BVB is coming off the back of two brilliant performances into their weekend clash against Hannover. Hannover will not be giving anything away though.
Dortmund last week masterminded Gladbach with hardly any trouble. Marco Reus was the hero on the night as he took his former side apart just too easily. Reus scored twice with the second being a wonderful goal. Jakub Blaszczykowski and Ilkay Gündogan also got on the score-sheet along with Neven Subotic.
In midweek, they played Manchester City in the Champions League. For the first time in the last two seasons, Dortmund played like a ‘German champion’ in Europe. The first half of the match was even. However, Dortmund dominated the second half and took the lead through the brilliant Reus. They couldn’t hold on as City was awarded a highly controversial penalty in the 89th minute.
When Robert Lewandowski missed an easy chance towards the end of the match, the commentator felt that the miss would come back to haunt Dortmund and indeed that was the case. Mario Götze hit the post earlier in the match. The post was to be rattled a second time but Joe Hart was not. Hart produced the best performance by a goalkeeper in this season’s Champions League by keeping Dortmund out.
Dortmund played brilliant touch-and-go football. They linked up with each other magnificently. They showed exactly why they have beaten a team that has reached two of the last three Champions League finals so many times yesterday. Dortmund continued to hunt for a winner even after City scored and nobody would have begrudged them had they earned one.
Hannover meanwhile suffered their first defeat of the season last week to HSV. A single goal was enough to see them lose further ground on Bayern. Hannover and Dortmund played a highly memorable match in 2010. Dortmund was slowly allowing Leverkusen to catch up by dropping unnecessary points that season.
Hannover, as expected in German football, took the lead. Dortmund looked to be giving the lead away completely until Götze turned up and made his way through roughly five Hannover players to goal. Dortmund woke up suddenly and rattled in three more. They went on to claim their first title in a long time.
Last season, Hannover was up for the fight again. Dortmund was just about holding onto a narrow 2-1 lead. They had to expend any available energy to score a third and put away Hannover. Hannover will offer a challenge once again but Dortmund has seemingly regained their form after conceding three goals on match-day four and five.
Sven Bender started the match against City. He and Gündogan formed a good partnership. This could be the partnership in defensive midfield again on Saturday. Hannover is extremely good on the counter and will look to use that fact to their advantage. They lost one of their early season stars, Leon Andreasen, to a long-term injury recently unfortunately. They still have enough players at their disposal to trouble Dortmund.
In their last two meetings in Hannover, Dortmund has won 0-4 and lost 2-1. The loss came in the early part of last season when Dortmund was trying to keep up in three competitions and hence losing ground on Bayern.
Nonetheless, on current form, Dortmund will perhaps take the win, despite the fact that Hannover rarely ever loses at home. The fact that Bayern showed vulnerability against BATE should spur Dortmund on to try and force the Bavarians to keep winning. The match should be entertaining; however, it might lack too many goals.
Prediction: Hannover 96 1-2 Dortmund
In midweek, they played Manchester City in the Champions League. For the first time in the last two seasons, Dortmund played like a ‘German champion’ in Europe. The first half of the match was even. However, Dortmund dominated the second half and took the lead through the brilliant Reus. They couldn’t hold on as City was awarded a highly controversial penalty in the 89th minute.
When Robert Lewandowski missed an easy chance towards the end of the match, the commentator felt that the miss would come back to haunt Dortmund and indeed that was the case. Mario Götze hit the post earlier in the match. The post was to be rattled a second time but Joe Hart was not. Hart produced the best performance by a goalkeeper in this season’s Champions League by keeping Dortmund out.
Dortmund played brilliant touch-and-go football. They linked up with each other magnificently. They showed exactly why they have beaten a team that has reached two of the last three Champions League finals so many times yesterday. Dortmund continued to hunt for a winner even after City scored and nobody would have begrudged them had they earned one.
Hannover meanwhile suffered their first defeat of the season last week to HSV. A single goal was enough to see them lose further ground on Bayern. Hannover and Dortmund played a highly memorable match in 2010. Dortmund was slowly allowing Leverkusen to catch up by dropping unnecessary points that season.
Hannover, as expected in German football, took the lead. Dortmund looked to be giving the lead away completely until Götze turned up and made his way through roughly five Hannover players to goal. Dortmund woke up suddenly and rattled in three more. They went on to claim their first title in a long time.
Last season, Hannover was up for the fight again. Dortmund was just about holding onto a narrow 2-1 lead. They had to expend any available energy to score a third and put away Hannover. Hannover will offer a challenge once again but Dortmund has seemingly regained their form after conceding three goals on match-day four and five.
Sven Bender started the match against City. He and Gündogan formed a good partnership. This could be the partnership in defensive midfield again on Saturday. Hannover is extremely good on the counter and will look to use that fact to their advantage. They lost one of their early season stars, Leon Andreasen, to a long-term injury recently unfortunately. They still have enough players at their disposal to trouble Dortmund.
In their last two meetings in Hannover, Dortmund has won 0-4 and lost 2-1. The loss came in the early part of last season when Dortmund was trying to keep up in three competitions and hence losing ground on Bayern.
Nonetheless, on current form, Dortmund will perhaps take the win, despite the fact that Hannover rarely ever loses at home. The fact that Bayern showed vulnerability against BATE should spur Dortmund on to try and force the Bavarians to keep winning. The match should be entertaining; however, it might lack too many goals.
Prediction: Hannover 96 1-2 Dortmund
