Debate all you want about the pros and cons of the Bundesliga's winter break, but it sure is a buzzkill. Granted, Germany's first division hasn't featured an exciting race at the top, but that's exactly why we missed it. Borussia Dortmund has been destroying their competition, 10 points ahead of second place at the season's half-way mark. At 2:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Borussia visits one of their pursuers, ringing in the season's second half at BayArena against Bayer Leverkusen.
Should Bayer hand BVB their third loss, they'd be withing seven points, and sporting the league's second best attack along with an undefeated streak born in October, Jupp Heynckes's squad has reason for optimism, particularly given the result of the clubs' first meeting. Then, on the season's first match day, Bayer went to Dortmund, got early goals from Tranquillo Barnetta and Renato Augusto to post a 0-2 win, after which Borussia won 14 out of 15 matches.
Set to kick-off at the bottom of the hour, the match starts the comeback weekend for German fussball - nine league matches putting the end to a painfully long winter break. You can read about the rest of the weekend match-ups here (thanks to Ben Schneider), but as for today, SB Nation Soccer will be bringing you blow-by-blow commentary on the happenings in Leverkusen (also available on ESPN3.com).