The penultimate Bundesliga round produced another huge twist in the tightest Bundesliga title race in recent memory as Bayern Munich were humbled 3-1 at home by Leipzig. The day after Bayern’s defeat, Borussia Dortmund rocked up in Bavaria to claim a convincing 3-0 win over a ten-man Augsburg and subsequently reclaim their own Meisterschale fate! The title equation is now simple, win here and Dortmund will break Bayern’s ten-year stranglehold on the German top-flight.
Dortmund boss Edin Terzić was philosophical in his assessment of the final day, stating that his players can have whatever material possessions they want, but they “can’t buy this moment”. Coming into this monumental clash with their longest home winning streak in this century (W11) now means it would take a brave soul to back against Dortmund becoming German champions for a ninth time.
Trying to spoil the title celebrations will be Bo Svensson’s ninth-placed Mainz, a side that will most likely end the season in ninth if they lose this match, unless tenth-placed Cologne pull off a handsome victory over Bayern. The 05ers looked a credible threat to the European places not so long ago, yet they’ve followed up a ten-game unbeaten run of league games with four straight defeats in what is undoubtedly a tepid end to what seemed a promising campaign.
Hitting the road is unlikely to spark any great resurgence on the final day either after back-to-back 3-0 away humblings against the two sides sitting directly above them. In a curious twist, Mainz did Dortmund a favour earlier in the campaign by defeating Bayern 3-1, and Bayern will now pray that Mainz will build on a respectable record across their last three trips to Dortmund (W1, D1, L1) and return the favour.
Players to watch: With his brace last weekend, Dortmund’s Sébastien Haller made it nine Bundesliga goals since beating cancer earlier in the season, a run which includes five goals in his last three games! Mainz may need their top league scorer Marcus Ingvartsen (G10) to get the ball rolling after four of his last six goals served to open the scoring for his side.
Hot stat: Last season saw every Bundesliga team on the final day score at least one goal, a scenario that has also occurred in five of the last six league games here between Dortmund and Mainz.
