Press Association
Bayern Munich’s headline clash with Borussia weekend has become something of an anti-climax, given the Bavarians’ record-breaking run to the title.
Bayern sealed the title two games ago and they have not won in the Bundesliga since.
Last weekend's defeat to Augsburg ended a 53-game unbeaten run in the league while Wednesday night's win over Manchester United in the Champions League showed where their priorities now lie.
Most of the attraction of what before the season was seen as a potentially decisive fixture in the race for the title has therefore disappeared, although an off-field battle has ignited between the clubs which should ensure fireworks on it all the same this Saturday evening.
Bayern have claimed they saved Dortmund from financial ruin in 2004, something which Dortmund’s general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke has denied.
“To put it diplomatically, what Mr Watzke is claiming is completely untrue,” Bayern director and potential new president Karl Hopfner said.
Dortmund can therefore not expect any gifts in a clash which could be a dress rehearsal for the DFB-Pokal final.
Dortmund face Wolfsburg and Bayern host Kaiserslautern in the semi-finals, and that competition now provides the Westphalians with their only chance of silverware this season.
Elsewhere, the chase to join them both in next season’s Champions League continues with Schalke able to all but seal their berth with a win over Eintracht Frankfurt, leaving Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg scrapping for fourth.
In-form Gladbach host struggling Stuttgart, when they can open up a three-point gap ahead of Leverkusen, who entertain Hertha Berlin with Sascha Lewandowski on their bench for the first time.
Leverkusen could have slipped to sixth by then with Wolfsburg able to rise above them by beating Nuremberg.
Mainz are not out of the running yet either and they can keep up the pressure with victory over Werder Bremen, while Augsburg, fresh from ending Bayern’s record run, travel to Hoffenheim trying to boost their own chances of playing in Europe next season.
The big game at the bottom of the table takes place in Freiburg, where bottom-placed Eintracht Braunschweig are the guests.
Finally, Hannover and Hamburg meet in another key relegation battle at the Niedersachsenstadion.
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