Since Leipzig was promoted to the Bundesliga in 2016, RB and Borussia Dortmund have been Bayern’s toughest pursuers. In the direct duel on Saturday (February 21, 2026), only BVB still has a chance of winning the title.
Since the top game of the 23rd matchday kicks off at 6:30 p.m. (live in the Sportschau radio report), the Dortmund team will then know whether they might have gotten some extra motivation. Leaders Bayern Munich’s game will take place three hours earlier, and if their opponents Eintracht Frankfurt continue on the path taken under new coach Albert Riera, BVB may then be able to reduce the gap to Munich to three or four points.
A week later, the direct duel between the two best in class will take place in Dortmund and Niko Kovac’s team will have the next opportunity to get within striking distance of Bayern or even catch up.
Dortmund tragically missed out on the title twice
Dortmund last managed to become champions 14 years ago. This was followed by twelve titles for FC Bayern and one for Bayer Leverkusen in the 2023/24 season under Xabi Alonso. The Werkself has since lost the nickname “Vizekusen”, but in the table for the last ten years the team is only fourth with 581 points behind Leipzig (597), Dortmund (639) and FCB (763). During this time, RB achieved two second places, while Dortmund experienced four runner-up finishes, including two particularly tragic ones.
In the 2022/23 season, when the city was already decorated, but the BVB team under Edin Terzic lost their nerve and gave Bayern the title with a 2-2 draw against Mainz. Four years earlier, Dortmund led the table with a nine-point lead over Munich after 15 matchdays, but that wasn’t enough either – partly because of a 5-0 defeat against FCB in April 2019.
Does Dortmund have the Bayern dusel lately?
But this year BVB looks stable. After the 18th matchday, the gap to first place was eleven points, now it is only six. It was by no means the case that Niko Kovac’s team only delivered brilliant performances. But agonizing games like this year’s 3:2 against St. Pauli, the 3:2 against Heidenheim and the 2:1 in Wolfsburg gave rise to the suspicion that the much-quoted Bayern Dusel was suddenly wearing a black and yellow jersey. But Ole Werner sees it differently.
It is precisely the regularity with which BVB has won the games against the Kellerkinder that leads the Leipzig coach to make the following assessment: “It’s just extremely ripped off. It’s not hooray football every week, but I was also made to feel bad about it at times. In terms of the quality of how they implement things, they’re simply a top team.”
Defensive failures and Guirassy lows were well compensated for
The results definitely prove Werner right. Dortmund have not lost their last 15 league games, most recently there were six wins in a row. BVB also delivered in the Champions League on Tuesday and laid the foundation for the round of 16 with a 2-0 win against Atalanta Bergamo in the first leg of the playoffs.
What was particularly impressive was how Kovac compensated for the loss of four central defenders without much complaint and put up a defense at premier class level despite the absence of Nico Schlotterbeck, Emre Can or Niklas Süle. On the other hand, the coach managed to help troubled striker Serhou Guirassy through a low of seven games without a goal without becoming unbelievable: Guirassy also had to go to the bench, but was allowed to fight his way back into the team through substitute appearances and suddenly scores again on the assembly line.
Leipzig announces resistance
What Dortmund managed in the games against the league’s basement children was exactly Leipzig’s flaw. With major problems in the defensive transition game, RB dropped five points in the two home games against Mainz (1:2) and Wolfsburg (2:2). That’s why the duel against Dortmund will also be a landmark game for the Bulls – in the fight for the Champions League. Currently in fifth place, Werner’s team has just had to let Stuttgart pass and is now only one point ahead of Leverkusen.
Ole Werner therefore cancels all compliments for this “ripped off top team Dortmund” also tough resistance: “We also know what we can do ourselves. We have to be clean when we have the ball and also defend physically. The goal is to inflict Dortmund’s second defeat of the season. We are not known for playing wait-and-see – and we won’t do that against BVB either.”