Football Daily | Dortmund v Bayern Munich: will Der Klassiker live up to its name?

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THE CLASS(IC) SYSTEM

La Liga has El Clásico, France has Le Classique, and Argentina goes full gun with its Superclásico. English football has no true equivalent, with Liverpool and Manchester United fans unable to agree on a name for their grand-slam meetings. Up in the land of fitba, there’s this weekend’s 450th Old Firm/Glasgow derby (delete as applicable according to your stringency on Scottish company law). And Germany has Der Klassiker, between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. The Bundesliga marketing suits have been out in force this week for the one game, played on Saturday evening, that brings extra eyeballs. Though questions are often raised over whether this is a true, classic rivalry; Dortmund have not won a league title since Jürgen Klopp was making his rounds in 2012.

Since then, Bayern have celebrated a league title with lashings of weissbier outside the Rathaus every year save for 2024, when Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen went unbeaten to wear the crown. Dortmund v Bayern, is it a historic rivalry? Well, not really, since Bayern’s dominance of the Bundesliga goes back to 1968-69, when they succeeded Eintracht Braunschweig and Nürnberg as champions. The 1970s took in Borussia Mönchengladbach as their chief rivals, what with Günter Netzer, Allan Simonsen and all that.

It was not until the mid-90s that Dortmund, with two domestic titles and a Big Cup in 1997 (run Lars Ricken VT) realised the dreams of their vast fanbase. Here is where the needle began, with a spat between all-round nice guys Lothar Matthäus and Andy Möller in 1996 and then Oliver Kahn’s flying kick on Stéphane Chapuisat before biting Heiko Herrlich’s ear in 1999. All good stuff if you want to build up a deep-seated rivalry. After near-bankruptcy followed their 2002 Bundesliga triumph, it took Klopp’s heavy-metal thunder for Dortmund to upend Bayern. Since then, while FC Hollywood strut to repeated titles, Dortmund have become football’s leading kindergarten, a finishing school rather than a credible challenger.

This season, Bayern are eight points clear of Dortmund at the top, and only a win at the Westfalenstadion will prevent another procession. “For me, it’s always a title in its own right, even if people say we can’t win anything more now,” roared Vincent Kompany, ever the hype man. “These games are also important to the masses.” Kompany’s Bayern face a Dortmund team probably unable to believe what happened against Atalanta in Bigger Cup, Ramy Bensebaini’s swinging heel into Nikola Krstovic’s head a moment to have them waking up screaming in the night for decades. What might also keep Dortmund coach Niko Kovac awake is the prospect of facing Harry Kane, living up to the standards set by Robert Lewandowski in modern times and Gerd Müller in Bayern’s first golden era, scoring 45 goals in 37 matches for club and country this season. Truly best in class.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It’s not looking to the style now at this moment. The style needs to be in the second moment, because now it’s a question of life and death if I can say that in that way sportingly” – Igor Tudor, there, channelling Bill Shankly as he explains why Tottenham might not be wowing the league with whizzy play as they fight for top-flight survival.

I just hope the hapless Dortmund defender Ramy Bensebaini (yesterday’s Football Daily) does not follow my path. I too was directly responsible for four opposition goals in one game: one came from my taking a corner that curved behind every one of my teammates, allowing five of the other lot to advance on our puffing centre-back; another was me slicing a clearance so badly that instead of arcing down the touchline, it went at 90 degrees, landing at the feet of an opponent with enough time and space at the edge of our box for his own Grand Designs project. I never again played any form of competitive sport” – Michael Hann.

I feel compelled to point out that Ramy Bensebaini played left-sided centre-back of a back three against Atalanta rather than left-back (yesterday’s Football Daily). I noticed this because of the body language of his teammate Daniel Svensson each time Bensebaini recklessly served a goal up on Wednesday. Svensson was the recovering left wing-back at the Algerian’s side, head bowed and shoulders increasingly drooping” – Matthew Parham.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the collection of words at the bottom of Football Daily’s full email edition (that rarely makes any sense to me) are a form of the popular location app what3words and give the venue of that evening’s secret ‘drinks’ for the hard-working hacks. It hasn’t escaped me that, when there are more than three words, my theory sheds more water than something that sheds water” – Shaun.

Regarding yesterday’s last line ‘Hot Parents’ Chat Ahoy’ (full email edition), am I the only one wondering if it is the chat or the parents that are hot? Pray tell” – Martyn Shapter [neither – Football Daily Ed].

If you have any, please send letters to [email protected]. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Michael Hann. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.