Bundesliga Preview: Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund, key stats, line-ups, odds, prediction

Bayern 5-2 Frankfurt - Bayern Munich routed Eintracht Frankfurt
Bayern 5-2 Frankfurt - Bayern Munich routed Eintracht Frankfurt

Bayern Munich will face-off with perennial rivals Borussia Dortmund in the second Der Klassiker game of the Bundesliga season on Saturday with two of the league’s top strikers looking to do battle. 

Stadium: Allianz Arena

Key Statistics

  • Bayern Munich are the league’s highest-scoring side and have scored 67 goals this season.
  • It’s been over a year they failed to score in a league game—in a 0-0 draw against RB Leipzig on February 9th last year.
  • Lewandowski has scored 19 goals in 22 competitive meetings against Dortmund, with a hat—trick and five braces in that period. 
  • Dortmund have lost their last four league games at the Allianz Arena, conceding four or more goals in their last three. 
  • The visitors have not conceded a goal in their last three games in all competitions.
  • BVB’s Jadon Sancho has six goals and nine assists to his name this season. He has been directly involved in 12 of Dortmund’s 22 league goals since the new year.

Bayern Munich

Defending champions Bayern Munich will be looking to stretch their unbeaten run against their rivals to five matches in all competition when they meet this weekend. Hansi Flick’s side have not tasted defeat against their visitors since losing two-nil to their rivals in the German Super Cup in 2019. 

They head into this tie top of the table and ahead of their rivals by a whopping 13 points. Both teams have enjoyed contrasting fortunes this season, with Dortmund struggling while Bayern are flying.

However, Lewandowski and co have had it tough in recent times, and their struggles have reduced their lead at the top to two points. They head into this tie with three wins from their last five games—a form that is not entirely impressive by their own standards. 

They will be wary of dropping further points as second-placed Leipzig continue to lurk on their shoulders, waiting for any further slip-ups so they can overtake. 

Possible Bayern Munich line-ups

E Manuel Neuer; Niklas Sule, Jerome Boateng, David Alaba, Alphonso Davies; Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich; Kingsley Coman, Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane; Robert Lewandowski.

Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund have arrested a slump in form early this year to move to within three points of Frankfurt who occupy 4th place. Despite a recent upturn in form, their goal for this season remains Champions League qualification and they will be looking to pick up three points here to bring themselves within the top four places. 

Edin Terzic’s side enter this tie on a run of four consecutive victories in all competition. In that period, they scored eleven goals, conceded just two, and kept three clean sheets.

Despite trailing their hosts by 13 points, Die Schwarzgelben are in a better run of form compared to Bayern Munich at the moment, so they certainly won’t be short on confidence heading into this tie

However, Bayern remains a formidable side on any day and the visitors must be in their best shape and hope that Bayern Munich suffers one of their off days if they must get any positive result from this tie.

Possible Borussia Dortmund line-ups

Marwin Hitz; Nico Schulz, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Emre Can, Thomas Meunier; Emre Can, Mahmoud Dahoud, Thomas Delaney; Thorgan Hazard, Marco Reus, Erling Haaland.

Betting Odds

Bayern Munich 2-2 Borussia Dortmund :: 1.57 : 4.50 : 5.00

Prediction

Bayern Munich 3-2 Borussia Dortmund