BVB against Bayern Munich: “It’s all bullshit”

Bayern are currently dominating the league as they once did under Pep Guardiola. They lead the table by six points over Eintracht Frankfurt. The lead over fifth-placed Borussia Dortmund is already ten points. So you stay at the top even if you lose. With their uncompromising offensive style, they plow through the league. They have currently overcome their defensive weaknesses.

The situation at BVB is not so rosy. In the league, the club lost a few games against smaller clubs. The doubts about the young coach were enormous at times. Recently, BVB has shown itself to be more stable. A 4-0 win at SC Freiburg and a confident 3-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League give hope. One reason for the crisis was the plight of injuries, but that has now been almost overcome.

What makes the game (from 6.30 p.m. on Sky) interesting: Both coaches, Vincent Kompany at Bayern and Nuri Sahin at BVB, are young coaching novices who have their first (Sahin, 36 years old) and their second club (Kompany , 38 years old). But while Kompany has gotten the team and the results under control after a small crisis in conceding goals, Sahin is struggling with greater difficulties. And with harsher criticism. Poor performances in the Bundesliga and Champions League have left some doubting his abilities. A few weeks ago there were rumors that Sahin’s chair was wobbling in Dortmund, but the club management expressed their confidence in him. Things have been going better since then.

Kompany definitely expects a “celebratory evening”. “These games are usually a spectacle. I’m happy when something is going on. There can also be a bit of emotion there.”

Sahin made similar comments at the BVB press conference. “This is the biggest game in Germany, the game with the most attention when it comes to the Bundesliga.”

BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke likes to be a grant player. When it comes to “his” BVB, which he has now been managing director for almost 20 years, he sometimes chooses strong words. Anyone who doubts the importance of the duel between Dortmund and Bayern should “go to the eye doctor,” said the BVB boss: “Go abroad and then ask who the two German lighthouses are. Then come to 98, “9 percent exactly that answer, maybe even 100 percent,” said Watzke. Bayer Leverkusen, the reigning champions, cannot come close to Bayern or BVB. The recent mentality debate about BVB is also really annoying him: “It’s all complete bullshit because it’s not fact-based and you should always stick to facts,” said Watzke. BVB is a club that was in the Champions League final last year, that is in seventh place in Uefa’s European rankings, that is in second place in the all-time Bundesliga table, that has been consistent for many years, and that is financially complete is successful.” That had to be said.

Dietmar Hamann is known for his biting polemics. Then the Sky expert and former Bayern and national player comes up with polemical theses that everyone is upset about. Just in time for Bayern’s duel against BVB, he questioned the abilities of the once best goalkeeper in the world. “There have been several situations this year where Neuer was to blame for goals or where he was lucky, like in Bochum that Minjae Kim scratched the ball off the line,” said Hamann. “That means when you play balls over the heads of the defense: his timing has let him down a few times.” The fact that Hamann’s assessment comes at a time when Bayern kept seven clean sheets with Neuer in goal made the matter less credible. Hamann found kind words for BVB. Serhou Guirassy is on a par with Bayern’s superstar Kane. For coach Nuri Sahin, the game was a “huge opportunity to (…) take a big step forward”.

Stefan Effenberg also supported the much-criticized BVB coach. Finally, you have to “take the injury situation into account in the assessment. For me, the criticism was directed too quickly at Nuri Sahin, although that is not fair,” said Effenberg. He is convinced that BVB has a chance: “That’s why – if BVB does everything they’ve shown recently – it could be a tight game.”