FC Bayern Munich: A Look Back at the Derby and a Look Ahead to Dortmund

Derbies are tight affairs; they are all about bragging rights. Augsburg came into the match unbeaten in their last six, but left with a loss and plenty of pride. Bastian Schweinsteiger shunned questions meant to disrespect Augsburg after the match.

Schweinsteiger managed to feature for 90 minutes without picking up any knocks for the first time since October 2011. Bayern scored after only 24.3 seconds through Mario Gomez, who was set up by the brilliant Franck Ribery. Bayern almost sat back on the lead and rightfully conceded midway through the first half through Koo Ja Cheol. In the second half, the Bavarians took control once again and scored the winner when Arjen Robben set up Gomez to grab his second of the game.

Here are some thoughts from the overall performance:

The attack in the first half was poor. Passes were played too early or too late. In the first half at one point, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk was trying to pass to Bastian. Schweinsteiger was trying to find a good spot on the pitch to receive the pass, but seemed unable to do so. Tymoshchuk then ended up passing the ball sideways. The Ukrainian is a good DM and a good passer. He is good at breaking up play too.

However, he is anything but a "creative spark." Toni Kroos had been rested for this one, but came on in the 52nd minute. Jupp Heynckes' very own pass master changed the flow of the game. The attack started looking like it has in recent weeks. Chance after chance came Bayern's way, and Gomez eventually grabbed one.

Gomez's link-up play has improved quite a bit since he scored a brilliant goal against Hannover. He can find teammates in promising positions on the pitch, and he is now seemingly more than a goal-getter. Speaking of goals, the goal that Ja Cheol scored was the result of a combination of poor play between Jerome Boateng and Manuel Neuer.

Boateng failed to cut out the shot in what was an otherwise steady performance while Neuer failed to save the weak shot. Neuer on his day is brilliant, but he isn't the most consistent of keepers. There is nobody better than Neuer in goal at the moment but even he knew he had made a mistake. His relief was evident when Gomez grabbed the winner.

Philipp Lahm is one of the best fullbacks in the world currently, if not the best. Lahm, however, moves forward a few too many times. While Lahm does aid the attack to no end, he does leave a gap behind that can be exploited. Augsburg almost caught him out once but the central defenders bailed him out. The captain perhaps might need to be a tad more careful in the future.

So now, we sit two days away from a blockbuster between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munchen. Dortmund won 1-3 against Wolfsburg to maintain their three point advantage over Bayern. Dortmund has been functioning without their best player, Mario Goetze, in recent weeks. Ilkay Guendogan has started matches recently and has performed well. Goetze has returned to training and might feature on Wednesday.

BVB is, as we all know by now, a young team brimming with talent. Their head coach has taught them to play in a way which seeks to tire their opponents out, allowing their own attackers more and more space as the match progresses to land a killer blow. On Match-day 28, they drew 4-4 against Stuttgart in what has perhaps been the best game of the Bundesliga season so far.

In that match, BVB showed their vulnerability. With 20 minutes remaining, they allowed a 2-0 lead to turn into a 2-3 deficit. They came back to lead 4-3 only for Christian Gentner to grab a late equalizer for Stuttgart. The equalizer came as a result of Mats Hummels totally mistiming a header and afterwards colliding with Marcel Schmelzer, leaving Gentner unmarked.

Expect Sven Bender to come back into the Dortmund lineup for this one. He is the one BVB relies on to break up their play.

Robert Lewandowski is in the form of his life. He struck twice against Wolfsburg to take his season's tally to 19, six behind leader Gomez. Dortmund has conceded more goals than Bayern this season (22 compared to 19 for Bayern) and scored less goals (66 compared to Bayern's 69).

This means that Bayern has a better goal difference, and with a win on Wednesday, will lead the Bundesliga table. A loss will see Bayern go six points behind Dortmund and basically lose the title. While both Juergen Klopp and Jupp Heynckes both feel that this is not the title decider, both conceded the importance of this match in their post-match interviews.

BVB has won three straight times against Bayern now. Last season's 2-0 and 1-3 victories were followed up with a 0-1 victory at the Allianz Arena this season. Bayern, as expected, dominated the match, but failed to create clear chances due to the absence of Bastian Schweinsteiger. BVB grabbed a goal through Mario Goetze, but did not quite bulldoze Bayern as they had done last season.

According to Dortmund's CEO Hans Joachim Watzke, Bayern's mind games are laughable. Funnily enough, Bayern really hasn't delved into mind games this time around. They are concentrating on the run-in ahead of them, with five games in the Bundesliga, two Champions League matches and a German Cup final ahead of them. Watzke had claimed before the start of the season that Bayern would definitely end the season as champions.

Bayern will perhaps field their strongest lineup in this game and then rest starters against Mainz ahead of the clash against Real Madrid on 17th March. This will perhaps be the lineup:

Manuel Neuer

Philipp Lahm- Jerome Boateng- Holger Badstuber- David Alaba

Bastian Schweinsteiger- Toni Kroos

Arjen Robben- Thomas Mueller- Franck Ribery

Mario Gomez

Bayern has had a fine run recently with nine wins under their name. Their is plenty riding on this game, and Bayern genuinely comes into this game looking like they can win the match. Recent matches against BVB have not gone their way, and perhaps being too optimistic isn't right. Bayern's largest victory in the Bundesliga came against BVB. The score was 11-1. Funnily enough, their largest defeat came against Schalke. They conceded seven on that particular occasion.

Will Bayern win this game? Let me hear your thoughts.

All thoughts of managers, players and co courtesy of goal.com and bundesliga.de