VIDAL PUTTING FRIENDSHIPS ON HOLD

Bayern Munich vs. Bayer Leverkusen: Vidal putting friendships on hold

Arturo Vidal will put all friendships aside Saturday when Bayern Munich welcomes his former club Bayer Leverkusen to the Allianz Arena.

The Chile international has slotted into the gap left by Bastian Schweinsteiger at Bayern after signing a four-year deal in July, ending his stay in Italy with Juventus.

Vidal has started both Bundesliga matches of the 2015-16 campaign for Pep Guardiola and now prepares to face the club with which he rose to prominence.

During his last season with Leverkusen in 2010-11, Vidal scored 10 league goals for the club as it finished second behind Borussia Dortmund — three points clear of Bayern.

His loyalties now lie with the defending champions and he is intent on taking all three points of his previous employers.

"On the pitch, we're opponents. I'll play as usual. I'll give everything I can, as always," he said. "The friendship will be put on hold. Of course it will be a special match for me.

I'm very thankful to Bayer for having given me the opportunity to go to Europe, but now I play for Bayern and will give everything I have to win. We'll have to be very careful and focused right from the beginning."

Bayern has opened its title defense in confident fashion with two straight victories, scoring eight goals in the process and conceding only one.

Guardiola's side has long been seen as the favorite for the title – which would be its fourth in a row – but Saturday's clash provides the club with its first real test.

Leverkusen has also been impressive in the opening two rounds of the campaign with victories over Hoffenheim and Hannover, and the club's morale was boosted further as it secured a place in the UEFA Champions League group stage Wednesday.

Despite trailing 1-0 from the first leg with Lazio, Leverkusen turned the tie around at the BayArena with a 3-0 triumph to set up group stage matches against Barcelona, Roma and BATE.

Roger Schmidt may be without one of his star performers from last season, though, after South Korean forward Son Heung-min was linked with a move to the Premier League.

Son did not feature against Lazio because of illness, but a switch to Tottenham has also been mooted in recent days, so he may not be deemed to be in the right frame of mind to face Bayern.

That will place the pressure firmly of Karim Bellarabi and Hakan Calhanoglu to lead the charge against the defending champions, with Stefan Kiessling looking for his third goal of the season in all competitions.