Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund vs Borussia Mönchengladbach

Hello and welcome one and all to DW’s coverage of a mouthwatering Matchday 1 encounter with Dortmund and Gladbach set to meet in the ‘Battle of the Borussias’ (kick-off 18:30 CEST/15:30 GMT/10:30 ET). DW’s match blog goes live 90 minutes before the first whistle, until then we’ve got you covered with a look at all the pre-match angles.

Read more: How can Borussia Dortmund win the Bundesliga

Fun fact

Dortmund have won their last ten Bundesliga matches against the other Borussia, which is BVB’s longest current winning run against any opponent. It began on Matchday 1 of 2015/16 with a 4-0 home victory.

Pre-match spotlight: Jadon Sancho

Having rebuffed the advances of Manchester United throughout the summer, Dortmiund have retained Jadon Sancho’s services for the 2020-21 campaign. Sancho had a hand in 34 Bundesliga goals last season (17 goals, 17 assists) – something the likes of Marco Reus, Robert Lewandowski or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang never achieved.

Fun fact:

Scoring at a clip of a goal every 82 minutes in Germany’s top flight, Erling Haaland looks set to give Robert Lewandowski a run for his money to be Bundesliga top scorer in 2020-21. He did, however, draw a blank against Gladbach when these sides met in March.

Pre-match spotlight: Marcus Thuram

Gladbach’s frontline has been hard hit by injury coming into the new season and, with Alassane Plea and Breel Embolo out injured, Thuram is Gladbach’s last hope. The Frenchman, who netted 10 goals in his debut season, made his return from an ankle operation in the German Cup 1st Round.

Fun fact

While Lucien Favre boasts the best points-per-game record of any Dortmund head coach with 145 points from his 68 games in charge, his counterpart Marco Rose has the best win rate in Gladbach history after his debut season saw the Foals win 59 per cent of league games.

From the coaches’ mouth: Lucien Favre

“Everyone is looking forward to the return of the fans. We want to give our best and have a very, very good season. We can play several different systems and will continue training to make sure we have two or three solutions to every situation. “

From the coaches’ mouth: Marco Rose

“We’re excited to see 10,000 fans in the stands on Saturday. We go to Dortmund full of confidence and want to get a result. Personnel-wise, we’re not in the best position, but the team already showed at the back end of last season that we’re capable of dealing with that.”

Read more: Bundesliga taking a big risk with fans returning

Fun fact

Do Dortmund have that winning gene? In the 2019/20 campaign BVB dropped points against Union Berlin, Mainz and relegated Paderborn. The season before that it was results against Düsseldorf, Augsburg and the relegated duo of Hannover 96 and Nürnberg, which proved costly.

Possible line-up: Borussia Dortmund

Bürki – Can, Hummels, Akanji – Meunier, Bellingham, Witsel, Hazard – Sancho, Reyna – Haaland

Possible line-up: Borussia Mönchengladbach

Sommer – Lainer, Elvedi, Ginter, Wendt – Kramer, Neuhaus – Wolf, Hofmann, Thuram – Stindl

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/bundesliga-borussia-dortmund-vs-borussia-m%C3%B6nchengladbach/a-54981964?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf