The rivalry of Der Klassiker or The Classic in English is the matchup between FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the German top-flight division (Bundesliga). Bayern Munich have been favored over them every single year since they are a top-5 club in the world. In fact, my team hasn’t beaten them since 2018 which is a real shame despite the talent we’ve had on this roster. Here are some of the things that make this rivalry a notable one.

Fan Atmosphere:

It wouldn’t be an article about Borussia Dortmund if I didn’t talk about how much the fan atmosphere makes a difference. For the first match, they are playing at Signal Iduna Park or its most known name Westfalenstadion in Dortmund which makes a big impact. Dortmund supporters are known as some of the most passionate, devoted, and intense fanbases in the world. In fact, their “Yellow Wall” section is the biggest in the world with 25,000 seat capacity. That’s more capacity than all of Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City and that’s just for one section. The ultras bring the firepower and the hype with their tifos or banners they put over the fans before the games with a message across with flares and pyrotechnics before the game. They play “You’ll Never Walk Alone” before games to get the atmosphere at a fever pitch, while also making their own songs for their club like “Heja BVB” and “Olé Jetzt kommt der BVB” for when they score goals. These fans do a very good job being the 12th man out there for Dortmund whether they are home or away as they travel well with the team, and I may be biased but they are the best fans in the world. 

Team Matchups:

Now speaking on teams, Dortmund is led by second-year manager Edin Terzić who has made a big impact on the club nearly taking them to the title. Bayern Munich is led by former Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel making his first game as manager back at Westfalenstadion. Tuchel has bounced around from different teams like Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain and landed here after his sacking from Chelsea. They are both in the top-4 with Bayern being second and Dortmund sitting in fourth. They have both been in good form with Dortmund not losing a single game in German soccer competition. But Bayern Munich hasn’t lost in the league however, they did lose to third-tier side Saabrucken in the DFB-Pokal competition. Borussia Dortmund has been struggling to score goals upfront at the striker but has made up for it with Julian Brandt and Donyell Malen picking up the slack. Bayern has way too much goal scoring with new signing Harry Kane already having 12 goals in the season. 

Midfielders for both clubs Bayern and Dortmund are both stacked. Whether it be Jamal Musiala, Joshua Kimmich, or Leon Goretzka for Bayern. Or legendary Marco Reus and Emre Can for Dortmund. Even if they get past them, they’ll have to try and get past the brick wall of Dortmund’s defense. They may be shaky at times but they bend and don’t break often. With giant Niklas Sule at 6’5 playing center back, my worries fade away. He’s not just the main highlight, Nico Schlotterbeck plays alongside him in defense and has been a star. The full-back department is not our biggest strength although Julian Ryerson and Marius Wolf can get it done when they need to. Bayern’s defense is plentiful in depth with Mattis de Ligt and Alphonso Davies leading. And for the first time in a while, Borussia Dortmund have a better keeper. Gregor Kobel the Swiss Sensation is an amazing shot-stopper but they’ll need to hope he’s healthy for the game since he suffered an injury against Eintracht Frankfurt. Manuel Neuer for Bayern is still a good play but not even close to his old prime.

Prediction Time:

Predicting a rivalry game is always the toughest because anything could happen. There’s more effort and strength put into a rivalry game because out of all the teams you want to beat them the most. This is well apparent here, but I’m going to predict it will be a very tough physical game where both teams are fighting to get a result. But Dortmund will pull off the upset and get their first win against Bayern since 2018. The score however I think will be 1-0 to Dortmund because of their tendency to pull off very tough and ugly games leading to a final second goal to finish it off.