The fans of Dortmund on the south tribune celebraet their team during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Nuernberg at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by Christof Koepsel/Bongarts/Getty Images)
The Bundesliga returns with some midweek action, and we potentially have the game of the season: Borussia Dortmund host Bayern Munich.
Battle For The Championship: Borussia Dortmund Host Bayern Munich
Borussia Dortmund host Bayern Munich in the potential title decider. Do you feel that? On my arm? Those are goosebumps.
A win by Dortmund will put them six points ahead of Bayern Munich with only four matches left to play. A 3-0 victory would see them eliminate any goal differential advantage held by Bayern. It would also take all of the pressure off of the club heading into matches the following two weeks against Schalke and Borussia Mönchengladbach. The win also leads Bayern into focusing all of their attention on the Champions League tie with Real Madrid.
A win by Bayern pulls them level on points with Dortmund with a greater goal differential. Bayern also has an easier schedule of remaining games, so they have an additional advantage over Dortmund. All of the pressure in the world would then be on Dortmund to win against Schalke and Gladbach.
The stars will be out. The world will be watching. The two best Bundesliga sides will put on a show.
Relegation Battle Coming Down To The Wire
There's only one thing I feel comfortable in stating right now about relegation: Enjoy the 2.Bundesliga Kaiserslautern.
Otherwise, we could be in for quite the entertaining final five matchdays.
Eleventh place and seventeenth place are separated by a total of six points. This means that every match featuring Mainz, Nürnberg, Freiburg, Hamburg, Augsburg, Köln, and Hertha Berlin will have that lovely desperation stench to it.
I'm interested to see if Thorsten Fink is able to keep Hamburg in the Bundesliga. Their final three matches are against fellow relegation candidates Nürnberg, Mainz, and Augsburg. That will be three weeks in a row of must-win matches for Fink's side. Is he the manager we though he was? We'll know at the end of this season.
Europa League Race Remains Tight
Stuttgart was the only team battling for a Europa League spot that won this weekend. However, every point is valuable, and no team knows that better than Hoffenheim. The Hoff has somehow survived several stretches of just pure terrible football, and now are only four points out of a Europa league spot. Their last three matches saw them pick up all three points on the road against Borussia Mönchengladbach, one point at home to Schalke, and three points away to Kaiserslautern.
Just a month ago, Bayern thrashed Hoffenheim 7-1. Where did this fight come from? Seven points in their last three matches? Really? We can start with the play of midfielder Sejad Salihovic. The midfielder has been good-bordering-great over the last several weeks. With four of the their last five matches against sides in the bottom third of the table, I think you have to say they do.
Fixtures
Tuesday, April 10
Augsburg vs Stuttgart- 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
Mainz vs Köln- 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
Werder Bremen vs Borussia Mönchengladbach- 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
Hertha Berlin vs Freiburg - 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
Wednesday, April 11
Bayer Leverkusen vs Kaiserslautern - 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
Hannover 96 vs Wolfsburg- 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich - 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
Nürnberg vs Schalke - 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
Hoffenheim vs Hamburg - 20:00 CET & 2:00 PM EST
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