Bundesliga Matchday 20: Dortmund piling pressure on Berlin-bound Bayern

A title race is brewing in the Bundesliga and Borussia Dortmund will be looking to keep the pressure on leaders Bayern Munich this weekend.

Marco Rose’s men can cut the Reds’ advantage to just three points, at least temporarily, when they travel to Hoffenheim on Saturday afternoon.

Bayern then visit Hertha Berlin on Sunday with the club from the capital targeting another upset after beating BVB back in December.

Elsewhere, Union Berlin and Freiburg will try to move into the top four as they take on Borussia Monchengladbach and Stuttgart respectively.

Game of the week: Hoffenheim vs Borussia Dortmund (Saturday, 2.30pm)

Dortmund will be determined to keep up their title push at the PreZero Arena but the Black and Yellows face a Hoffenheim side with a formidable home record.

The hosts have only lost one of their last 13 home league games, winning six and drawing one of the previous seven. They have also earned a Bundesliga-high 11 points from losing positions at home.

Dortmund make the trip south having won two out of two in 2022. They thrashed Freiburg 5-1 last time out, with Erling Haaland bagging a brace to end a mini goal drought.

This season’s reverse fixture saw BVB run out 3-2 winners but Hoffenheim have never lost both meetings in a single campaign.

Here are the other big games to watch this weekend…

Borussia Monchengladbach vs Union Berlin (Saturday, 2.30pm)

Monchengladbach will hope to snap a three-match home losing streak when Union visit Borussia-Park but their opponents are knocking on the door of the Champions League places.

With only 22 points from 19 games, BMG are enduring their worst league campaign in a decade. 

Their defence has leaked like a sieve, with only Hertha Berlin (38) and rock-bottom Greuther Furth (51) shipping more goals than the Foals’ 35.

The visitors are on the longest current unbeaten run in the division, having won two and drawn two of their last four outings. 

They also have more points after 19 games (31) than in either of their previous two top-flight seasons.

Freiburg vs Stuttgart (Saturday, 2.30pm)

A big reaction could be on the cards for Freiburg after Christian Streich’s team went down 5-1 at Dortmund last time out. And they face seemingly ideal opponents in out-of-sorts Stuttgart.

The visitors have failed to score in any of their last four games, of which they have lost three. Pellegrino Matarazzo’s men have also won only once on the road in the Bundesliga this term.

Freiburg’s home form has not been spectacular, though, with the Breisgau Brazilians picking up only 15 points from a possible 27 and keeping just one home clean sheet since mid-April.

The last four meetings between these sides in all competitions have been won by a single goal — three of them, all in the league, by Freiburg.

RB Leipzig vs Wolfsburg (Sunday, 2.30pm)

RB Leipzig could climb as high as fourth if they beat a Wolfsburg side winless since early November.

The Red Bulls have made a strong start under Domenico Tedesco, taking 10 points from a possible 15 since the Italian took over as head coach last month. And they could make it three wins in a row for the first time in almost a year.

As for the Wolves, their form could not be much worse. They did end a run of six league defeats by drawing 0-0 with Hertha Berlin on Matchday 19 but last season’s fourth-placed outfit sit just three points above the bottom three.

Wolfsburg have lost their last three Bundesliga away games, while Leipzig are on a five-match win-loss-win-loss-win sequence at home.

Hertha Berlin vs Bayern Munich (Sunday, 4.30pm)

After returning to winning ways with a comprehensive 4-0 triumph at Koln, Bayern will be confident of making it four away wins on the trot.

The Bavarians have only lost one of their last 21 league games against Hertha, winning 16 of those fixtures.

The visitors recently set a new Bundesliga record by scoring in 66 straight matches with Robert Lewandowski playing a large part.

The Polish frontman hit his second league hat-trick of the season last time out — his first came in Bayern’s 5-0 thrashing of Hertha in August — and joined the late Gerd Muller as one of only two players to score 300 Bundesliga goals.

The hosts have found the net in all nine of their home games this term, however, so an eighth clean sheet of the season may not come easy for Bayern. But they have also conceded two or more goals in four of those contests, including the last two.

Bayern have won their last three encounters with Hertha by a combined scoreline of 10-3 — although they did only edge this particular fixture 1-0 last season.

The weekend’s other games

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Arminia Bielefeld (Friday, 7.30pm) 

Bayer Leverkusen vs Augsburg (Saturday, 2.30pm) 

Greuther Furth vs Mainz (Saturday, 2.30pm) 

Bochum vs Koln (Saturday, 5.30pm)

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