Onus on Dortmund in quiet 鈥楰lassiker鈥
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Borussia Dortmund has to beat Bayern Munich today if anyone is to have a realistic chance of stopping the seven-time defending champion from claiming yet another Bundesliga title.
鈥淭his game will be decisive. If we lose, it鈥檚 more or less over,鈥 Dortmund defender Raphael Guerreiro said after his side鈥檚 2-0 victory at VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday. 鈥淎t the same time, if we win, we can still dream of the title.鈥
Dortmund is four points behind Bayern with seven games of the season remaining 鈥 if they can be played. The league was suspended for two months due to the new coronavirus and only allowed to resume on May 16 under strict hygiene conditions.
If it needs to be called off again, final league places will likely be determined on current position, though the league鈥檚 measures against the virus appear to be working for now.
No supporters are allowed to attend any games for the rest of the season, ensuring today鈥檚 game 鈥 known in Germany as 鈥渄er Klassiker,鈥 鈥 in Dortmund鈥檚 80,000-capacity Westfalenstadion will be the quietest ever Bundesliga clash between the old rivals.
However, Dortmund showed it can cope without the support of its 鈥淵ellow Wall鈥 of almost 25,000 standing fans in its south terrace when it defeated Schalke 4-0 in the Ruhr derby on the league鈥檚 restart.
鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly different emotionally without spectators,鈥 Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said. 鈥淚t comes down to the values that we brought to the field in the last two games. The team was right on point.鈥
Both Bayern and Dortmund have been in record-breaking form with nine wins from 10 games since the season鈥檚 halfway stage. Bayern鈥檚 only slip was a scoreless draw with RB Leipzig on February 9, while Dortmund dropped three points in a somewhat unlucky 3-4 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen the day before.
鈥淲e鈥檙e marching, Dortmund are marching, so we can look forward to Tuesday,鈥 Bayern鈥檚 Thomas Mueller said after scoring one and setting up another in his side鈥檚 5-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt last Saturday.
The 30-year-old Mueller is arguably in the form of his life, reinvigorated with seven goals and 13 assists since Hansi Flick took over as coach from Niko Kovac in November.
With Bayern鈥檚 record 80 goals in 27 games and Dortmund鈥檚 74, neither side had scored so many at this stage of the league before. Bayern went on to score 101 in 1972.
Dortmund lost 0-4 in Munich in the sides鈥 previous meeting in November, but Lucien Favre鈥檚 team has been reinforced in the meantime by the arrival of striker Erling Haaland and Emre Can.
鈥淲e are better,鈥 the Dortmund coach said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e playing with another system that鈥檚 better for our squad. And we signed two players in winter and have a whole other presence.鈥
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