The Bundesliga is back on the menu this weekend after a two-week break and some tasty ties have been served up with leaders Werder Bremen tackling Borussia Dortmund at the Westfalen Stadium, while struggling SV Hamburg travel to a revitalized Bayer Leverkusen.
Dortmund have fond memories of playing Bremen with a 2-1 win securing the 2001/2002 German championship in May last year, but coach Matthias Sammer is wary of the threat posed by the Bundesliga pacesetters who inflicted Dortmund's only home defeat last season.
A Champions League exit and subsequent pay dispute has cast a cloud over Dortmund but Sammer will hope to derail Bremen, who are missing French playmaker Johan Micoud, and get their season back on track.
SV Hamburg face a testing trip to Bayer Leverkusen today hoping to end their dismal away form and record their first win of the 2003/04 campaign.
Hamburg, the longest servants in the Bundesliga, have not won in 11 away matches and come up against a Leverkusen outfit who have scored goals for fun at home.
Kurt Jara's Hamburg have been on a downward spiral since lifting the German League Cup but Stefan Beinlich does not believe they will endure a season-long slump like his former club Bayer.
"What happened to Leverkusen will not happen to us as we will not look for excuses," Beinlich informed German magazine Kicker.
Bayer welcome back long-term injury victim Jens Nowotny with the 29-year-old German international looking to step up his comeback.
"It is possible that I will play 45 minutes," Nowotny told Kicker.
Bayern Munich travel to VfL Wolfsburg today as they bid to build on a solid start to the defense of their crown.
Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz is clipping at the heels of Roy Makaay after scoring a treble in Bayern's German Cup win but coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is set to continue with Claudio Pizarro and Makaay in attack.
Wolfsburg, who will be without the suspended Andres D'Alessandro, have never defeated German champions Bayern and former Wolves star Tobias Rau, now at Bayern, hopes this run does not come to an end.
"Wolfsburg have never managed to win against Bayern and it would be a bit embarrassing for me if it happened straight after my departure," declared Rau.
Elsewhere Hertha Berlin marksman Fredi Bobic hopes to shoot down former club Hannover.
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