A lot is at stake in the Bundes Liga on Saturday afternoon as two of the best teams in the Germany go head to head as defending champions Borussia Dortmund welcome Schalke 04 at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.image:
The defending champions have recovered from a sluggish start to the season to come upto second place in the standings, just 2 points adrift of Bayern Munich at the top of the tale.
Incidentally, Dortmund have defeated Munich in the last round of matches in the BundesLiga at the Allianz Arena. That will serve as a boost to their confidence as Bayern certainly looked like the team to beat in this year’s competition as the early pace setters. Dortmund have an opportunity to return to the top of the BundesLiga summit if they come out on top on Saturday albeit for a day as Bayern play at Mainz on Sunday afternoon.
Dortmund have some of the best players of the BundesLiga on their roster. Their goalkeeper Tim Wiese is perhaps only second to Bayern’s Manuel Neuer as far as current form goes. Defensive pairing of Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic is undoubtedly the best in the league and can challenge any top European team.
It is a pity that the latter missed out on the Arsenal game in the Champions League game in midweek owing to an injury. As far as attacking talent is concerned Mario Goetze and Shinji Kagawa form an explosive partnership alongside Lucas Barrios. Skipper Sebastian Kehl adds a lot of balance into this young team, who will be looking for a win in front of their home fans despite some injury concerns.
Schalke 04 on the other hand have lost their skipper to Bayern Munich in the off season – a move that has seriously dampened their credentials as it is never easy to replace the world’s best goalkeeper. The team has done exceptionally well so far this season to get 25 points from their games and are currently seated at fourth place in the standings. A win over the defending champions on Saturday will put Schalke level on points with league leaders Bayern Munich, who have a far superior goal difference though.
Christoph Metzelder and Benedikt Howedes should start at the center of defense while there is a pleothora of talent in the rest of the team. Jefferson Farfan, Jurado, Joel Matip, and Alexander Baumjohann are expected to start in midfield while Raul and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar lead the line up front. Huntelaar has had a wonderful season so far and is leading the scoring charts at the moment.
This should be a cracking contest with a great incentive on offer for the winner.