hasn't kicked off with the same tantalizing form that they ended the last one in, Franck Ribery has wasted no time with his quest to confirm his talent as equal to that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite only playing two games,Ribery has already clocked up an assist and five key passes between both games, with an average of nine successful dribbles in each game. According to stats websiteWhoScored.com the Frenchman has easily been one of Bayern's best players this season and, as such, Nurnberg's greatest threat.

Nurnberg player to watch:
Daniel Ginczek

The former Dortmund youth striker has done fantastically well for Der Club since joining in the summer, with a tally of one goal and assist in his first two games for the new side. In particular, it was Ginczek's goal in the initial game against Hoffenheimthat won his side the vital point, while it was his through ball in the second game against Hertha Berlin that set up Josip Drmic's opening goal against the visiting side. Young, talented and hungry, Ginczek is quickly proving himself invaluable to Nurnbeg.

Prediction
 Although Bayern haven't been at their best in the opening weeks of this season's Bundesliga campaign, and Nurnberg have proven rather industrious in their ability to come back from losing positions in the past two games, it seems unlikely that the game will result in anything but a comprehensive win for the champions. Nurnberg are simply too weak at the moment, and Bayern too strong.

Bayern 4-0 Nurnberg


When: Saturday, August 24, 2:30 p.m. GMT (8:30 a.m. ET)
Where: The Allianz Arena, Munich
 Watch: ESPN UK

Bayern on target with winning the opener

Pep Guardiola couldn't have asked for a better Bundesliga debut, he has a reputation and his new side didn't let him down in an opening home tie that proved to be rather pedestrian despite a few bumps along the way from the lively visitors.

 Bayern Munich won 3-1 on goals from Arjen Robben, Mario Mandzukic and David Alaba, whilst an own goal from Dante offered the only moment of solace for the visitors.

 The first half was a lively encounter, offering a tasty opening display worthy of the Bundesliga's triumphant return, which stayed goalless for no more than 12 minutes, before Robben opened the scoring with a wonderful flick over Marc-Andre ter Stegen off an assist from Franck Ribery.
 Then, three minutes later, as if on cue, Mandzukic showed up for the second when he found himself in the right place at the right time during a set piece in which the initial shot rebounded straight in to the path of the striker, who happily slotted the ball away to double Bayern's lead.
 The Bavarian side looked good and set for all three points after the second goal, following a flutter of half chances around the Gladbach box.
That is, until an unfortunate tackle from Dante, whilst intercepting a strong Juan Arango cross in the 40th minute, bounced off the defender's foot and passed a surprised Manuel Neuer. Surprising in nature but reassuring in practice for Gladbach, as they picked up their pace and made things uncomfortable for Bayern before halftime.

 The second half began in much the same vein for Gladbach and Bayern, as the visitors continued their pursuit of an equaliser. New signings Raffael and Max Kruse offered plenty of space and opportunity for the Foals as they grew in to the game, whilst Bayern continued to pepper the Gladbach goalmouth with chances of their own. Both Neuer and Ter Stegen were needed at their best to keep the score at a minimum. Alas, Bayern finally killed things off through peculiar measures when Alvara Dominguez handled the ball in the box, offering Thomas Muller an opportunity to score the third from the penalty box.
 However, Muller would miss thanks to an outstanding save from Ter Stegen, and Dominguez again handled the ball in pursuit of the rebound. DAlaba then stepped up and professionally put the ball in to the back of the net.

 With that, 3-1 to Bayern, and ultimately game over for Borussia M'Gladbach.