Leverkusen vs. Dortmund: key battles | OneFootball

Serhou Guirassy vs. Patrik Schick, Florian Wirtz vs. Julian Brandt and the key battles that could decide Bayer Leverkusen vs. Borussia Dortmund

Florian Wirtz, Serhou Guirassy, Patrik Schick and Pascal Groß are some of the standout names that could decide the upcoming Bundesliga blockbuster between recently dethroned champions Bayer Leverkusen and top-four hopefuls Borussia Dortmund. bundesliga.com weighs up the key battles...

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Patrik Schick vs. Serhou Guirassy

It's no secret that goals win games, so don't be surprised to see a jubilant Schick or ecstatic Guirassy adoring the back pages on Sunday morning.

After unseating Victor Boniface in the lone striker's role early in the season, Leverkusen's Schick hasn’t been able to stop scoring, netting 19 goals in 18 starts, including four in one game against high-flying Freiburg. It's his best return since 2021/22, when he hit 24 before injuries checked his progress.

Borussia Dortmund's Julian Brandt has four goals and eight assists in this season's Bundesliga. (IMAGO/Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images)

Guirassy's matched Schick for goals with two fixtures remaining. After notching 28 in VfB Stuttgart colours last term, he's Harry Kane's again closest pursuer atop the scoring charts, albeit with 19 strikes in his debut season at BVB, as well as a pair of assists.

Five of those efforts have come across his last five games, while the Guinean bowed out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage as the 2024/25 edition's 13-goal leading marksman.

Pascal Groß's passing range has added another dimension to Dortmund's game. (IMAGO/Madeleine Fantini)

Florian Wirtz vs. Julian Brandt

Where there's a Schick or Guirassy goal, there's usually a Wirtz or Brandt assist.

Wirtz has 13 of them in all competitions so far this term, adding to his 16 goals - 10 of which have fallen in the Bundesliga. The 22-year-old rivals Germany teammate Jamal Musiala in the 'best young German footballer' debate, thanks to a broad and varied skill set that would make recruitment departments the world over weak at the knees.

Make no mistake: when he picks up the baton, Leverkusen sing like no other.

Brandt lit up the BayArena once upon a time, making 215 appearances for Die Werkself before switching to Dortmund in summer 2019.

The BVB No.10 has since produced 45 goals and 63 assists, but can also operate from deeper and wider roles where his pass-before-the-final-pass ability comes into play.

The Germany international returns to his former stomping ground fresh from a two-assist showing against Wolfsburg that helped extend Dortmund's unbeaten run to five league matches (W4, D1). He was also among the goals the week prior in the dramatic win at Hoffenheim.

Granit Xhaka vs. Pascal Groß

If Wirtz and Brandt are the conductors, Xhaka and Groß are more the percussion section. Their reliability is evident in their minutes, with Xhaka having started all but two games in all competitions this season for Xabi Alonso’s men, while Groß has recorded 39 starts from a possible 47 games in his maiden campaign at Dortmund.

A tireless worker and metronomic influence, Xhaka ranks second league wide for distance covered (228.7 miles/ 368.1 kilometres) and sits in the top 10 for succesful passes (91 percent).

Groß - who has also been known to moonlight to great effect at right-back - isn't far behind his Swiss counterpart in that regard (87 percent), but is out in front for assists. The Germany man has a team-leading nine no less, compared to Xhaka's not-to-be-sniffed-at seven.

Jonathan Tah vs. Waldemar Anton

Leverkusen proved last season that defences really do win titles as a back line experly marshaled by Tah was breached just 24 times during Bayer's unbeaten run to Bundesliga glory.

Repeating the trick was always going to be a tall order, but Tah's in-game IQ and steely displays have ensured Leverkusen remain very difficult to beat and among Germany's top two domestically.

The 2023/24 double winners have lost just two games so far, the same number as Bayern, and conceded just five more goals than the freshly crowned champions, with Tah their ever-present pass-master sentry at the back. In fact, no other Bundesliga player has found a man more often than the Germany defender (94.11 percent success), who will leave the club at the end of the season.

Similarly, Dortmund's resurgence from 11th to fifth in the table has been built on an Anton-shaped foundation. They've won 11, drawn three and lost six of the 11 games the summer 2024 signing from Stuttgart has started, compared to a record of won four, drawn three and lost five in his absence.

Tah's Germany teammate has also contributed goals in key games, with his late equaliser at Bayern on Matchday 29 and last-gasp winner against Hoffenheim two weeks later securing four massive points in the Ruhr side's quest to sneak a place in next season's Champions League alongside Bayern and Leverkusen.

Victory in Leverkusen would be a massive step in the right direction, ahead of a final-day home game against relegation-threatened Holstein Kiel.

>>> Click here to find out who prevails when Leverkusen host BVB!

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