BVB can provide an initial answer this Saturday – what’s more: BVB has to deliver this Saturday. Because then the top game in the Bundesliga against FC Bayern comes up. And there can only be one answer for Dortmund: They have to win. This would reduce the gap to Munich to five points and would bring them back to the record champions. Anything else would be too little.
I’m making a decision: the title race would be decided even with a draw, and even more so with a Dortmund defeat. Then everything is lost and the DFB can now send the championship trophy to Munich. Ten game days before the end of the season. Early exit in the DFB Cup, early exit in the Champions League, early exit in the Bundesliga title race – then the entire season would have to be called into question.
That’s why I say: It’s very important for Dortmund that they play against Bayern immediately – and not against an uncomfortable, tough, biting opponent from the middle of the table or even from the relegation battle like Freiburg, Frankfurt or Cologne. No, the game continues immediately against the league leaders – everyone knows straight away: it’s about everything, it’s about this season. Niko Kovač won’t have to say much before sending his players onto the field.
His counterpart, Bayern coach Vincent Kompany, explained it exactly right months ago: What is important is not the results in the fall, but later in the spring, in the spring. Then it’s about titles, then it’s about the decisions, then it’s about how a season is rated at the end.
Kompany and Bayern know full well that they will be playing against a badly injured opponent on Saturday at 6.30 p.m. – but the Belgian will remind his players that a damaged opponent can sometimes be the most dangerous.
