By Zach Lowy
Can Bayern’s Stellar Kind Proceed?
On the twenty third October, Bayern Munich had been subjected to a 4-1 defeat at Barcelona within the UEFA Champions League. It was the fourth time in 5 video games that the Bavarians had didn’t win and the second time in three that they’d conceded 3+ targets. After an ideal begin to life beneath Vincent Kompany, it appeared that the wheels had been falling off.
Since then, although, Bayern have gained seven straight video games, scoring 18 targets and conceding zero. They sit six factors clear atop the Bundesliga and are scoring probably the most targets per sport in Europe (3.24), and after edging Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, they’re driving excessive on confidence.
Nonetheless, they’ll have their fingers full on Saturday as they tackle a BVB facet which have gained 4 of their final 5 matches, the only real exception being a 3-1 defeat at Mainz which noticed them diminished to 10 males within the twenty seventh minute.
Jamie Gittens: The Man With a Plan
The final time that Borussia Dortmund confronted Bayern Munich at Sign Iduna Park, Dayot Upamecano opened the scoring inside 4 minutes whereas Harry Kane scored a hat-trick. All eyes will probably be on the reigning European Golden Boot winner as he seems to proceed his scintillating type in Dortmund, however he’s not the one English ahead who may have a key position to play.
Jamie Gittens kicked off the 2024/25 Bundesliga season by coming off the bench and scoring a brace in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt, while he repeated that feat of their Champions League opener vs. Membership Brugge. He hasn’t seemed again since, establishing himself as a key determine in BVB’s assault with 11 objective contributions in 18 matches. Over the previous week, he has scored a objective and an help in a 4-0 win vs. Freiburg and opened the scoring in a 3-0 win vs. Dinamo Zagreb, and with Karim Adeyemi and (probably) Julian Brandt lacking out, Nuri Şahin will probably be relying on him to ship. After Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham earlier than him, Gittens may very effectively be the subsequent Englishman to blow up onto the scene at Dortmund – and we’re backing the 20-year-old to come back up clutch towards everlasting rivals Bayern.
Objectives Galore in Dortmund
It stays to be seen whether or not or not Borussia Dortmund can pull off back-to-back wins vs. Bayern for the primary time because the spring of 2012, however two issues are pretty possible: this will probably be a high-scoring affair, and it’ll not be a draw. Out of Bayern and BVB’s final 18 matches, just one has led to a draw. Issues are wanting up for Dortmund after a league-high six wins out of six, however as for Bayern, they’ve dropped factors simply as soon as on the highway – a 3-3 draw vs. Eintracht again in October.
Each groups will probably be lacking key figures in midfield like Aleksandar Pavlović and Emre Can, and it may lead to much less managed possession and extra frantic attacking play. 9 of the final 10 conferences between these two sides have featured over 3.5 targets, while 13 of BVB’s final 15 fixtures have served up over 2.5 targets. With each of final season’s high two Bundesliga scorers – Kane and Serhou Guirassy – in effective type, all indicators level to a high-scoring affair on Saturday.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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