German fans have finally got their wish for a more exciting Bundesliga season and the title race will really hot up when leaders Bayern Munich lock horns with Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
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Bayern’s 2-1 loss to Mainz on Wednesday, coupled with Dortmund’s 2-0 win at Darmstadt, leaves five points between the rivals ahead of their showdown in Dortmund.
The pair are fighting it out at the top of the goalscoring charts just as their teams are fighting at the top of the league table, with the Bayern man mimicking his side by holding a slim lead over his opposite number.
Thomas Tuchel believes the 5-1 thrashing Borussia Dortmund suffered at the hands of Bayern Munich in October helped mould his team into Bundesliga title challengers. “Everyone can expect what they have always seen, which is to give the manager the support he needs”.
Tuchel reiterated his admiration for Bayern counterpart Pep Guardiola, who is hoping to land another Bundesliga crown before departing for Manchester City at the end of the season.
Dortmund’s 2-0 win at Darmstadt on Wednesday cut Bayern’s lead from eight points to five as another Colombia striker, Adrian Ramos, and defender Erik Durm netted.
‘Mario has to keep doing what he is doing, ‘ said Guardiola. One of the Bundesliga’s premier fixtures had been relegated to the depths of the Fox Soccer Plus channel due to other programming commitments (mostly college basketball).
Dortmund can counter with their magic triangle of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, just a goal behind Lewandowski in the scoring race, Marco Reus and Henrik Mkhitaryan.
“If we win, the situation will be different”.
“We had our chances and then let them counter-attack”.
Bayern may be leading the league, however their shock 2-1 home defeat to Mainz in the week leaves them on the back foot, and massively under pressure.
Robben pulled a goal back for the Bavarians on 64 minutes.
“We knew how we could win here with a strong defensive display and a good counterattack”, said Mainz coach Martin Schmidt, who praised his side’s “outstanding display”.
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Although the former Barcelona coach was not impressed by Bayern’s showing, he was not too disappointed about it. “We and Bayern both know that things can now be a bit tight”.
