Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels has played down the significance of a German Super Cup victory over Bayern Munich this Sunday, claiming the clash is too early in the season for anything to be derived from the result.
Jurgen Klopp’s men travel to the Allianz Arena to take part in the annual curtain raiser to the German season, and while Hummels believes that Dortmund’s traditional rivals have strengthened significantly, it will in his opinion be unrealistic to predict how either team will finish its campaign in the league based on the match.
“Even if we secure our sixth consecutive win against Bayern Munich, I would not consider it to be a big deal,” the Germany international told Bild. “This game does not have the meaning of a true Bundesliga match. Neither we, nor they, are at 100 per cent.
“It will be impossible to judge how dangerous Bayern will be this season at this point in time, as we know all too well ourselves. Borussia once trounced Roma 4-0 in pre-season, but ended up 13th in the league.
“While we’ve lost an exceptional player in Shinji Kagawa, we’ve brought in another excellent player, Marco Reus, while Mario Gotze is fit again. I won’t speak of titles for ourselves just yet, but at least we definitely are not weaker than last season.”
The German champions will begin the defence of their crown when they host Werder Bremen on August 24.