Borussia Mönchengladbach are delighted to be back in the top flight. They've pre-sold 26,000 season tickets, a record for the five-times German champions. Coach, players and fans are looking forward to their first real test against Stuttgart on Sunday.
Borussia coach Jos Luhukay sets out his stall: “The anticipation is huge. We've worked for a year to get back into the Bundesliga. We will show respect but no fear,” he says. “We want to keep our place in the Bundesliga by playing attractive football.”
“No reason to hide our faces”
Gladbach's Marko Marin, who has played for the German team, is confident, one year after the “accident” that saw them relegated.”We want to win against VfB. After the way we played in the pre-season friendlies, we have no reason to hide our faces,” their 19-year old hope emphasises. Bu they know it won't be easy at Stuttgart who beat FC ETO Györ 2:1 away in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.
Stuttgart coach Armin Veh is demanding a major improvement after their international showing. “We'll have to play quite differently, otherwise we'll have problems,” says Veh who once played for Gladbach. “I know we can play better football. We'll show that,” he says.
Lehmann to play his 330th Bundesliga game
There's excitement at the return of Jens Lehmann after five years away from the Bundesliga. “He'll lift the whole team. Jens always want to win”, says Germany striker Mario Gomez about his new colleague. Lehmann has played 329 games in the Bundesliga for Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund.
Veh will continue to swap players in and out of the team. Captain Thomas Hitzlsperger, Pavel Pardo and Arthur Boka return to the starting eleven. For Borussia there's a question mark over Oliver Neuville who's short of training after his return from EURO 2008.
Here are the probable line-ups:
Mönchengladbach: Heimeroth - Ndjeng, Brouwers, Daems, Voigt - Matmour, Pauwe, Rösler (Alberman), Marin - Colautti, Friend
Stuttgart: Lehmann - Osorio, Tasci, Delpierre, Boka - Pardo - Hilbert, Simak, Hitzlsperger - Gomez, Marica
Referee: Fandel
Lehmann returns to Germany
“Dress rehearsal” for Löw’s team
“We must face the pressure”