Gladbach vs. Borussia Dortmund: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info
At long last, the Bundesliga returns from its five-week hiatus at the weekend, and Matchday 18 has a tasty matchup in store: Borussia Monchengladbach host Borussia Dortmund on Saturday evening.
While there's no such thing as a "Borussia derby"—despite the homonomy—it's one of the classic Bundesliga ties between two clubs that have been shaping the German top flight for decades.
Saturday's edition will be an especially interesting one: Following the winter break, there's always a level of uncertainty, as form shown in practice matches is tough to gauge.
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The hosts lost their last friendly against 2. Bundesliga side VfL Bochum 5-2 last Saturday, while the Black and Yellows impressed in a 3-1 win over Czech outfit Sparta Prague on Tuesday.
Gladbach will try to make amends for a 4-0 loss to Dortmund on the opening matchday of the season, although a lot has changed for them since that day in August.
Most importantly, the Foals had to make an unexpected coaching change, after long-serving head coach Lucien Favre resigned from his post in September following five consecutive defeats to start the Bundesliga campaign.
The club from the lower Rhine tabbed Andre Schubert as Favre's successor, and the 44-year-old has turned things around: Since he took over, only Bayern Munich have won more points than his Gladbach side, per local paper Rheinische Post (link in German).
If that isn't impressive enough, the Foals are also the only team to have beaten the Bavarian giants in the Bundesliga this season so far.
The visitors, meanwhile, are in a comfortable position going into Saturday's encounter. Sitting second in the table, their nine-point advantage over fourth-placed Gladbach means a draw will be enough to keep them at a distance.
They're warned, however, as BVB haven't won at Gladbach since October 2009.
Date: Saturday, January 23
Time: 5.30 p.m. GMT/12.30 a.m. ET/6.30 p.m. local time
Venue: Borussia-Park, Monchengladbach
TV Info: BT Sport Europe (UK only)/FS 2 (U.S. only)
Live Stream: BT Sport Live Streaming (UK only)/Fox Soccer 2Go (U.S. only)
Form Guide
| Gladbach | Dortmund |
| Bayern: Win (3-1) | Wolfsburg: Win (2-1) |
| Man City: Loss (4-2) | PAOK: Loss (1-0) |
| Leverkusen: Loss (5-0) | Frankfurt: Win (4-1) |
| Bremen: Loss (3-4) | Augsburg: Win (2-0) |
| Darmstadt: Win (3-2) | Cologne: Loss (2-1) |
Predicted Lineups
Monchengladbach
Predicted starting XI: Sommer; Korb, Christensen, Hinteregger, Wendt; Nordtveit, Dahoud; Traore, Johnson; Raffael, Stindl.
Granit Xhaka will miss the game with a suspension following his sending-off against SV Darmstadt on the final matchday of 2015. Havard Nordtveit will likely replace him in central midfield.
Alvaro Dominguez, Tony Jantschke, Patrick Herrmann, Nico Schulz and Andre Hahn are all still out with long-term injuries. Newly signed Austrian centre-back Martin Hinteregger is set to get the start for Dominguez, with Nico Elvedi the other option.
Jonas Hofmann, who moved to Gladbach from Dortmund earlier in January, could start instead of Ibrahima Traore or Fabian Johnson on either wing.
Dortmund
Predicted starting XI: Burki; Piszczek, Sokratis, Hummels, Park; Gundogan, Weigl, Castro; Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Reus.
Marcel Schmelzer and Sven Bender will likely miss the game after only returning to team training this week following muscle problems. Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Park Joo-ho will likely get the starts in their place.
Lukasz Piszczek seems to have taken back his regular starting spot at right-back, as his main competition, Matthias Ginter, hasn't played there at all during any of the friendlies.
Shinji Kagawa missed the practice match against Sparta with an illness and only did individual work on Thursday, but he could be available for the game, per Stefan Schauble of German TV station Sky Sport News.
German magazine Kicker reported in their Thursday edition, however, that Gonzalo Castro would've been the favourite to start in midfield regardless of the Japanese's status, after impressing in the Dubai training camp.
Players to Watch
If Hofmann gets to start against his former team-mates, expect him to be desperate to prove he should've received more playing time under head coach Thomas Tuchel. He said, per tabloid Bild (link in German)—in good fun, of course—that hurting his former club would be a dream come true.
With the 23-year-old somewhat unlikely to start, however, let's focus on Brazilian attacker Raffael. One of the perpetually underrated players in the Bundesliga, the 30-year-old was involved in 14 goals (six goals, eight assists) during the first half of the season.
A very good technician with creative ideas, he's awkward to play against as a defender.
The game is a return for Dortmund's Marco Reus, meanwhile, who emerged as a Bundesliga star with the Foals between 2009 and '12. Per Transfermarkt.co.uk, he's scored thrice in five meetings with his former club, but he has yet to score (and win, as stated above) at Gladbach.
Key Battles
Park Joo-ho vs. Gladbach's Right-Winger
Park's performances at left-back in the first half of the season weren't overly convincing, and it's likely Gladbach will identify him as the weak link and try to take advantage.
Traore is the more skilful player than Hofmann and could try to dribble directly at the South Korean, while Hofmann's athleticism could give the 29-year-old some trouble especially in counter-attacking situations.
Dortmund could look to shield their left side of defence with Henrikh Mkhitaryan playing on the left, as he's more active when the opposition has the ball than Reus.
Dortmund's Midfield vs. Gladbach's Pressing
Dortmund have shown that the best—maybe even only for teams other than Bayern—way for teams to beat them is to press them in buildup play, force turnovers and try to hit them on the counter.
While the Foals aren't a team that presses relentlessly, they did just that with "great effect in arguably the best performance by any German team this year, Gladbach’s 3-1 dismantling of Bayern," as Dustin Ward noted for StatsBomb.com.
If Dortmund manage to beat Gladbach's press, opportunities to score will come. Saturday's hosts have conceded 30 goals this season, and the 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen in December showed their defence can be overwhelmed.
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Monchengladbach: 347-100
Draw: 3-1
Dortmund: 50-63
Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for Yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
