Saturday’s Der Klassiker at the Allianz Arena promises to play a pivotal role in the destination of the Bundesliga title
Bayern Munich play host to Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, with the latest edition of Der Klassiker set to go a long way to determining the destination of the Bundesliga title this season.
BVB hold a two-point advantage at the summit of the standings after their rivals were held by Freiburg last weekend, but Bayern have been the form team in 2019, winning each of their last two home league matches 6-0 against Mainz and Wolfsburg.
As such, this promises to be a scintillating affair between the two dominant forces of German football over the last decade.
| Game | Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund |
| Date | Saturday, April 6 |
| Time | 5:30pm BST / 12:30pm EST |
| Stream (US) | fubo TV (7-day free trial) |
In the United States (US), the game can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial).
New users can sign up for a free seven-day trial of the live sports streaming service, which can be accessed via iOS, Android, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV as well as on a web browser.
| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| FOX Network / FOX Deportes | fubo TV (7-day free trial) |
In the United Kingdom (UK), the game can be watched live on BT Sport 2 and livestreamed on BT Sport Live.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| BT Sport 1 | BT Sport Live |
| Position | Bayern Munich players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Neuer, Ulrich, Fruchtl, Hoffmann |
| Defenders | Kimmich, Sule, Hummels, Alaba, Boateng |
| Midfielders | Martinez, Gnabry, Goretzka, James, Ribery, Rafinha, Rodriguez, Sanches, Thiago, Shabani |
| Forwards | Lewandowski, Muller, Wagner, Coman, Ribery |
Bayern are still without the familiar trio of Corentin Tolisso, Alphonso Davies and Arjen Robben.
Manuel Neuer has proved his fitness, as has David Alaba, while Kingsley Coman starts ahead of the likes of James Rodriguez.
Bayern Munich starting XI: Neuer; Kimmich, Hummels, Sule, Alaba; Thiago, Martinez; Muller, Coman, Gnabry; Lewandowski.
Subs: Ulreich, Ribery, James, Rafinha, Boateng, Goretzka, Sanches.
| Position | Borussia Dortmund players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Burki, Hitz, Oelschlagel |
| Defenders | Piszczek, Akanji, Zagadou, Toprak, Diallo, Balerdi, Schmelzer |
| Midfielders | Witsel, Delaney, Reus, Guerreiro, Dahoud, Weigl, Delaney, Gotze, Gomez |
| Forwards | Bruun Larsen, Alcacer, Philipp, Sancho, Wolf |
Achraf Hakimi has suffered season-ending injury and will join Maximillian Philipp and Christian Pulisic on the sidelines for this encounter.
Lukasz Piszczek and Abdou Diallo both get starting berths.
Paco Alcacer is carrying a problem and misses out as a result.
Borussia Dortmund starting XI: Burki; Piszczek, Akanji, Zagadou, Diallo; Witsel, Delaney; Sancho, Dahoud, Bruun Larsen; Reus.
Subs: Hitz, Gotze, Philipp, Wolf, Schmelzer, Weigl, Toprak.
Bayern Munich are priced at odds of winning 8/15 according to bet 365, while a draw is available at 15/4. A win for BVB is priced at 17/4.
Click here to see all of bet 365’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
When Borussia Dortmund defeated Bayern Munich 3-2 back in November, it left the Bavarian side fifth in the Bundesliga standings, seven points off top spot and with head coach Niko Kovac under pressure.
Although this only increased the following week as they failed to beat a struggling Dusseldorf side, FCB have since embarked on an epic comeback mission that has seen them win 13 of their last 15 league games, increasingly displaying the type of pomp expected of the club.
Indeed, they actually led the table prior to a 1-1 draw with Freiburg last Saturday and now their quest is to regain the summit by taking revenge on a Dortmund side that has faltered since the winter break.
Bayern had a surprisingly tough DFB Pokal encounter against 2.Bundesliga side Heidenheim in midweek, in which they trailed 2-1 in the first half and were reduced to 10 men. They ultimately progressed 5-4 but Leon Goretzka admitted “things were boiling in the locker room” at half-time.
Nevertheless, Bayern see that stuffy performance as another reason their confidence should be up, yet both sides are doing their best to play down the importance of Saturday’s match, even if it cannot be denied that it has the potential to be pivotal.
“I am not sure the winner will become champions,” Bayern hitman Robert Lewandowski, who was once a favourite in Dortmund, told DW. “Okay, the winner will take a big step, but one step will not be enough. We still have a lot of games until the end of the season and I think the winner will have to take two steps.”
Dortmund boss Lucien Favre, who saw his side defeat Wolfsburg thanks to a couple of late strikes from Paco Alcacer last weekend, has a similar perspective.
“It’s a psychological boost for us to travel to Munich as league leaders and to know that we can edge things a little further in our direction if we win there,” he said.
Arguably, the pressure is greater on the hosts, who would fall a daunting five points off the pace with just six games left if they were to lose.
“We have to clench our butts,” Bayern’s Thomas Muller affirmed.
It promises to be that kind of match.
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