Borussia Dortmund midfielder Shinji Kagawa. (Photo : Getty Images)
German top flight runners-up Borussia Dortmund is set to begin their 2016-2017 Bundesliga season campaign with a match against Europa League qualifiers 1. FSV Mainz 05 at their home stadium of Signal Iduna Park on Saturday, Aug. 27.
Dortmund came 10 points short of four straight Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich last term as they settled for the second place position once again in Germany's first division domestic competitions.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel, who is in his second season with Der BVB, will continue to lead the Borussians this term, although the club has lost several key players during the summer transfer window.
Key playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan followed his dreams and joined English Premier League giants Manchester United and Jose Mourinho in the offseason while midfielder Ikay Gundogan moved to United's cross-city rivals, Manchester City, with former Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola at the helm.
Defender Matt Hummels is also gone in a move to Bayern while Jakub Blaszczykowski transferred to VfL Wolfsburg as well.
Coach Tuchel acquired World Cup-winning scorer Mario Götze, though, from the Bavarians as well as Barça defender Marc Bartra to reinforce his squad this season. Wolfsburg winger Andre Schürrle is also in, which would compensate for the Mkhitaryan's departure.
Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang continues to be the squad's focal point on offense, though, with Marco Reus and Shinji Kagawa in his sides.
Dortmund crushed SV Eintracht Trier 05, 3-0, in the 2016-17 DFB-Pokal on Monday at the Moselstadion to prepare them for this opener against Mainz, Goal indicated.
Meanwhile, Die Nullfünfer won 3-3 (4-2 on penalties) over SpVgg Unterhaching in their own DFB-Pokal encounter at the Alpenbauer Sportpark last Sunday, via Daily Mail Online.
It was a nice momentum-builder for manager Martin Schmidt ahead of their Bundesliga game versus the mighty Borussians as they are clearly the underdogs in the said match.
Mainz placed at sixth place last season, enough for them to gain an automatic entry to this term's Europa League group stage competitions.
The predicted result is a 2-0 victory for Borussia Dortmund.
Borussia Dortmund starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Weidenfeller; Passlack, Papastathopoulos, Bartra, Schmelzer; Castro, Rode; Dembélé, Kagawa, Schurrle; Aubameyang
Mainz starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Lossl; Donati, Bell, Bungert, Brosinski; Serdar, Rodriguez; De Blasis, Frei, Jairo; Cordoba
