Concluding their pre-season tour of Asia with a heavyweight contest, Tottenham Hotspur test their mettle against Vincent Kompany's Bayern Munich in Seoul on Saturday.
Ange Postecoglou's men prolonged their perfect friendly record for the summer with a thrilling 4-3 triumph over Team K-League on Wednesday, while the German giants drew 1-1 with Duren last time out.
Match preview
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Now four for four in official pre-season friendlies - and five for five if their behind-closed-doors crushing of Cambridge United is taken into account - Spurs came out on the right end of a seven-goal spectacular versus a K-League XI on Wednesday thanks to South Korea's favourite son.
After his shot led to the rebound for Dejan Kulusevski's opener, Son Heung-min stole the Seoul World Cup Stadium spotlight with a brilliant first-half brace, although his thunder was soon stolen by an unlikely source in Russian striker Stanislav Iljutcenko.
The FC Seoul attacker sparked a K-League fightback with a quickfire second-half brace, but after a Will Lankshear tap-in and sublime Oberdan volley, Tottenham avoided the most calamitous of second-half collapses to maintain their 100% pre-season record, while continuing to demonstrate their commitment to all-out attacking.
Each of Spurs' pre-season battles so far has seen the Lilywhites notch at least two goals - striking twice versus Queens Park Rangers, three times against Vissel Kobe and five times in their crushing of Hearts - and with young stars also making their mark, the friendly period has been full of positives for Postecoglou.
Saturday's battle of the behemoths represents one of two back-to-back contests between Tottenham and Bayern, as the Lilywhites welcome their German counterparts to North London on August 10, their last exhibition battle before their Premier League opener at Leicester City nine days later.
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Bayern boss Vincent Kompany has now been brought crashing back down to earth twice in the past few months. After his Burnley side failed to earn their Premier League stars, the Belgian's Bavarian crop lost their attacking powers and then some against Duren on July 28.
Four days before their trip to meet the minnows, Bayern breached the FC Rottach-Egern defence an astronomical 14 times in their opening friendly of the summer, but they could only manage the one effort in front of a 9,500-strong crowd at the Karl-Knipprath-Stadion.
Kompany's men entered the break needing to make up a 1-0 deficit as Rafael Garcia drew first blood, and it took a 69th-minute equaliser from Nestory Irankunda to prevent a relatively strong Bayern side from suffering a chastening defeat to their fourth-tier hosts.
While Tottenham have had ample time to acclimatise to the Korean conditions, Saturday's match will represent the only game on Bayern's Seoul schedule, as Kompany's men prepare for a quick jaunt to North London later this month for their Spurs reunion.
Austrian outfit WSG Tirol will then provide one final pre-season test for Bayern, who memorably crushed Tottenham 10-3 over two games in the group phase of the 2019-20 Champions League, leaving the English capital with an incredibly emphatic 7-2 win to their name.
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Team News
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Still without the international quartet of Rodrigo Bentancur, Giovani Lo Celso, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, Tottenham also saw Oliver Skipp suffer an apparent knock in the win over Team K-League, although he is seemingly not nursing anything serious.
Lilywhites fans are also yet to get a glimpse of Richarlison in pre-season, while Destiny Udogie is also working his way back from a quadriceps operation, and it is unclear if Ashley Phillips will be available after a training-ground injury.
However, Romanian centre-back Radu Dragusin enjoyed a 20-minute run-out in the midweek victory and could now come back into the heart of defence over Emerson Royal, who started the win over Team K-League despite persistent talk of a possible switch to AC Milan.
As for last season's Bundesliga bronze medallists, Kompany has called up 26 players for their brief Asian sojourn, including new arrival Joao Palhinha, who could make his unofficial debut for Bayern after returning from his post-Euro 2024 holiday.
There will be no Harry Kane Tottenham reunion in Seoul, though, as the England captain is still recovering from his feats in Germany, while Michael Olise, Leroy Sane, Matthijs de Ligt, Dayot Upamecano and Alphonso Davies are also absent due to injury or international commitments.
Nevertheless, Kompany still has the luxury of calling upon revered names such as Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Jamal Musiala, as well as one erstwhile Spurs man in Eric Dier, likely to start against his old employers.
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Ulreich; Kim, Dier, Ito; Boey, Goretzka, Laimer, Guerreiro; Gnabry, Tel, Bryan
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Spence, Dragusin, Davies, Donley; Gray, Bissouma; Kulusevski, Maddison, Son; Johnson
We say: Bayern Munich 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur
As Bayern are still acclimatising to life under Kompany's wing and have had less time to become accustomed to the Asian heat, do not be surprised to see Tottenham dominate this battle.
Postecoglou's men remain vulnerable at the back but should launch a barrage of attacks against a hotchpotch Bayern team, thereby extending their perfect pre-season record and doing so in style.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
