First, the teams: Borussia Dortmund (3-4-3): Roman Burki (GK); Manuel Akanji, Mats Hummels, Lucas Piszczek; Raphael Guerreiro, Mahmoud Dahoud, Thomas Delaney, Achraf Hakimi; Julian Brandt, Thorgan Hazard & Erling Haaland. Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1): Manuel Neuer (GK); Alphonso Davies, David Alaba, Jerome Boateng, Pavard; Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich (Goal, 43'); Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller, Kingsley Coman; Robert Lewandowski. Der Klassiker is a huge match in every Bundesliga season, but here, in the 2019/20 edition of the competition, this Der Klassiker was the biggest game for some time, as it was to essentially decide the destination of this season's Bundesliga crown.
Before the match, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund lay in 1st and 2nd place respectively, with the Bavarians holding a 4 point lead on their Ruhr region rivals. A win for Dortmund would close the gap to Bayern to 1 point, whereas a defeat for BVB would leave them 7 points adrift which would essentially seal Bayern's 8th consecutive title in many peoples' eyes, as no-one can see Bayern dropping many points, regardless of the result of Der Klassiker. The match started at a blistering pace, with Borussia Dortmund enjoying the best of the action in the early part of the match, with numerous chances falling for Dortmund, particularly for their prolific Norwegian forward, Erling Haaland (son of former Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Manchester City midfielder Alf-Inge Haaland). There was even an eye-catching goal line clearance where BVB looked to have taken a deserved lead, but alas, Boateng was there to clear Haaland's goal-bound shot. Even after all of those early chances for Borussia Dortmund, Bayern took control of the game, as they always seem to do, and they eventually got the breakthrough through a stupendous lob from outside of the box by Joshua Kimmich, which looped over Swiss international goalkeeper Roman Burki into the back of Dortmund's net giving Bayern a 1-0 lead in one of the biggest and most important Der Klassikers in recent times. In the second half Dortmund had a few tame shots at goal (except an Emre Can shot that went just wide of the Bayern post and a penalty shout from a alleged handball in the Bayern box, which led to cries for a Dortmund penalty), but Bayern took full control of the match, having many chances, namely from Goretzka and Lewandowski, but failed to double the Bavarian's lead. Kimmich's goal handed Dortmund only their 3rd defeat in over 40 games at their home, the Wesfallenstadion, in all competitions to give Bayern a considerable advantage in the Bundesliga title race, now having the aforementioned 7 point lead on Borussia Dortmund. It seems unlikely that Bayern will drop enough points for BVB to win their first title in eight years, but who knows what might happen in the coming weeks and as we saw with Leicester City in 2016, anything is possible.
0 Comments
|
Written by Adam Holt |