Ernest Valverde will show this afternoon his first cards at the head of Athletic. Txingurri began his third stage in Bilbao on July 4 with the first day of the preseason. Two weeks of preparation have passed at the Lezama facilities and now it is time to put it on the pitch. The team arrived in Germany yesterday to carry out the stage until next Saturday the 23rd and today it’s time to start capturing the work of these fifteen days of preparation on the pitch. The triangular match against Borussia Mönchengladbach (5pm) and Duisburg (6pm) within the so-called Traditions Cup that takes place at the Schauinsland Reisen Arena in Duisburg will serve to begin to see what he wants from his team and the positions in which he will place each of his footballers, especially in the case of some who have the virtue of versatility.
The logical thing would be for the player from Gasteiz to take out two different teams in each of these two friendlies of 45 minutes each. The most powerful block in the first against a rival from the Bundesliga and the rest in the second against a German Third Division. The ball starts 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 at two different times (1992-94 and 2001-03). The North Rhine-Westphalian team, with 122 years of history, is currently managed by Daniel Farke, former Norwich City manager, and finished in tenth position last Bundesliga with 45 points, 7 shy of seventh place that allowed them to play in the Conference League. His top scorer was Jonas Hofmannwith 12 goals in 26 games, and his current squad has a large number of internationals: Jonas Hofmann, Christoph Kramer, Patrick Herrmann y Lars Stindl with Germany; Yann Sommer, Nico Elvedi y Breel Embolo with Switzerland; Stefan Lainer with Austria; Joe Scally with the United States; Marcus Thuram y Alassane Pléa 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 runner-up in the latter competition twice (1972-73, 1979-80) and in the European Cup in 1977.
Heynckes remains his greatest legend. The former Atletico coach was his star striker in the 1970s and he still holds the status of top scorer in history with 294 goals in 410 games played. Jupp he also coached his team between 1979 and 1987 and from 2006 to 2007.
Al Gladbach He is known by the nickname of Los Potros for his commitment to attacking football and for fielding young players. It came to the Bundesliga for the first time in the 1965-66 season, and since then it has been in the top flight in every season except 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2007-08. The team has played at the Borussia Park stadium, with a capacity for 54,000 spectators, since 2004. Its last appearances in the Champions League are in the 2012-13, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2020-21 campaigns.
Athletic has faced its first rival this afternoon on three occasions with two victories (1-3 in 2014-15 with Aduriz’s hat trick and 0-2 in 2019-20 and a tie in San Mamés (1- 1) in 1975-76 Today they will face each other for the fourth time.
DUISBURG
A Third that suffered last season to maintain the category
Athletic will face Duisburg in the German Third Division in the second game. This year he celebrates his centenary and was one of the founders of the Bundesliga in 1963. He finished second in the first season of the top division with the new name.
He spent almost 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 was 2007-08.
Duisburg plays in the German Third Division
Their nickname is Las Zebras due to their horizontal striped jerseys and they play at the 31,500 capacity MSV Arena. It opened in November 2004 and is currently called the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena for patronage reasons.
Duisburg struggled to maintain the category last year to finally finish in fifteenth place. Their top scorer was center 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 were the surprising Cup finalists in the 2010-11 campaign to lose in the final against Schalke 04 (0-5).