FanSided World Football
·29 novembre 2024
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Yahoo sportsFanSided World Football
·29 novembre 2024
On Saturday evening, Bayern Munich take to the road, as they face Borussia Dortmund in the first Der Klassiker of the season – with an 18:30 CET kick-off.
Last season, Bayern won this fixture 4-0, with a hat-trick from Harry Kane, his second in the space of a week, and a goal from Leroy Sané. However, the last time the two sides met, in March – it was Borussia Dortmund who came out on top, with a 2-0 win at the Allianz Arena.
So, what can we expect from Borussia Dortmund on Saturday evening?
This season, Dortmund have been pretty Jekyll and Hyde. They are as likely to beat RB Leipzig as they are to lose to Augsburg. Due to this inconsistency, they find themselves in 5th place in the Bundesliga, with 19 points from 11 games.
However, unfortunately for Bayern – there is a clear pattern to this. Nuri Sahin’s side are much, much better at home than they are on the road. So far, Borussia Dortmund have only picked up one point in their five away Bundesliga games, but have picked up a perfect six wins from six on their own patch so far.
There is little doubt over the attacking options that Dortmund have in their squad. England U-21s international Jamie Gittens has been seriously impressive on the left wing and Bayern ought to play Konrad Laimer at right-back to try and navigate his threat, both 1v1 and in behind.
On the right hand side, Donyell Malen is often the starter, and he also provides a serious threat in behind, and would make a good match up with Alphonso Davies, should he start the game. If he doesn’t, Maximilian Beier – who can also play up front – may start there instead, and also has a lot of speed to hurt Bayern.
Up front, it is likely to be Serhou Guirassay in the number nine role, which should be a good battle with Dayot Upamecano and/or Kim Min-jae. This game will be the biggest threat to Bayern’s clean sheet streak, even more so than Paris Saint-Germain.
Should Bayern win this game, it is likely to be a game where they have to score a few goals, rather than some of the 1-0s that we have seen recently. Fortunately, Dortmund can certainly be got at defensively, and that is where there could be joy for Bayern.
Albeit away from home, Dortmund conceded twice to Union Berlin, who have only scored nine goals so far this season. They conceded five goals to Real Madrid, who have scored four goals in their other four European games. They conceded three goals at Mainz, two goals at Augsburg, and five goals at Stuttgart - three teams Bayern have kept clean sheets against during this run.
It all promises to be another great showdown either way, and let’s hope Bayern can come out on top with all three points in this potential season-defining week.
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