The “Klassiker” Dortmund-Bayern opposes the two leaders of the Bundesliga on Saturday (5.30 pm) in a shock that promises to be sumptuous: Munich will bet on an attack which has destroyed everything in its path for months, Dortmund on its gifted teenagers and its new iron defense.
“Both teams have extraordinary players, and you have to expect a high level game,” savored Ottmar Hitzfeld in advance, the only coach to have won the Champions League with the two behemoths of German football (Dortmund 1997, Bayern 2001).
Before this seventh day, the two teams are tied with 15 points, the Bavarians lead on goal difference.
The third, Leipzig, is 13 points behind.
Attack vs. Defense
Bayern's offensive statistics are extra-terrestrial: in six matches in the league and three in the Champions League, the “Rekordmeister” has scored 36 times, or exactly four goals per game on average.
He remains on a 6-2 in Salzburg on Tuesday in the Champions League.
In the Bundesliga defenses ranking, Munich, however, is in tenth position, with nine conceded goals, barely better than a promoted like Bielefeld (10 goals).
Dortmund also have class-leading attackers, but this season success comes from team stability.
Best defense in the championship with only two goals conceded, Borussia has kept its net six times in its last seven outings, in all competitions.
"When you see the number of goals we have conceded in the last two seasons, these recent results are really doing us good and giving us a lot of confidence," said team manager Sebastian Kehl.
A solidity due in part to the return to the foreground of Mats Hummels.
Superstars vs. crazy youth
When it comes to individual quality, Munich is one step ahead.
Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski have just been named UEFA's best goalkeeper and best player of the year, respectively, and all of their teammates are world-class players.
"Bayern is currently the best team in the world, which plays football like on the Playstation", enthuses Hitzfeld, in an editorial in
Kicker
magazine
.
Dortmund, true to its philosophy, aligns younger players in attack: Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho, both 20 years old, have dazzled Europe for a year.
This season, Lucien Favre has launched two exceptional 17-year-old talents: the American Giovanni Reyna and the English Jude Bellingham.
Haaland vs. Lewandowski
A "Klassiker" is also, since last year, a duel between two of the best gunners in Europe.
Lewandowski, 32, has already scored ten goals in five league appearances.
Haaland is at five, but has taken a lead over his senior in the Champions League, with four goals against just two for the Pole.
Both managed to double this week on the European stage.
Lewandowski arrives in confidence: he has scored 16 times in twelve meetings against his ex-club.
And if he doesn't hit the mark, Bayern isn't worried: everyone in the squad can score.
Since September, eleven players have shared 36 Bundesliga and Champions League goals.
Mind versus mind
Over the past three years, Bayern have often hurt Dortmund a lot in their league games, to the point that there has been talk of an inferiority complex of Borussia players.
Munich have won five of those six games (aggregate score 21-4), with two scathing 5-0 in 2017-18 and 6-0 the following season.
Last year, Bayern won both sets, 4-0 at home and 1-0 in Dortmund on the return, behind closed doors.
In September, in the German Supercup, Dortmund did not give in until the end of the match (3-2) at the Allianz Arena.
Sebastian Kehl wants to see in this short defeat a reason for hope: "We hurt them in many areas of the game. We saw that even against this team, we had our chances", assures the manager of Borussia.
To be confirmed on Saturday, despite a "Yellow Wall" which will remain empty of any support.
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Bundesliga standings