Bundesliga blog: Big match preview - FC Bayern vs Borussia Dortmund

By Ross Dunbar in Mirror Football Blog

Published 12:10 14/11/11

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Welcome to our new German football blog, courtesy of BundesligaFussball 's Ross Dunbar

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All eyes will be on the Allianz Arena on Saturday night as the Bundesliga resumes following the last international break of the year.

For some, it is the perfect cure to the lack of domestic club football over the past two weeks and it is certainly shaping up to be a cracker.

Current German champions Borussia Dortmund make the trip to Bavaria to face up to the flying league-leaders FC Bayern who are looking to extend their five point gap.

In the race for the championship, it is a crucial match even at this early stage in the season and both sides will have a few injury blows to contend with.

The home side will be without key midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger after he sustained a broken collarbone in the Champions League clash with Napoli.

FC Bayern will also be missing dynamic Ukranian midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk who picked up a red card against FC Augsburg last Sunday.

Even without Schweinsteiger and Tymoshchuk, Heynckes is expected to stick to his 4-2-3-1 formation and is likely to re-call Luis Gustavo to the starting eleven.

But that still leaves the FC Bayern coach with some selection headaches with the other midfield position to be filled.

Austrian youngster David Alaba started against FC Augsburg but has started just twice this season and the 19 year-old could find himself thrown in at the deep end on Saturday.

As for Dortmund, they will have a huge hole in their back-four with Neven Subotic ruled out for up to six weeks following a serious facial injury sustained last week.

It would appear to be a simple decision for Jurgen Klopp with Felipe Santana the third-choice central defender at the Westfalen.

But it could pose a serious problem for Dortmund with BVB relying hugely on the continuity of their back-five and it was no coincidence to see Die Borussen’s sticky form coming when there were selection issues at the back.

Klopp’s men are expected to line-up almost identical to the side which beat Wolfsburg 5-1 last week and it throws up some interesting battles in the match.

The Dortmund coach looks to have hit the jackpot after finally settling on a midfield pairing since Nuri Sahin departed for Real Madrid in the summer.

Rookie midfielder Moritz Leitner ( click here for a profile of Leitner ) has taken over from Ilkay Gundogan and Sebastian Kehl to partner the industrious Sven Bender in the middle of the park.

The 18-year-old Leitner, who had a spell with 1860 Munich last season, could find himself locking horns with FC Bayern’s teenager David Alaba in what could be a fascinating battle between two of the best prospects in German football.

But Klopp has a tendency to draft in former Dortmund skipper Sebastian Kehl in to the midfield which brings a staleness to the side with Bender and Kehl both defensive-minded players.

The champions overcame a massive hurdle in February when they beat FC Bayern for the first time in 20 years at the Allianz Arena to kill off their title hopes.

Goals from Lucas Barrios, Nuri Sahin and Mats Hummels capped off a sublime performance from the young Dortmund side in a 3-1 victory.

It is almost imperative Dortmund don’t allow the gap at the top of the Bundesliga to open up to eight points between them and FC Bayern.

And perhaps more importantly, BVB’s rivals for the Champions League places – Schalke, Gladbach and Werder - could already have opened up a gap if they win on Saturday afternoon.

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Read more from Ross at BundesligaFussball or follow @rossdunbar93 on Twitter

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