Bundesliga: Bayern face Dortmund in the biggest match of the season as RB Leipzig face Union Berlin

(Football news) Bayern Munich take on Borussia Dortmund in the latest edition of the Der Klassiker at Signal Iduna Park. Germany's two giants go head to head as the hosts will be looking to overtake the champions at the top of the table in their quest to end the Bavarians' nine-year domestic dominance. Dortmund head into Der Klassiker just a single point behind Bayern, a win would take them to the top spot for the first time this campaign which would finally put together a consistent challenge for their opponent and prevent them from a 10th-consecutive Bundesliga title. However, Dortmund will be all too aware of their head to head recently as they have suffered with six straight defeats against their rivals in all competitions.

For Dortmund, Erling Haaland will most likely return to the starting XI, along with that Raphael Guerreiro could also return at left full-back but Jude Bellingham remains a doubt and Giovanni Reyna will be absent despite returning to training this week. As for Bayern, they will remain without the likes of Joshua Kimmich, Marcel Sabitzer. Eric Choupo-Moting and Bouna Sarr due quarantine protocols whilst Sven Ulreich and Tanguy Nianzou are listed as doubtful.

"Erling Haaland is an extremely important player for Borussia Dortmund, not just in terms of his football skill, but also in terms of his attitude, what he does for the team, what he does for the other players, pulling them along, infecting them with his enthusiasm and really helping them all to get better." Lahm said.

The weekend's Bundesliga action begins on Friday evening at the An der Alten Foersterei stadium with an intriguing clash that will see Union Berlin face the underperforming RB Leipzig. Union will be looking to bounce back from a last-minute defeat last weekend whilst Leipzig have numerous concerns on and off the pitch following another defeat against Leverkusen. Following Julian Nagelsmann's second-place finish last season before departing for Bayern, manager Jesse Marsch has struggled to follow in his predecessor's footsteps and is under massive pressure to save his job. Struggles with a COVID-19 outbreak in the camp in recent weeks have certainly played their part but Leipzig's problems existed long before that as they have lost 5 matches this season in the league.

Union look set to have just the one absentee on Friday as Kevin Behrens will remain unavailable due to COVID-19. In terms of absences for Leipzig, Marcel Halstenberg and Marcelo Saracchi remain missing from the back line due to long-term knee injuries while Dani Olmo is ruled out until the new year due to a hip problem. Although there has been a COVID outbreak in the Leipzig camp, most of those affected are the backroom staff and it is not clear whether Marsch will be able to lead his side from the sidelines in Berlin.

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