Brandt more wary of Sane than Kane in Der Klassiker clash

Borussia Dortmund attacker Julian Brandt thinks Leroy Sane is even more of a threat than Harry Kane ahead of Saturday's clash with Bayern Munich.

Kane and Sane have scored a combined 20 Bundesliga goals so far this term, with a further seven assists, to help fire Bayern to second in the table.

England skipper Kane has impressed with 14 strikes in all competitions since his summer arrival from Tottenham — most recently netting a hat-trick in the 8-0 thumping of Darmstadt.

And Brandt expected Bayern's No9 to hit the ground running, telling Bundesliga.com: "It hasn't surprised me.

"When I watched the first few games, I thought maybe he would need a bit of time to really settle into the team.

"He scored in most games but you still thought maybe he would need to adapt. Now you can see that he is getting better week on week, his team-mates understand him, he understands them.

"I have to say, there is a lot of focus on Harry Kane at the moment. For me, personally, and I can judge this because I played with him, Leroy Sane's development is sensational. 

"He's so strong at the moment. I don't want to say he's showing what he can do, but he's extremely efficient and to me he is the Bayern player who is playing the best and who we should be focusing on the most.

"I don't want to talk Harry Kane down, given how many goals he has scored but I think Leroy is their key player."

Brandt himself has also regularly been finding the back of the net, on target in each of Dortmund's last three league games, including the decisive strike against Werder Bremen and a late equaliser at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Edin Terzic's men have suffered defeat only once so far this season — a 2-0 loss in the Champions League at Paris Saint-Germain — and trail Bayern by just two points, in fourth place.

Saturday's visitors meanwhile have been rocked by a shock DFB-Pokal exit at the hands of third-tier outfit FC Saarbrucken on Wednesday night.

Yet despite their latest setback, Brandt has full respect for Thomas Tuchel's side: "That's probably how it is in Munich, it seems you can never fully satisfy the people there.

"You always want more, you always find something to criticise.

"That's not really my problem though, the most important thing on Saturday will be who is the most courageous on the day.

"It could be a really tight game. It's always a heated game. 

"If you have one or two lads who don't push themselves to their limits, that's the same for Bayern too, then that will be decisive for the result."