Startimes Exclusive Interview : Jens Lehmann Hopes Dortmund And Schalke Can Challenge The Dominance Of Bayern Munich

By Israel Bolaji

Jens Lehmann said that he hopes clubs like Dortmund and Schalke can challenge the dominance of Bayern Munich in the new season when the Bundesliga legend was in an exclusive interview with StarTimes on Thursday.

Bayern have won an unprecedented four consecutive league titles and dominated the rest of the Bundesliga financially for a long time, which give the German league a reputation as a “one-team” division.

“Currently Munich is very dominant and they made a lot of money due to their fantastic playing in previous years. But other clubs like Dortmund, Leverkusen and Schalke, they need try to get close to Munich,” said Lehmann.

Just two weeks ago, Bayern beat Borussia Dortmund again with a score 2-0, winning the Supercup of Bundesliga. However, Dortmund’s performance in the Super Cup highlighted that Thomas Tuchel's men are highly competitive.

Dortmund put in a muscular display and was the better team for most of the match, with their dominance reflected in the statistics: 20 shots on goal to Bayern's nine, 54 percent ball possession, and better passing and tackling rates.

“People hope Dortmund that actually started very strong can challenge the dominance of Bayern Munich,” said Lehmann, adding that other clubs like Schalke can also make a challenge to Munich.

“Schalke is restructured in this season and they changed the new manager, new sports director and new couch.”

And Lehmann also noted that Munich is struggling with injures. “Three or four of their most important players, like Robben and Coman are injured.”

When answering the question that whether he would like to travel to Africa on a legend tour under the invitation of StarTimes. Lehmann said: “I have been in Africa for a couple of times and I know what a kind of beautiful continent it is. I would be always interested in. I hope I have time and be invited, I would take it.”

As the official and exclusive broadcaster of Bundesliga in Sub-Saharan Africa, StarTimes is to organize 2 Bundesliga legend tours in 3 countries of Africa in this December. Legend tours will give football fans enough chances to meet legends of Bundesliga.

StarTimes
StarTimes is the leading digital-TV operator in Africa, covering 90% of the continent's population with a massive distribution network of 200 brand halls, 3,000 convenience stores and 5,000 distributors. StarTimes owns a featured content platform, with 440 authorized channels consisting of news, movies, series, sports, entertainment, children's programs, fashion, religion etc. The company's vision is "To enable every African family to afford and enjoy digital TV" StarTimes achieves this by combining satellite and terrestrial DTV systems to provide an open and secure digital wireless platform. The company provides a robust signal transmission service for public and private broadcasters, offers consumers outstanding Pay-TV programs, mobile multimedia, wireless Internet connectivity and convenient online services including checking TV guide, watching free live football, chatting with celebrities and friends.