Der Klassiker. The meeting between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund is always a huge match in German football, but there is an absolutely extraordinary vibe under Saturday night’s 108th ever Men’s Bundesliga Der Klassiker.
Bayern has won the German championship ten times in a row since 2013. Now Dortmund leads the Bundesliga by a point before the giant match in Munich. After that, there are eight series games left.
On top of everything, Bayern fired during the international break For Julian Nagelsmanntherefore Thomas Tuchel made his debut in Der Klassiker as Bayern head coach against his former club. Tuchel piloted Dortmund from 2015 to 2017 before his stints at PSG and Chelsea.
Nagelsmann’s firing was a curious case. The news leaked to the media almost a day before the club announced anything about it. Nagelsmann was fired, even though his winning percentage was 71.4, the fourth highest in Bayern’s history.
For the great club often titled as FC Hollywood, surprise kicks were expensive. In the summer of 2021, Bayern secured the only 33-year-old top talent for the record amount of coach transfers, 25 million euros.
With his five-year contract, Nagelsmann earned 7.5 million euros per season. The Nagelsmann experiment thus cost Bayern more than 60 million.
– The kicks say something about both the coach’s style and the club’s management style when it ends up like this, even though the game has gone quite well, Urheilu’s expert Antti Pohja inches.
Although Nagelsmann’s statistics were harsh, Pohja reminds that the situation can be compared to a marriage.
– We can never know everything from the outside. We only know what we see in public. Although sometimes Bayern’s management is described as a circus, I can’t believe that they are stupid. They certainly have grounds that the marriage with Nagelsmann was not worth continuing.
From behind the scenes, it did seep into the public as well. For example, when Bayern lost to Leverkusen before the international break, the club’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic annoyed the team’s playing and attitude. Goalkeeper star Manuel Neuer had opened publicly when Nagelsmann gave up the goalkeeping coach From Toni Tapalovic.
According to Bild (you will switch to another service) In his first training sessions in Munich, Tuchel has spent a lot of time encouraging and having personal discussions with players who have been left with less responsibility under Nagelsmann, such as Leroy Sanen and By Ryan Gravenberch with.
Two teenage superstars meet again
Of course, Der Klassiker does not lack stardom. In particular, two young superstars, Dortmund, are expected again of Jude Bellingham19, and Bayern Jamal Musialan20, from the show between.
Bellingham of the English national team and Musiala of the German national team also charmed at the end of the year at the World Championships in Qatar.
Nowadays, a different national team and a different club, but despite this, the two are good friends. Musiala was born in Stuttgart. His mother is German, his father is Nigerian. The family moved to England when Jamal was 7 years old.
Musiala played in several English youth national teams together with Bellingham, until he decided in the summer of 2021 to represent his native Germany at the A national team level.
Musiala moved from Chelsea to Bayern at the age of 16 in 2019. Bellingham followed a year later to Germany when he moved from Birmingham to Dortmund. According to the Bundesliga website (you will switch to another service) Among other things, Musiala has taught Bellingham German.
Antti Pohja says that Bellingham is a player who is hard not to like. Bellingham is already technically and tactically at the top level, but the fact that, at the age of 19, he is able to be the bearer of responsibility in the midfield in the England A national team is especially indicative of his mental maturity.
Read more: A new superstar was born in England: “You can’t be 19!”
Bellingham is a comprehensive and dynamic, so-called box-to-box midfield toiler.
– In addition to that, he can provide key passes in the last attacking third, break through himself and finish with his head and feet. It’s hard to find weaknesses, but if something digs, then sometimes you see extra gimmicks from him in the wrong places, and then there are losses. They too are on the decline, Pohja thinks.
Bellingham is good at reading the game, setting the tempo of the game, tackling and taking possession. This season, he has won the most tackles in the entire Bundesliga. Musiala is a more attacking speedster known for his deflections. He can both finish and pass goals.
Pohja says that Musiala may not be the same type of leader as Bellingham, but a player who will definitely stand out even more brightly in his own position in the future.
– Musiala is not as comprehensive. He is light-footed, skilled and able to make decisions both with and without the ball that benefit the team specifically in the attacking third, Pohja summed up.
Musiala’s contract with Bayern lasts until 2026. Bellingham’s contract with Dortmund lasts until 2025, but at the time of the World Cup in Qatar, he was connected to practically all major clubs.
The only thing that is certain is that Dortmund will make a giant account with their acquisition of 28.5 million euros.
Dortmund in convincing results
Back in the autumn, it seemed that Bayern would march to their 11th consecutive championship. By autumn 2023, however, Dortmund has taken as many as ten points more.
In this year’s side, Dortmund’s league balance is nine wins, one draw. Bayern’s balance is five wins, three draws, two losses. This is also one big reason for Nagelsmann’s firing, because winning the domestic championship in Munich is not desirable, but a must.
Even though Dortmund is leading, Bayern is ahead in the statistics in terms of goal difference, expected goals, expected goals conceded, goal attempts and ball control.
Bayern Munich – Borussia Dortmund on Saturday 1.4. at 7:30 p.m. You can see the league table of the Bundesliga at this link.
Before Bayern’s so far ten-year reign, Dortmund won the championship in 2010–11 and 2011–12 head coach Jurgen Klopp’s winged by heavy metal football. In both seasons, Dortmund won both Der Klassikers.
One of the all-time Der Klassikers is the spring 2012 match. Dortmund took the lead at home in the 77th minute Robert Lewandowski by hitting Bayern’s Arjen Robben in the 86th minute, missed a tougher and later an open spot. Dortmund ran away to the championship.
Soon the guarantors of Dortmund’s championship team, among others Mario Götze, Mats Hummels and Lewandowski, played for Bayern.
The next big opportunity for Dortmund was only in the 2018–19 season, Kicker reminds you (you switch to another service). Dormund was leading by two points before the spring meeting in Munich. Bayern roared 5–0 and marched to the championship.
Bayern have won their last eight home games against Dortmund by a stunning 33-6 goal difference.
The last time Dortmund won the Bundesliga Der Klassiker was in the fall of 2018. The last time Dortmund claimed an away win from Munich was in April 2014.
Based on history, it should be clear that despite Bayern’s turmoil, a draw from Der Klassiker away game would be a huge victory for Dortmund in terms of the championship.
All-time Der Klassiker statistics in the Bundesliga: 107 games, Bayern 52 wins, Dortmund 25 wins, 30 draws, goal difference for Bayern 215-131.