Borussia Dortmund vs. Ingolstadt: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info
Borussia Dortmund host FC Ingolstadt on Matchday 19 of the 2015/16 Bundesliga season on Saturday.
The Black and Yellows' first home match of 2016 will also be the first encounter with FCI in Signal Iduna Park, since the Bavarians are playing their first campaign in the German top flight.
The hosts will look to keep their impressive streak in front of their own fans going, having won 11 of their last 12 league games at home (with one draw against SV Darmstadt). After beating Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 on the first matchday of the calendar year, spirits are high.
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Saturday's visitors also won their first game after the winter break, beating FSV Mainz 1-0. Sitting 10th in the table with a nine-point advantage over the first direct relegation spot—the Schanzer—as the fans call their club, can be very happy with their maiden season in the Bundesliga.
Ingolstadt won their first three away games, but have since gone six without a win away from home.
Dortmund beat Ingolstadt in the first meeting of the two clubs in August 4-0, but the newly promoted side held their own for the first half in their first top-flight home match: All four goals came in the second period.
Date: Saturday, January 30
Time: 2.30 p.m. GMT/9.30 a.m. ET/3.30 p.m. local time
Venue: Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund
TV Info: FS 2 (U.S. only)
Live Stream: Fox Soccer 2Go (U.S. only)
Form Guide
| Dortmund | Ingolstadt |
| PAOK: Loss (1-0) | Hannover: Loss (4-0) |
| Frankfurt: Win (4-1) | Hoffenheim: Draw (1-1) |
| Augsburg: Win (2-0) | Munich: Loss (2-0) |
| Cologne: Loss (2-1) | Leverkusen: Loss (1-0) |
| Gladbach: Win (3-1) | Mainz: Win (1-0) |
Predicted Lineups
Dortmund
Predicted starting XI: Burki; Piszczek, Sokratis, Hummels, Schmelzer; Gundogan, Weigl, Castro; Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Reus.
Marcel Schmelzer missed team training on Thursday with neck problems and is questionable for the game. If he can't play, Joo-Ho Park would likely keep his spot in the starting lineup after playing pretty well against Gladbach. Erik Durm could also be an alternative after making his season debut last week.
Ilkay Gundogan and Marco Reus only did individual work on Thursday but should be good to go for Ingolstadt, per Stephan Schauble of German TV station Sky Sport News. If head coach Thomas Tuchel deems it too big a risk to play either of them, Shinji Kagawa would probably take that spot in the XI. The Japanese could get the start over Gonzalo Castro anyway.
Ingolstadt
Predicted starting XI: Ozcan; Da Costa, Matip, Hubner, Bauer; Christiansen, Roger, Morales; Hartmann, Kachunga, Leckie.
Ingolstadt will miss Pascal Gross, who's suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season in the win over Mainz. Whom head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl picks to replace Gross will tell a lot about the visitors' approach to the game.
The Austrian indicated in his pre-match press conference on Thursday that he might change the way his team will defend, per Schauble. That could mean that Gross' replacement will not be creative midfielder Max Christiansen, but rather another defensive-minded player such as Almog Cohen.
In attack, club-record signing Dario Lezcano—per sport magazine Kicker, he cost €2.5 million (link in German)—could get his first start for the club after making the move earlier in January from Swiss club FC Luzern. He'd take up Elias Kachunga's spot as the No. 9 in Ingolstadt's 4-3-3.
Players to Watch
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's uncharacteristic profligacy against Gladbach was perhaps the only blemish on an otherwise brilliant performance from his team going forward, so the Gabonese will try to get back on track at the weekend.
He's now gone scoreless for two Bundesliga games in a row after also failing to find the net in 2015's final game at FC Cologne. The last time he went three league matches without a goal was in November/December of 2014, per Transfermarkt.co.uk.
As for the visitors, Gross would've been the obvious choice for a player to watch. Their entire offensive plan revolves around the 24-year-old, who leads the Bundesliga in key passes this season, per Dustin Ward of StatsBomb.com.
With him out for the game, it's difficult to highlight a single player. Moritz Hartmann is the leading goalscorer for the Schanzer but has only managed four goals, three of which came from the spot.
It's going to take a collective effort if the visitors are to steal a point or even a win from their trip to Westfalenstadion.
Key Battles
Ingolstadt's Defensive Block vs. Dortmund's Attack
Incredibly, Aubameyang has scored as many goals in his eight home matches as Saturday's visitors have in the entire season so far, as Kicker pointed out (link in German).
Ingolstadt's measly 12 goals is easily the worst figure in the Bundesliga, and they are the only team to not average one goal per game this season.
However, the promoted team boast the second-best defensive record in the league, tied with third-placed Hertha BSC, having conceded only 18 goals this season so far. Considering that they were beaten 4-0 twice—by Dortmund and Hannover—that number is even more impressive.
Their impressive defensive record doesn't mean Ingolstadt are a team that sits deep and waits for the opponent to attack, though. Rather, they try to defend aggressively up the pitch and put a big emphasis on gegenpressing.
As Ward noted, "they've been able to win the ball back higher than anyone but Bayern, and though they haven’t turned this into any semblance of a quality attack, they are winning the field position battle in a significant way to shut down games."
Ilkay Gundogan vs. Alfredo Morales
Tactics blogger Constantin Eckner expects U.S. international Alfredo Morales to man-mark Gundogan (link in German), and that matchup could go a long way in deciding the game.
Dortmund's No. 8 impressed last week, but there were phases when Gladbach's man-to-man marking effectively took him out of the game. Morales will try to get physical with Gundogan, to engage him early and often and to make his 90 minutes as uncomfortable as possible.
Some of the German international's responsibilities in buildup play could fall to Dortmund's other central midfielder, so it might be a good idea to play Kagawa instead of Castro. The Japanese is the more strategic player with better field vision and could help pick up Gundogan's slack more effectively.
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Dortmund: 25-118
Draw: 123-20
Ingolstadt: 72-5
Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
