Slimmed-down Bayern Munich still the team to beat as new Bundesliga season begins

BERLIN (AP) — Bayern Munich reclaimed its Bundesliga throne last season. Vincent Kompany and Harry Kane are looking for another title to consolidate their rule and build their own dynasty.

Ahead of the opening game of the league season Friday between Bayern and Leipzig, the defending champion remains the team to beat and the role of closest challenger is wide open.

Most of the likeliest candidates – Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Stuttgart, Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt – have lost key players. Few have made standout signings since last season.

Leverkusen, the only team to break Bayern’s dominance over the last 13 years, has had a huge overhaul of the side that won the Bundesliga in 2024. Gone are key players like Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka, Jeremie Frimpong and captain Jonathan Tah, as is star coach Xabi Alonso. Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been tasked with leading the rebuilt team's fresh start.

Luis Díaz’s arrival from Liverpool gives Bayern a new attacking threat, as he showed last weekend with a goal on his debut as Bayern lifted the German Supercup.

In Kane’s third season as Bayern’s star striker, the structure around him is no longer a holdover from the club’s Robert Lewandowski era.

Leroy Sané, Thomas Müller, Kingsley Coman and Mathys Tel have all left. This slimmed-down squad will require Díaz and the experienced Serge Gnabry – the only remaining forward from Bayern's 2020 Champions League win – to be consistently effective.

The biggest pressure might be on Michael Olise. A long-term injury at the Club World Cup means Jamal Musiala may not return before 2026, leaving Olise, usually a winger, to occupy a less familiar role in the center. Racking up 20 goals and 23 assists last season was a strong start, but Olise was mostly on the right flank.

Tah adds strength and experience to the defense after signing from Leverkusen. Kompany can call on some exciting young midfielders after Tom Bischof and Lennart Karl both shone in preseason.

From Jude to Jobe, there's a Bellingham running Dortmund's midfield again.

Still only 19, the younger of the Bellingham brothers signed from Sunderland and straight away looked at home on a bigger stage when he made his Dortmund debut at the Club World Cup.

Jobe Bellingham is the standout new arrival among the group of would-be Bayern challengers, who are each trying to adapt after stars departed. Leverkusen said goodbye to a host of title-winners, while Frankfurt bid farewell to Hugo Ekitiké and goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, and Jamie Gittens left Dortmund for Chelsea.

Ahead of Jürgen Klopp's first full season as Red Bull's head of global soccer, Leipzig has reportedly spent over 110 million euros ($128 million) on seven young players — Brazilian striker Rômulo is the oldest at 23 — but lost Benjamin Šeško to Manchester United.

There could be more signings before the transfer window closes Sept. 1. Leverkusen and Frankfurt in particular have earned much more than they've spent so far.

Promoted teams Hamburger SV and Cologne’s biggest challenge will be to stay in the top division.

Cologne brought back veteran coach Friedhelm Funkel for its last two games to make sure of its return as second division champion, but former Paderborn coach Lukas Kwasniok has been appointed to ensure it stays.

Hamburg, which was the longest surviving founding member of the Bundesliga, endured seven seasons away. Elation at finally securing its return has given way to sober reality after a summer of discouraging results. Hamburg needed extra time to get past fifth-tier Pirmasens in the first round of the German Cup last weekend.

Merlin Polzin’s team starts its Bundesliga campaign at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday before hosting St. Pauli for what is sure to be an emotional city derby the following weekend.

Ellingworth reported from Duesseldorf, Germany.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bayern's, from left, Joshua Kimmich, Dayot Upamecano and Konrad Laimer celebrate after winning the German Supercup final soccer match between VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich in Stuttgart, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (Tom Weller/dpa via AP)

Bayern's Harry Kane celebrates with teammates after winning the German Supercup final soccer match between VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich in Stuttgart, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (Tom Weller/dpa via AP)

Bayern's coach Vincent Kompany celebrates after winning the German Supercup final soccer match between VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich in Stuttgart, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (Tom Weller/dpa via AP)

Bayern's Dayot Upamecano, left, and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer celebrate after winning the German Supercup final soccer match between VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich in Stuttgart, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (Bernd Weissbrod/dpa via AP)

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.

“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.

Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards' body cameras.

Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.

Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.

Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.

The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York's prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.

Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison's infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.

Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn't intervene.

“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.

Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”

“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.

Even before Brooks' death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.

Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi's death in April, including two charged with murder.

There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.

“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher's trial.

Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.

The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.

FILE - This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP, File)