Dortmund's Der Klassiker struggles to continue

Haaland back in yellow and black

Marco Rose will be nothing less than ecstatic to have Norwegian striker Erling Haaland back in the Dortmund squad after his injury which was supposed to see him miss the remaining games of 2021. His ahead of schedule return could be the exact boost that Dortmund need in this top of the table clash. Haaland took just seven minutes to make his mark in their game on Saturday, as his goal sealed a 3-1 win. Despite going 1-0 down just three minutes in, an Emre Can penalty coupled with a third goal in as many games for Donyell Malen got Dortmund back in the ascendency. This Der Klassiker sees Dortmund go into this match just one point behind champions. A win taking them too should be motivation enough to try once again to dethrone the Bavarians and try and put a stop to their sole dominance over the Bundesliga. This game on Saturday is a chance for Rose's side to turn a new chapter in their season. With Haaland being injured, Dortmund have struggled to get a consistent run of goalscoring form going and have failed to reach the knockout stages of their short-lived Champions League campaign. An unlikely win at the Signal Iduna Park this weekend could set the wheels in motion for a genuine title challenge come the end of the season.

Bayern always find a way

Julian Nagelsmann's side will be hoping that their impressive recent run against Dortmund will be enough to propel them over the line in Der Klassiker. Their recent run of wins hasn't been consistent with their form over the course of 2021. Their dominance in turning teams over isn't something they've been able to recapture in thess past few weeks. A socking 2-1 defeat at the hands of Augsburg just over two weeks ago has been followed up by narrow victories over Dynamo Kyiv and relegation battling Arminia Bielefeld. A 1-0 against the latter on Saturday saw Bayern pepper the Bielefeld goal, racking up 22 shots with nine of them being on target. It took an inspired solo goal in the 70th minute from Leroy Sane to finally break the deadlock. Despite not being in their finest form of late, they're still able to grind out wins when they need to, no matter the fashion. Robert Lewandowski, coming fresh off of a Ballon d'Or snub will be looking to add to his already impressive goal haul so far this season and take advantage of a shaky Dortmund backline.

This should be a real cracker of a game. Dortmund are rejuvenated by the return of Erling Haaland while Bayern will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the Bundesliga. I'm going with a Bayern Munich win with bet365.

Bet Bayern Munich to win on Bet365