Second-placed Borussia Dortmund host leaders Bayern Munich today in a Bundesliga top-of-the-table showdown with injuries having decimated the hosts’ defense.
The rematch of last season’s UEFA Champions League final between the Bundesliga’s top sides — billed as Germany’s Der Klassiker — comes with Pep Guardiola’s Bayern four points clear and Dortmund’s defense in disarray.
Centerback Mats Hummels and leftback Marcel Schmelzer have been ruled out after returning from international duty with injuries. With centerback Neven Subotic out for six months with torn ligaments and rightback Lukasz Piszczek only just back in training after surgery, Dortmund will face the European champions without their entire first-choice back four.
“It is a disaster,” Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said.
“The worst thing that can happen to you in football is to have to replace the entire back four,” he said. “A defender, a midfielder or a striker can be replaced by every team, but a whole back four?”
Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp summed up the situation when he said that “80 percent of my gray hairs were earned this week,” but he has reacted by signing former Germany international defender Manuel Friedrich, who had been released by Bayer 04 Leverkusen, until the end of the campaign.
The 34-year-old is likely to partner Greece international Sokratis Papastathopoulos at centerback, while youngster Erik Durm is expected to play at leftback and Kevin Grosskreutz on the right.
“We have had to put together a defense which has not yet played 20 games together, but we still have a lot of quality in the squad,” Klopp said.
Sporting director Michael Zorc defiantly said Dortmund “won’t raise the white flag to anyone.”
Even with Bayern winger Franck Ribery ruled out with a fractured rib, the pressure is firmly on Dortmund.
Their defeat away to VfL Wolfsburg two weeks ago left them four points adrift and if they are serious about bringing the Bundesliga trophy back to the Ruhr Valley, it is a match they must win.
The difference between the two squads is strength in depth, with Guardiola able to call on Germany’s Mario Goetze or Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri to fill in for Ribery.
“It’s just like it so often is with us: we have a good enough squad and will certainly have a decent team on the pitch, whose goal will be to win there,” Bayern’s Thomas Mueller said.
Goetze, who is returning to Dortmund having left to join Bayern in the summer, will be making his first appearance at Signal Iduna Park in the red shirt.
The 21-year-old has said he has “no fear” and understands the passionate home supporters would rather see him playing for Borussia, but former Dortmund and Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has advised him “not to take throw-ins or corners” and to stay away from the fans.
February 2010 was the last time Bayern beat Dortmund in the Bundesliga, but the Bavarians were victorious when it mattered most, beating the Black and Yellows in May’s UEFA Champions League final.
Much has been made of Bayern’s failure to beat Borussia in their previous six Bundesliga showdowns, but having gone 37 league matches and more than a year without defeat, Munich will be confident of extending their unbeaten Bundesliga run.
Certainly, Bayern want to again exert their authority over their rivals, who won back-to-back league titles in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, before Bayern swept the treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and DFB Pokal last season.
Among the weekend’s other matches, struggling Hamburg SV host mid-table Hannover 96 without captain Rafael van der Vaart, who tore ankle ligaments while on duty with the Netherlands and is expected to be out for the next four weeks.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
RSS