Der Klassike: Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich Preview, Odds, Prediction

Borussia Dortmund meets Bayern Munich in Der Klassiker this Saturday afternoon at the Signal-Iduna Park. The two of the biggest teams in the Bundesliga enter this contest following excellent results in the UEFA Champions League this mid-week. When looking at the domestic championship, both teams have 15 points in eight games and are two steps behind the top-placed Union Berlin and Freiburg. A win here could potentially lead them to first place, but more importantly, it would give a massive morale boost before the remainder of the season.

Preview

Borussia Dortmund (+320) looked perfect in Sevilla on Wednesday night, beating the hosts, 1-4, but we need to say that the Spanish team is slowly collapsing. They can’t be a measure of one’s quality and form at the moment.

Still, a win on the road in the UCL is great, and it has multiple positive effects on the team and the fans. Especially for Dortmund, who had one triumph and three losses in the previous four games.

Four of the previous five games in Dortmund saw just one side netting, and in the last three, Borussia won by keeping clean sheets. They beat Hoffenheim, Copenhagen and Schalke. Prior to that, they were better than Leverkusen in the season’s first meeting at Signal Iduna, also with clean sheets.

Bayern Munich (-160) trashed Plzen in Munich, 5-0, keeping its UEFA Champions League record perfect this year. For the moment, the Bavarians have defeated Inter Milan, Barcelona, and the Czechs, all while not allowing a single goal.

Nagelsmann’s unit is 9-0 in the two games following an international break, as they rolled over Bayer Leverkusen at home 4-0 last Friday. The Bundesliga champions had a brief struggle with their performances, which saw them failing to win in three consecutive events at Allianz.

When playing on the road, Bayern is usually very confident. They did lose against Augsburg 1-0 in the most recent outing, but before that, we saw them smashing the rivals, often packing five or more hits (four times in seven events).

Latest News

As usual, Borussia has numerous players injured. That has been the case in the last few years with the Millionaires. Hummels, Reus, Reyna, Wolf, Morey Bauza, Haller, and Bynoe-Gittens are all out for this one. Kobel is questionable.

Hernandez, Kimmich, Miller and Sarr won’t be in the protocol for the guests, while Coman sits as questionable.

Head to Head Games

Bayern won in the past eight games against Dortmund, and in all but one of they, the Bavarians have scored two or more goals. The past six were with both teams netting and four or more hits, meaning that Der Klassiker meetings have been highly entertaining recently.

Prediction

Bayern will win this one, because they have a much better team than the Millionaires, who aren’t impressive this year. Also, we expect a very efficient game, as champions dictate a high-intensity tempo on the field, and Borussia won’t stand a chance if they try to defend or slow down the pace. For us personally, Bayern’s win is the top pick here, but also, you can try to experiment with high efficiency.

Pick: Bayern wins -160