Bayern welcomes Borussia Dortmund to the Allianz Arena, looking to heap further misery on a team which is desperately looking to get out of the nether regions of the table.

In an alternate dimension, Jürgen Klopp would be sitting on his couch with a remote in his hand, watching the DFB Pokal finale of 2012 and singing “We are the Champions.” At the same time, he would be wondering what the “bad mistakes” he made are because everyone is confused about what exactly is wrong. His troubles do not resemble relegation troubles, where teams cannot play well enough no matter how hard they try.

However, Lady Luck seems to have deserted Dortmund. She makes brief appearances when they appear in Cup competitions but she seems to have lost the address to the Signal Iduna Park, and, for that matter, her flight itineraries when Dortmund plays away from home.

In the UEFA Champions League, Dortmund is top of a group consisting of Arsenal, Galatasaray and Anderlecht. This is no mean feat. In the DFB Pokal, they are already through to the last sixteen. However, they sit fifteenth in the Bundesliga table, having lost six of the nine matches they have featured in. Hamburg, currently struggling for consistency, beat them as did a team which rarely wins on the road, Hannover 96. When one loses to Hannover, one wonders what will happen when the name penned in red ink and circled with black ink from a marker appears on the fixture list.

Indeed, this week, Germany will witness Der Klassiker. However, the result will have little bearings on the table. In the event of a BVB win, looking solitarily at points, Gladbach, Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim will benefit provided they win their fixtures. Der Klassiker itself might have a different look about it this time though.

For example, Bayern’s poor run of conceding first against Dortmund was brought to an end by the free flowing youth product, Toni Kroos, in 2012. In Kroos’ place now stands the experienced Xabi Alonso. Alonso, because of his defensive skills, is perhaps even an improvement on the current Real Madrid man. He runs the show from behind the scenes in Bayern’s new formation under Pep Guardiola. The formation can be interpreted as a 3-4-3.

Whether this system of patient possession would suit Marco Reus is another debate though. Reus seems to be on Bayern’s radar. If Borussia Dortmund fans had to choose “somebody to love” primarily because of his importance to the team, nine times out of ten, they would choose Reus. He would complement Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski perfectly.

Both of the aforementioned former Dortmund stars will perhaps be in action during the upcoming weekend. The first question which has to be asked is how much importance Bayern will give to the game considering they have Champions League football to think about. Also, Dortmund is not currently in any position to threaten the title contenders or pretenders.

Yet, the game is extremely important for Borussia Dortmund and not only because they need points to prevent themselves from dropping into the relegation zone. Dortmund’s situation is not unlike the beginning lyrics of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody:

"Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide,

No escape from reality."

Can Jurgen Klopp offer Dortmund a dream victory against Bayern in Der Klassiker?

Can Jurgen Klopp off Dortmund a dream victory against Bayern in Der Klassiker?

Their current situation does indeed have an air of a nightmare about it. They are stuck in a situation of perpetual bad luck and are unable to navigate themselves out of it. At the same time, the defeats are starting to pile up. Dortmund minimized the individual errors against Hannover and were outdone by a superb free kick by Hiroshi Kiyotake despite dominating the match.

These results do not mean they do not have the capacity to trouble Bayern. The rivalry has certainly not become one sided. The matches are still close enough to be decided by a single moment of brilliance. There is a match for almost every struggling team which defines the rest of their passage along a season, either altering the passage or by heaping immeasurable misery. This is such a match for BVB. A win or even a draw can uplift their fortunes and give them the confidence they need to overcome the bad luck.

One huge factor which helps BVB is that almost everyone backs Klopp. The manager is not under the kind of pressure which managers in his situation usually are under. He created the yellow “gegenpressing” machine; he is the engineer who can locate the problem and fix it. Klopp, it is clear, loves to beat Bayern. He has the tools to beat Bayern. His players are the perfect ones to perfect Borussia Mönchengladbach’s strategy of the past weekend in the 0-0 draw against Bayern.

Bayern however might take this opportunity to eliminate their biggest rivals from the title race even before the Winter Break. They have shown a few signs of weaknesses in three draws in the league this season. They will want to make sure to cover those up before welcoming Dortmund to their den. Bayern will make sure their “machine guns are ready to go”.

 

Match details, result and original broadcast info

Bayern München 2 - 1 Borussia Dortmund

November 1, 2014 1:00pmAllianz-Arena (München)

This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.

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