Bundesliga: Dortmund Welcome the Champions Thinking ‘What If’

Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen

When Bayer Leverkusen arrive at Signal Iduna Park this Sunday, they may well receive a guard of honour from their hosts.

Such an accolade would be richly deserved for the newly crowned Bundesliga champions—the champions of Germany for the first time in their history.

Yet as sporting as it’s hoped Dortmund will be, it is hard to avoid what the most obvious thought will be amongst many of the home contingent: ‘this could and perhaps should have been us’.

Talking Points

It’s just under 11 months since Edin Terzic’s men were pipped to the title in the most devastating fashion.

The onus was simple. Win at home to Mainz, and the crown was theirs.

Of course, we now know that didn’t happen, and their 2-2 draw, coupled with Bayern Munich’s last-gasp victory at Cologne, ensured the Bavarians clinched an 11th successive title.

It meant Dortmund were the nearly men of German football yet again.

The club has, naturally, struggled to recover from that moment, and, when these clubs met in December, I mentioned that Leverkusen had to deal with their own’monkey on their back’ as they attempted to shake off their ‘Neverkusen’ tag.

Well, my word, under the direction of Xavi Alonso, they have done just that.

At the time of writing, they remain unbeaten at home and aboard and have delivered Bundesliga 2024 highlights aplenty, 16 points clear, dropping just eight points, winning 25 of their 29 league matches and drawing the other four.

To outline how impressive they have been, Leverkusen have not tasted defeat since they lost 3-0 to Bochum on the final day of last season—44 games ago.

It seems unfair to single out anyone in a true team effort, but among the stars have been wing-backs Álex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong, who have contributed a barely fathomable 50 goals and assists between them so far.

Meanwhile, Florian Wirtz has the potential to be one of the best young players in the game and showed as much with a hat-trick in a title-clinching win over Werder Bremen.

When they became Bundesliga champions for the first time in their 120-year history, the full-time whistle signalled a pandemonium of sprinting hordes, red flare smoke, and the vanishing green grass.

Perhaps the most poignant motif was the sheer number of grown men still sitting in their seats, quietly weeping. That was what it meant, and the champions deserve a respectful reception when they take to the pitch.

There are now signs of Dortmund getting over last season’s heartache, and that was evident in midweek as they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.

It was a night when Dortmund deserved all the plaudits for scoring twice in five first-half minutes to put themselves in charge of the tie and then responding again with two in three after it seemed Atletico had wrestled back control.

Marcel Sabitzer, with two assists and the winning goal on the night, was a quietly effective performer while on loan at Manchester United in the second half of last season but was deemed surplus to requirements at Bayern Munich before he moved to Dortmund.

He, Julian Brandt, and Niclas Fullkrug were among the stars on an incredible evening that will go down in Dortmund history.

They now aim to follow Leverkusen’s lead and make their own history.

History

It was in October 1951 in the former Oberliga West when these sides first met. On that occasion, Dortmund led 2-0 before Leverkusen fought back to earn a draw.

Since 1979, all their meetings have come in the top flight, and Dortmund have had the edge, both in those games and overall, with 45 victories compared to Leverkusen’s 33. A further 26 matches have ended level.

Two seasons ago, this clash produced a seven-goal thriller.

Despite twice trailing, Dortmund came back to record a 4-3 success, helped by an Erling Haaland double.

Leverkusen have only won three of their last 13 clashes.

Last season, Dortmund won this meeting 2-0 with goals from Karim Adeyemi and Edmond Tapsoba in the BayArena.

Dortmund also won 1-0 at home on the opening day of last season, courtesy of a 10^th-minute Marcos Reus goal.

Their meeting in December ended 1-1 as Victor Boniface (79) and Julian Ryerson (5) traded goals.

Betting Tip

Given their league position, Dortmund need the points more.

The SBOTOP Bundesliga 2024 betting odds price them 1X2 @ 2.31 and Asian Handicap 0.00 @ 0.85 with Leverkusen available 1X2 @ 2.58 and Asian Handicap 0.00 @ 0.95.

Another 1-1 draw will pay out @ 6.30, whereas goals aplenty amongst two sides who like to attack throws up options such as over 3.25 @ -0.98 and total goal 4-6 @ 2.47.

I have considered a draw, on offer @ 3.57, but am going to edge towards total goal 2-3 @ 2.14 as my prediction.

 

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