Predicting Pep Guardiola's Opening Bayern Munich Bundesliga XI

Bayern Munich kick off what could be a historic Bundesliga season on Friday when they welcome lowly Hamburg to the Allianz Arena.

Calling this fixture "one-sided" would perhaps be an understatement, with the old dinosaurs of the Bundesliga conceding no less than 31 goals to their Bavarian opponents in the last five meetings between the two sides. 

Alas, Bayern will have their eye on something far greater than just three points from the opening weekend as they look to become the first side in the Bundesliga era to win four league titles in a row. 

Here's how Pep Guardiola's side are set to line up on the day. 

The Formation

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As many Bayern fans will be well aware by now, Guardiola has a number of different systems he could use in any given match.

Over the past two years there have been many different variations, which can make it tricky to predict what the Catalan will do match after match.

Although it seems as though Guardiola enjoys reverting back to a 3-1-4-2 whenever offered the opportunity, there's very little to suggest that when the bigger sides come to town he tends to prefer playing things a little safer and going with the traditional 4-1-4-1. 

So that's exactly what we're going to do today. 

Defence

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One name who will undoubtedly be on every team sheet when fit is Jerome Boateng, who stands above all else—quite literally—as Guardiola's only competent central defender. 

Alongside him in the middle of the park is anyone's guess. Medhi Benatia seems like the logical fit considering his experience in the position. However, when faced with a fully fit squad, Guardiola has often opted to stick David Alaba in alongside Boateng. Yet while the full-back recovers from injury we can expect to see the Moroccan international hold on to the position.

On the left we'll no doubt see Juan Bernat continue his evolution as a full-back, while this season may indeed herald the return of Philipp Lahm to his original right-back position.

Guardiola has spent the past two seasons playing the former German captain as a central midfielder and playing Rafinha on the right, yet with the influx of capable midfielders this summer it would only make sense for the full-back to, well, play as a full-back this season. 

Oh, and Manuel Neuer will be in goal. 

Midfield

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As everyone no doubt knows by now, Guardiola absolutely adores midfielders. Not only are they the lifeblood to which each of his teams has been based around, but if he could he'd simply put out 11 central midfielders each week in the Bundesliga. 

When we take a look at Bayern's roster for the coming season such fascination with the central-midfield position is evident for all to see. Despite the sale of Bastian Schweinsteiger to Manchester United this summer the Bavarian giants still boasts no less than 11 players who could regular play in the middle of the park for the German champions.

Juggling such a large catalogue of egos and talents will be one of Guardiola's greatest tests since arriving in Germany. 

As far as the opening game of the season goes we're more than likely to see a similar setup to what we saw against Wolfsburg in the Super Cup a few weeks ago, with Douglas Costa and Arjen Robben taking up their positions on the left and right wings respectively. 

Xabi Alonso and Thiago Alcantara will make up the midfield duo, with the former expected to sit deep just in front of the central defenders, while a more attacking player such as Thomas Muller or Arturo Vidal starts further up the field. 

Considering his form since arriving at the club it would seem likely that the former Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen player will get the nod. 

Attack

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Although this current formation doesn't allow for much imagination or variation when it comes to the final position on the pitch there isn't actually that much Guardiola can do to chop and change his solitary striker role. 

Robert Lewandowski is the undisputed king when it comes to the lone-forward role at Bayern, but in truth the Polish international would still be lobbed up front even if he wasn't scoring all the goals he currently is for the German champions. 

Aside from perhaps Thomas Muller or even Mario Gotze (if Guardiola opted for another false-nine role) there isn't anyone in this squad who could even come close to picking up where Lewandowski left off if he were to suffer a long-term injury. 

Lewandowski will be Bayern's striker on Friday and for the foreseeable future.