Bundesliga: Bayern look to bounce back and Dortmund face Monchengladbach

(Football news) Bayern Munich will look to bounce back after their embarrassing defeat to VFL Bochum last week. Bayern face bottom side Fruth in what has become a must win game for them especially after they had a pretty ordinary week as they drew 1-1 against Red Bull Salzburg in the round of 16 in the Champions League. Bayern’s season had got to the point where they were in cruise control as the Bavarian giants had extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to nine points over Dortmund, ahead of a simple round-of-16 tie on paper in the Champions League against Red Bull Salzburg, but fast forward a week, and the champions are rather stuck in rare sticky patch in their otherwise what has been a fantastic season for them. Julian Nagelsmann will hope that his side can bounce back and get their season back on track.

For Bayern, Serge Gnabry is a potential absentee due to a muscle knock but Jamal Musiala could be back in action following the end of his COVID-19 isolation and also Alphonso Davies and Leon Goretzka are ruled out due to heart and knee problems.

Dortmund will also be looking to bounce back after their thrashing to Rangers in the Europa League playoffs as the reigning Scottish champions steam rolled past them at the Signal Iduna Park. After seeing that their title challenge with Bayern Munich ended on a couple of occasions this season, Dortmund were handed an unexpected lifeline when Bayern got defeated by VfL Bochum on Saturday which subsequently opened the door for Dortmund to cut the gap at the top of the table but the season that Dortmund are having they lost 4-2 to Rangers which has caused major doubts over Rose's position as manager and a crisis meeting was held immediately after the defeat, so he will be looking to silence the critics when he welcomes his former team Borussia Monchengladbach to Signal Iduna Park whilst looking to keep the pressure on Bayern in the process.

For Dortmund, Manuel Akanji picked up a calf injury against Rangers midweek as Thomas Meunier continues to struggle with a muscular problem. The major positive for Marco Rose would be that Erling Haaland has recovered from his injury and may be in contention to start the match. For Gladbach, Captain Lars Stindl is the only confirmed absentee due to his knee injury as the rest of the squad looks fit and firing.

Also read: Preview: Man Utd aim to consolidate top four spot with win over Leeds

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