Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich: Three key battles to watch

It has been a mixed Bundesliga campaign for Bayern Munich until now. The defending champions started the season on fire by scoring 15 goals in the first three league games of the season. Despite the departure of Robert Lewandowski, Bayern looked like a team that was scoring freely, and teams were finding it difficult to contain a fluid attack.

However, Die Roten couldn’t keep the consistency in performances during September. They lacked efficiency in the final third, which allowed the likes of Borussia Monchengladbach, Union Berlin, and VfB Stuttgart to take a point in their games against Bayern. Augsburg piled more misery on Die Roten by beating them in the Bavarian derby on matchday 7.

Julian Nagelsmann and his players were heavily criticised during the international break for going through a winless run of four games in the Bundesliga. A strong response was needed after the break, and the German coach managed to get exact out of the group. Bayern delivered a dominant display against Bayer Leverkusen last Friday. They also managed to take a massive step towards qualification for the round of 16 in the Champions League with a big win against Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday.

The last two games will certainly boost the confidence of the first team at Bayern. The game against Borussia Dortmund will give a clear indication of whether the recent upturn in form is not a false dawn. The Der Klassiker will be decided on collective displays from both teams, but few individual duels will have a big say on the result. Let us look at key battles to watch out for at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday.