Finally giving Bayern “hell” – or losing as usual? Borussia Dortmund wants to finally topple the record champions.
Hans-Joachim Watzke promises Bayern “hell” – and the whole Bundesliga smells a rat. In the eternal duel for supremacy in German football, Borussia Dortmund sees a historic opportunity coming after ten years of languishing. “All of us in the league want to topple them, have wanted to for a long time,” toots BVB boss Watzke, even Bayern boss Oliver Kahn admits: “Apart from our own fans, nobody begrudges us the next championship.”
On Saturday (18.30/Sky) it counts. Bayern face the Yellow Wall after a short crisis with their old “Mia san mia” feeling, but without Thomas Müller, who is cleared after a Corona infection but still has a cold. Nevertheless, they want to demonstrate their special class to 81,365 electrified fans. “You can’t get more than the game. It’s like the derby in the past,” says international Leon Goretzka, “the league situation doesn’t matter at all.”
Because both league giants can be anything but satisfied with this one. BVB gave away six points in Cologne alone and in the total collapse against Werder Bremen (both 2:3). The Munich team can reckon similarly from games against Mönchengladbach (1:1), Stuttgart (2:2) or Augsburg (0:1): SC Freiburg and Union Berlin will be ahead of them at kick-off of a game that would have been a crisis duel not long ago. “We are still mad at ourselves,” says Goretzka.
BVB are putting up a facade of self-confidence, as they so often do, it’s a bit reminiscent of Brazil before their 7-1 defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup semi-final, because the record is described as “sobering” in an arguably defensive way: it shows eight competitive match defeats and seven league defeats to Bayern in a row! Since 2018 alone, Dortmund have lost once 0:6, once 0:5 and once 0:4. After the 1:3 in Munich in April 2022, they were allowed to artfully congratulate the title with a fist in their pocket.
“You know what has happened in Germany over the last ten years,” says BVB coach Edin Terzic. After all, FC Bayern has always been champion. But: “You also know what a great desire the whole region has. And we want to show that.” The rest of the league – with the exception of Schalke, understandably – would probably like it.
At some point, the dominance of the record champion would “crumble”, Watzke had prophesied months ago, adding in Sport Bild: “Nothing in life is for eternity. You can see that in France, where Lille once became champions instead of Paris St. Germain. Or in England, where Leicester made it.” In any case, “all hell will break loose” in the stadium.
His hopes rest on previously injured returnees like Mats Hummels – and on a 17-year-old. Youssoufa Moukoko displaced the static Anthony Modeste from the starting eleven, immediately giving Dortmund’s game at FC Sevilla (4:1) a new depth and dynamism. Captain Marco Reus and probably also regular goalkeeper Gregor Kobel will still be missing in the top match, for which 450 journalists from all continents have been accredited.
The super-talented Moukoko could even make it into Hansi Flick’s World Cup squad. Jude Bellingham, moreover, is playing in brilliant form – as is Jamal Musiala for Bayern. They all appear ready for “90 minutes for eternity”: That’s what the Bayern homepage says above the match announcement.
For Bayern, Joshua Kimmich (after Corona illness) will probably start again, coach Julian Nagelsmann still wants to “wait for training”. Either way: “The reckoning will be at the end,” emphasises President Herbert Hainer. “Helmut Kohl already said: “What counts is what comes out at the end.
And in the end, that was always a win.
