DFB Pokal Final Preview: Borussia Dortmund- FC Bayern München

Trips to Berlin are always fun. Bayern scored six the last time they visited the Olympiastadion, Hertha's home ground.

Hertha themselves have a two-legged play-off to contest against Düsseldorf to stay up in the Bundesliga.

Bayern and Dortmund will take to the pitch on Saturday, May 12th, for the final game of the German season. The two best teams have made it as the stats would show it but just one of them really has a score to settle.

Let's take a look back to April 2008: Ottmar Hitzfeld was the coach of Bayern back then. Bayern took on Dortmund in the Pokal finale in Berlin. Bayern led throughout the match through a Luca Toni goal but Dortmund equalized in the 90th minute. The match went to extra time when Die Roten took the title through another Toni goal. That match capped off a superb double winning season for Bayern.

Shortly afterwards in the Bundesliga, Bayern took Dortmund out to the cleaners in front of the fans dressed in Black and Yellow. That day in September 2009, Mats Hummels opened the scoring early on and the home fans went berserk. Franck Ribéry, Mario Gomez and Bastian Schweinsteiger all netted to put the match to bed before a superb Thomas Müller struck twice as Bayern demolished BVB.

Bayern won their last domestic titles in Berlin.

Their triumph in the Bundesliga in 2010 saw them pick up the trophy in Berlin. That day, Bayern beat Hertha 1-3 to consign the side to the second division. Those days in Berlin are all the fans have to look back in terms of glory days. The last year was bare and this season could turn out to be too—unless Bayern puts Dortmund and Chelsea to the sword.

The last four meetings have seen Bayern lose.

Last season, the defeats were much deserved in two one sided matches which saw Dortmund triumph 2-0 and 1-3. This season, the meetings were both close affairs. Dortmund took the first game 0-1 at the Allianz Arena at a time when Bayern was eight points clear at the top. Bayern dominated that match but was unable to take their chances. They didn't have too may great chances but had plenty of half-chances.

In the second meeting, Dortmund was fortunate to come away with a 1-0 victory despite the fact that they dictated play for about an hour. They scored against the run of play through Robert Lewandowski. Arjen Robben proceeded to miss a penalty and miss from about three-yards out as the match drew to a close. That match effectively handed Dortmund the Bundesliga title.

If Dortmund does proceed to win this match, this will be the first double in club history. Not everything is right at the club with Shinji Kagawa having labeled Robert Lewandowski selfish. Kagawa's future is undecided. Dortmund fans are awaiting with abated breath to find out where their Japanese star will be heading. The player himself has declined to reveal where his future lies ahead of the Pokal final.

In terms of injury, Dortmund will be without veteran Patrick Owomoyela. For Bayern, almost everybody is ready to go. There are no updates on Daniel Van Buyten yet but he wouldn't have started in any case right after coming back from injury. Lucas Barrios, by the way, is leaving Dortmund for an adventure in China and Danijel Pranjic will perhaps be going down the same road.

Bayern has a brilliant record in the Pokal. They have won the competition 15 times. In the last three seasons, Bayern has won every match except for last season's meeting with Schalke in the semi-finals. There is one person who will be playing in the final barring injury who has a medal from last year: Manuel Neuer.

Neuer is one of the biggest reasons why Bayern is playing two finals at the end of the season. His saves when Bayern was caught on the break against Gladbach in the semis were brilliant. He also made saves in the penalty shootout which Bayern won 4-2. The disappointment etched on the faces of the Gladbach players and fans is unforgettable. Bayern celebrated a lot after the match—it clearly meant a lot to reach the final.

Dortmund's campaign in the cup has had a few blips. They needed to go to extra time in both the Round of 16 and semi-finals to fend off Dusseldorf and Greuther Furth respectively. Bayern, by those standards, have had a great campaign. They started off with a 0-3 win over Braunschweig. A 6-0 win over Ingolstadt followed.

Bayern then beat Bochum 1-2. That was the most exciting match Bayern played in the Pokal as far as I am concerned. Bochum took the lead and defended well until Toni Kroos broke through for Bayern in the second half. Bayern then scored the winner through Arjen Robben in the final minute of the match. In the quarters, Bayern beat Stuttgart 0-2. And in the semis, they fended off a side that beat them twice in the league, Mönchengladbach.

In terms of lineups, I don't expect any major changes for both sides.

For Dortmund:

Roman Weidenfeller

Lukasz Piszczek - Mats Hummels - Neven Subotic - Marcel Schmelzer

Sven Bender - Sebastian Kehl

Mario Götze - Shinji Kagawa - Ivan Perisic

Robert Lewandowski

For Bayern:

Manuel Neuer

Philipp Lahm - Holger Badstuber/Jerome Boateng - Anatoliy Tymoshchuk - Diego Contento

Bastian Schweinsteiger - Toni Kroos

Arjen Robben - Thomas Müller - Franck Ribéry

Mario Gomez

The reason I feel Heynckes might rest Boateng is because he is Bayern's only fit and available central defender for the Champions League final. Tymoshchuk needs more match practice in defence. Müller has been playing really well. He has appeared in all of Bayern's Bundesliga matches this season. He is the ever present attacker. He hasn't started all games but has appeared in some role in everyone of them. Luiz Gustavo has recovered from the slight niggle that kept him out of last week's Bundesliga game against Köln and could feature.

According to Uli Hoeness, Bayern feels that both finals are equally important. He is actually being truthful considering that Bayern always serves up a treat for their fans. While Chelsea got hammered by Liverpool looking ahead to the CL final, Bayern beat Stuttgart, Koln and Bremen in three meaningless Bundesliga games.

So, who will win? As much as I hate saying this, I think Dortmund will. They have done it four times and have shown that they can definitely do it a fifth time. The only strategy that works against Bayern is pressing and Dortmund can do this all the time. It will be close but Dortmund will win the Pokal.

Prediction: Dortmund 2-0 Bayern