How do Bayern and BVB stack-up? | OneFootball

Der Klassiker: how do Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund stack-up?

It's game on between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena this weekend, where, no matter the current tale provided by the Bundesliga table, Der Klassiker is ready to serve up a one-off, big-game feast for a watching worldwide audience.

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Both Bayern and Dortmund have important aims going into the monumental Matchday 29 encounter in Bavaria: the hosts are looking to push ever nearer to the Bundesliga title and BVB are eyeing European qualification, yet those targets will form only one part of the narrative when these two big rivals go head to head on Saturday.

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bundeliga.com has the pitch-side view of the crucial battles that could end up tilting the Der Klassiker balance.

Keeping watch at the back

While this will be BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel's fifth outing in this fixture, young Jonas Urbig could be all set for his first taste of it. With Manuel Neuer making training-ground progress following a muscle tear, there is no guarantee that the legendary shot-stopper will be fit in time to face Dortmund.

In which case, step forth Urbig, whose reputation since taking over from Bayern's No.1 recently has grown steadily in his seven games across all competitions. Only arriving at Bayern from Cologne in January, the Germany U21 international already looks the part, his sprawling frame being used to good effect in a Bayern and UEFA Champions League debut against Bayer Leverkusen.

"You have to start somewhere: young coaches, young players, young goalkeepers. You have to get through it, that's part of it," Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said of Urbig's impressive bow when called upon in his team's all-Bundesliga continental last-16 tie.

"You know full well that everyone's watching you, but he looked as if that didn't bother him much," Bayern board member for sport, Max Eberl, added. "He came on and said, okay, now I'm standing here and playing my game."

The odd blip aside in subsequent games, Urbig has continued to play his own game, and his presence against Dortmund at the weekend could prove crucial with the hosts missing defensive options through injury.

Kobel will be under similar scrutiny at the Allianz Arena given that defensive chief Nico Schlotterbeck has been sidelined for six months with a knee injury.

Despite failing to produce a clean sheet in his seven previous appearances against the record Bundesliga champions, or even enjoyed a win in that time (Alexander Meyer deputised for Kobel when ill in last season's 2-0 Klassiker triumph for Dortmund), the Zurich native will nonetheless bring an authority and confidence to Niko Kovač's side.

Engine-room grafters

Currently teammates for Germany, Joshua Kimmich and Pascal Groß will be putting their international allegiances to one side in Der Klassiker.

The former - who has missed just one Bundesliga match this season - recently signed a contract extension with Bayern that highlighted his vital importance to the club's cause and his influence in the game with the Black-and-Yellows is certain to be significant.

“Everyone can see how passionate Joshua is about the game and about his club, in every minute of the match," Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said of Kimmich recently. "He is a leadership figure who drives forward and gives impetus; an engine who will continue to tirelessly push FC Bayern."

The Rottweil native has continued to give evidence of his motoring powers this term, weighing in with 164 tackles and providing 29 crosses to go with his 92.8 percent successful pass rate.

While Kimmich is currently in his 10th season at Bayern, Groß is playing his first with Dortmund at the age of 33, and is revelling in his task as the team's string-puller supreme. Just as versatile as Kimmich, the former Brighton midfielder is nearly as effective for his side, winning 152 tackles, boasting an 87.5 percent pass rate and missing just two of Die Schwarzgelben's top-flight games this term.

An area where Groß does have the edge on his counterpart is in crosses, with the Borussia man weighing in with 51 so far this season.

"[We want to continue to] build confidence and hope that we can climb up the table bit by bit," Groß said earlier in the campaign. "We still have a lot of room for improvement away from home."

Attacking prowess

From midfield control to free-flowing attackers, Der Klassiker will not be short on entertainment in build-up play, with both sides housing some of the most exciting talent in Europe. Despite the fact that schemer extraordinaire Jamal Musiala will be missing through injury, the plot lines will be no less fascinating on Saturday evening.

Should Thomas Müller make an appearance in what would be his last Klassiker, he would equal Mats Hummels' incredible record feat of 29 appearances in this fixture. More certain of their places in Bayern's starting line-up, however, are Michael Olise and Leroy Sané. Olise has been a revelation since making the move to Bavaria from Crystal Palace last summer. The wing wonder was a Bundesliga Rookie of the Month winner just two months into his Bayern career and is currently on top of the division's assists pile with 10, sharing the lead with Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz.

With a resurgent Sané operating on the opposite flank to great effect recently - the 29-year-old scoring three times in his last three games - this week's hosts will be all out to bamboozle their visitors out wide. Rapidly approaching 200 Bundesliga games for Bayern, Sané already has a career-best nine top-flight goals in a single campaign for the Reds and appears determined to add to that tally in the remaining six Bundesliga games of 2024/25.

While Bayern will be a force to be reckoned with in attack, Dortmund can counter with some menacing forwards of their own. Hitting form at the business end of the season, Karim Adeyemi and Maximilian Beier are primed to hurt their opponents whether from the outset together or as options from the bench.

Adeyemi, at least, appears a certain starter on Saturday, and his two goal involvements in BVB's impressive back-to-back wins against European chasers Mainz (3-1) and Freiburg (4-1) bode well for Borussia's ambitions in Munich.

Ably assisted by flying Scandinavian full-backs Julian Ryerson and Daniel Svensson, as well as the evergreen Julian Brandt, Adeyemi and Beier have been coach Kovač's forward duo of preference of late and their youth, pace, penetration and finishing could be an attacking option too tempting not to begin with.

With a combined total of 20 goal involvements in the Bundesliga alone, the two have recently stepped up to produce the goods following Dortmund's coaching change and are in peak condition going into Matchday 29.

Striking powerhouses

In one more mouthwatering Klassiker prospect, the Bundesliga's leading marksman for a second successive season, Harry Kane, will battle to be the decisive striker with Serhou Guirassy at the other end of the pitch. Last season's Bundesliga one-two in terms of the top scorer's charts, Kane and Guirassy are prominent on the best-in-class list again this time around, with Dortmund's Guinea international trailing the Bayern supremo by eight goals, the same tally that separated them at the end of last season.

In an interesting twist in terms of league form ahead of Saturday, though, it appears that BVB's striker has an edge. Kane registered his 23rd goal of this Bundesliga season against Augsburg last weekend, but England's record marksman trails Guirassy in the second half of the season, with the latter registering eight goals to Kane's seven since the turn of the year.

Should the former VfB Stuttgart forward Guirassy get the nod to start this week, he will be hoping to add to a personal run of two games without loss against Bayern for Dortmund and Stuttgart.

Goal-king Kane, meanwhile, has three goals in his three appearances against Dortmund, and the 31-year-old will want to add to that as he seeks to win a first major career team trophy this term.

"I looked at the greats of the game and what made them great, and it wasn't just doing it in spells, it was doing it year after year, and that was a big drive of mine to be able to consistently be one of the best players in the world," Bayern's No. 9 told bundesliga.com recently.

The England star will have yet another opportunity to cement that reputation in Saturday's not-to-be-missed encounter.

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