The shock sacking of Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann has grabbed the headlines with former BVB trainer Thomas Tuchel being lined-up to replace him. With the current turmoil at the Rekordmeister and the Klassiker coming up next for Bayern, has the advantage in the title race swung a little more in Dortmund’s favour?
With nine games left to play and Dortmund leading the Bundesliga table by a point, the clash at the Allianz Arena on matchday 26 was always going to have a massive influence on the destination of the Meisterschale.
Now with Bayern reeling from the firing of Nagelsmann, the pressure will really on the new Bayern coach (Thomas Tuchel). He will have very little time to work with the players with the majority of the squad away on international duty, whereas Edin Terzic can quickly get his side playing the tactics that have served them so well in the Rückrunde.
Terzic however is keen to play down BVB’s lead in the table claiming they remain the outsiders. “We are still the hunters,” Terzic told Sky Sport. “It’s certainly nice (to be top of the table), but there is still a lot to fight for. We are far from done. We know about the quality and strength of the opponent. Bayern are among the best teams in European football.
“We’re in a really good place at the moment. That makes us very confident. If we go into the game not only with a portion of respect, but also with courage, we have a great chance.”
Bayern were nine points behind Bayern Munich going into the World Cup break, but have overhauled the reigning champions in the Rückrunde.
The Schwarzgelben will possibly be boosted by the return to fitness of key men Julian Brand, Karim Adeyemi for the Bayern clash, while the Bavarians will be sweating on the fitness of Jamal Musiala, Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting and Mathijs de Ligt for the top of the table clash.
In theory avoiding defeat will be a good result for Dortmund, but a win at the Allianz Arena (a first in the league since 2011) would really put them in the driving seat with regards the title. Mentally they look stronger as they showed when coming back from their Champions League exit to Chelsea and the dropped points in the Revierderby to thrash Köln.
If that mental strength can be called upon at the Allianz Arena and Bayern show any negative reaction to the Nagelsmann sacking, then the title race may just be about to swing in Dortmund’s favour. On the flipside an injured beast is always a dangerous beast, so BVB have been warned.
