Tuchel: Dortmund had to stop Bayern at all costs

The result means Bayern remain in second, which Dortmund move up to third on goal difference. While it’s true that the champions have already won the Supercup, and are top of the league heading into this weekend’s fixtures, the natives are a touch restless.

Dortmund are fifth in the table – six points shy of the defending champions, who visit Signal Iduna Park on Saturday for Der Klassiker.

“It’s the best game of the year, because it’s the hardest to win”.

In regards to the Bundesliga, Bayern’s next game will be against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.

Although it isn’t by any means catastrophic or even poor form, Bayern’s three draws from their last five Bundesliga matches against Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Koln respectively could potentially cause minor concern for fans used to winning nearly every week.

With such a big turnover of players, progress was never likely to be smooth, and a damaging injury list has hardly helped coach Thomas Tuchel. Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang was outstanding in that game as he scored four goals and made one assist. However, his first top-flight goals came against BVB in 2009. So, he may be called for his duty to start against the league leaders.

Alonso sent a spectacular effort against the underside of the crossbar as Bayern’s pressure mounted. Such form has been down to the likes of Robert Lewandowksi excelling in front of goal once again. He will be the first for Bayern to lead the attack upfront.

An acrobatic Thiago Alcantara effort was about as close as Bayern came to testing Roman Burki, until a rebound off Franck Ribery nearly sneaked inside the Swiss goalkeeper’s left-hand post.

USA: TV – Fox Network, GolTV. Both teams have played 10 matches so far.

The players seem to enjoy the tactical freedom under Ancelotti, but they also seem to lack the goal they had under Guardiola. “In this way, we will be able to give as good as we get technically and tactically”.

The odds were provided by Paddypower.

Bayern is undefeated in their last 20 league matches.

This a heavyweight fight, but this season there is more on the line for more people.

Dortmund vs Bayern kicks off at 5:30 pm GMT (11 pm IST, 12:30 pm EST) on November 19.

Bayern controlled long stretches but could not break down Dortmund’s defense.

The match can be streamed live online by clicking at this link.