Berlin
The timing of the Bundesliga Klassiker at league leaders Bayern Munich could not have been worse for struggling Borussia Dortmund, with their entire season seemingly resting on Saturday’s result.
The Ruhr Valley club will have little time to recover from their 4-0 drubbing at Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday.
Dortmund, who reached the final last season, hardly put up a fight in Spain, having been repeatedly caught on the break and outpaced by their hosts.
The result piled more pressure on coach Niko Kovac and his players ahead of the Bayern game, with the team at serious risk of missing out on Champions League football next season.
Dortmund, without defender Nico Schlotterbeck until the end of the season, are in eighth place on 41 points, five behind fourth spot, the last spot that leads to automatic Champions League qualification, with six games left to play.
Dortmund players admitted that overturning the deficit against Barcelona was an all but impossible task, spelling the likely end of their European run this season.
The concern for club bosses is that Dortmund fail to qualify for any European competition by finishing outside the top six.
“We will be defending much better and a lot more than we did against Barcelona,” Kovac said. “Because without a defence we will have serious problems in Munich as well.”
League leaders Bayern have their own motivation going into the game, eager to bounce back from Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal 2-1 home loss to Inter Milan, so as to go into the return leg next week with a shot of confidence.
They also want to protect their six-point Bundesliga advantage over champions Bayern Leverkusen to make sure of silverware in case of a European exit next week.
While the Bavarians are still in with a chance in the Champions League, any slip-up in the league could prove costly for Vincent Kompany’s injury-hit team as they look to re-establish domestic dominance after last season’s Leverkusen double.
Kompany could have midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic back in the squad after his absence due to illness since March.
Reuters
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