Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich: Team News, Preview, Live Stream & TV Info

The attention of the world will be upon German football on Saturday evening when Bayern Munich make the long trip north to face Borussia Dortmund in front of a packed Westfalenstadion for the first Der Klassiker of 2015. 

Bayern manager Pep Guardiola's side may be at the top of the Bundesliga table by a comfortable 10 points, but a win in Dortmund would go some way to confirming the Bavarian champions as the quintessential side in the Bundesliga this season, while making sure Wolfsburg keep their distance in second. 

Similarly, opposing manager Jurgen Klopp's side would be lucky to take anything from such a tie following a season of turmoil that has seen the former German champions toil with relegation and drop out of the Champions League at the first knockout round. 

This may not be the most prominent Bayern Munich squad—with a host of first-team players missing—but it is still strongly favoured to overcome a hurt and broken Dortmund team for the second time this season. 

Date: Saturday, April 4

Time: 5:30 p.m. BST, 12:30 p.m. EST

Venue: Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany

Television: BT Sport 1 (UK only), Fox Sports (U.S. only)

Streaming: BT Sport online (UK only), Fox Sports online (U.S. only)

Form

Borussia Dortmund	Bayern Munich
Hannover - Win	Gladbach - Loss
Cologne - Draw	Werder Bremen - Win
Hamburg - Draw	Hannover - Win
Schalke - Win	Cologne - Win
Stuttgart - Win	Paderborn - Win

Expected Lineups

The home side are expected to start with a traditional back four in front of Roman Weidenfeller—Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Marcel Schmelzer at right- and left-back, respectively, with Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels as the central defensive partnership. 

In midfield, we should see a trio of Sven Bender, Sebastian Kehl and Ilkay Gundogan while Nuri Sahin remains out injured, with Marco Reus on the left wing and Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the right. As such, we should assume that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will continue to keep his role as the lone striker. 

For Bayern, we should see Manuel Neuer in goals behind a back four of Rafinha, Jerome Boateng, Mehdi Benatia and Juan Bernat. Meanwhile, Xabi Alonso should hold the central midfield position with every option of splitting the two central defenders. 

In front of him, we should see Bastian Schweinsteiger partner with either Sebastian Rode or Philipp Lahm—probably the former as the latter still gains match fitness—while Mario Gotze and Thomas Muller flank Robert Lewandowski on either wing. 

Key Players

Mats Hummels

Although Dortmund will be expected to counter-attack with all the ferocity and precision that once made them the best in the country, Klopp will be far more intent on making sure that his defence performs to its best ability on the day. 

As such, Dortmund will look to Hummels as their natural leader in spirit and ability as he vanquishes one Bayern attack after another. The black and yellows may function in defence without Hummels, but they don't truly thrive unless he's at the top of his game.

Should he offer such a performance, it'll take an extraordinary effort on Bayern's behalf to surpass Weidenfeller's goal. 

Thomas Muller

With Arjen Robben missing in action and most likely watching Saturday's game from the higher stands of the Westfalenstadion, the intent of Bayern's attack will be solely placed upon Muller—Bayern's irregular goalscorer and undoubtedly one of their greatest assets. 

The German international may not be as slick as his Dutch counterpart, but he always tends to thrive against the very toughest of opposition. Should Muller start on Saturday, we can expect him to be among those involved in the chances in front of the Dortmund goal, at the very least. 

Odds (per OddsShark.com)

Dortmund: +245

Draw: +227

Bayern Munich: +120