The meaning of Der Klassiker has changed significantly down the years. Having been a zenith fixture of Bayern Munich v current challenger of substance in the past, it is now set in stone in the post-Klopp years as the Rekordmeister v Borussia Dortmund, that branding remaining even with BVB having largely morphed from genuine challenger to most frequent irritant.
There is a comforting regularity to it. The opener in Dortmund as autumn turns to winter, the April return in Munich and, so often, the arena in which BVB dreams of bigger and better are turned to mulch. The 5-0 at Allianz Arena in spring 2019 which was done and dusted inside the first 20 minutes, holding BVB’s title charge in check. Bayern’s win here in 2020 in front of no fans, snuffing out any home hopes of the Bundesliga just days after the post-Covid resumption. This time last year, it was Harry Kane’s hat-trick in his first Klassiker that told Dortmund the longings for putting right their loss of the title on the final day of 2022-23 were not rooted in reality.
This time, it felt as if this was a spectacle anchored in the present, a recognition of where everyone is really at. Nuri Sahin’s approach suggested as much as Dortmund defended with surprising poise, scored a sublime breakaway goal magnificently finished by Jamie Gittens, and got to five minutes from the end of normal time with a potential win still in their hands.
Jamal Musiala’s equaliser for Bayern – more of which shortly – secured a 1-1 draw, put an end to BVB’s 100% home record and preserved the leaders’ unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season, but there was little scope for home deflation. This had been, after the 3-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb in midweek which put a stop to six successive away defeats in all competitions, Sahin’s “week of answers”, as Kicker’s Patrick Kleinmann put it. For all the excitement and profile that this standout fixture continues to generate in the Bundesliga calendar, we have reached the point where Dortmund getting through it without humiliation feels like at least some sort of achievement, and not only in the context of this season’s multiple setbacks and growing pains.
“Nuri’s plan worked perfectly,” enthused BVB’s managing director of sport, Lars Ricken, at full time. The plan was hatched weeks back, with Felix Nmecha’s move back to a No 6 role one of the keys. If the 4-3-3 remains, now balance reigns. The way that Sahin’s team manifested in Der Klassiker was entirely consistent with the current inching towards consistency and, eventually they hope, control. Whereas this showpiece is often lit up with abandon, this sober version of Dortmund enthused those around the club.
Calm might well describe the visitors’ reaction, too. With the greater possession, twice as many shots (14 to seven) and a dominant second half, one might imagine Bayern would be unhappy not to have notched a sixth straight Bundesliga win. But the surge to parity and the strength of the reaction, particularly at the end of a week containing a Champions League locking of horns with Paris Saint-Germain, was reason for satisfaction. The ability to cope in testing situations feels good, and Bayern had their reasons to doubt here. Kane’s withdrawal with a thigh complaint just past the half-hour was unwelcome but opened the door to some invention on the fly.
Vincent Kompany had already signalled his intention to experiment, giving a surprise start to Mathys Tel to Kane’s left (a punt that didn’t really work, as Bayern were kept at arm’s length in that first period). Further solutions must be found with Kane expected to be out for a few weeks, beginning with Tuesday’s huge DfB Pokal clash with Bayer Leverkusen. The answers in the second half here were the renewed Kingsley Coman, scurrying at the home team’s well-set defence and adjusting the match’s momentum, and Musiala, rising to head in from the sort of spot that a Kane, or formerly Robert Lewandowski, would be expected to inhabit.
Yet the platform for that was Bayern’s continued defensive improvement. Gittens’ goal was the first they had conceded since the thrashing in Barcelona at the end of October, and the English winger’s strike was such a work of brilliance that it could have reasonably been defined as an act of God for insurance purposes. Kompany has helped his team find a different gear in this relentless programme; a level of containment, with three of the four games before this one bringing 1-0 wins.
Kompany continues to be full of surprises in Munich. In his post-match press conference he batted away BVB complaints that Bayern’s leveller should not have stood, with Niklas Süle hit in the face by Leroy Sané’s free-kick and the defence waiting for a stoppage as the substitute Michael Olise laid on the goal for an unmarked Musiala Kompany effectively suggested the defender had tried to play the head injury rule and been unsuccessful. “I hope he’s OK,” he said. “I played football for 17 years. All the players know the rules and you can always try to use them. It’s not an accusation or a criticism but in this passage of play, when so much is happening, you can’t blow the whistle.”
That sort of canniness will need to continue as they legislate for important challenges without Kane. Kompany is also pragmatic enough – contrary to his image – to know that any green shoots of Dortmund recovery will have to be monitored, even if they remain a long way in Bayern’s rearview mirror for now.
Heidenheim 0-4 Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz 2-0 Hoffenheim, Dortmund 1-1 Bayern, Augsburg 1-0 VfL Bochum, Freiburg 3-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach, Leipzig 1-5 Wolfsburg, Union Berlin 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen 2-2 Stuttgart, St Pauli 3-1 Holstein Kiel.
Talking Points
• Leipzig’s own dream of challenging Bayern is turning into a nightmare. They extended their winless run to five as they were hammered 5-1 at home by an improving Wolfsburg, never recovering from going two down in little over five minutes, with the goals conceded in the space of 75 seconds. On Sunday they announced that sporting director, Rouven Schröder, would leave “with immediate effect” but this is unconnected – he is moving across to calm stormy waters at Salzburg, and Marco Rose is still all at sea despite Schröder’s de facto replacement, Marcel Schäfer, promising the coach will be there for Wednesday’s DfB Pokal match against in-form Eintracht Frankfurt. It has been suggested that the RB supremo, Oliver Mintzlaff, might try to persuade the future employee Jürgen Klopp into the breach, though free agent Roger Schmidt (another former RB man) is perhaps a more realistic replacement.
• Leverkusen are looking good ahead of their visit to Munich and it’s mostly down to Patrik Schick. Despite a slew of injuries in the forward department they deserved their 2-1 win at Union Berlin, with Schick chesting in an impossibly stylish winner from substitute Florian Wirtz’s cross. It was initially thought Schick had beaten club legend Ulf Kirsten’s record for the highest amount of goals in his first 100 Leverkusen games (48), though club historian Rüdiger Vollborn insisted to Bild he had only equalled it – with a 1993 Kirsten goal against Kaiserslautern originally (and incorrectly according to Kirsten) credited to Andreas Thom.
• Three cheers for St Pauli who finally scored at home – three times in a vital win over fellow-promotees Holstein Kiel in Friday night’s big match in a hot atmosphere to move themselves out of the bottom three, and to cut the visitors adrift to six points behind.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 12 | 29 | 30 |
| 2 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 12 | 15 | 26 |
| 3 | Bayer Leverkusen | 12 | 9 | 23 |
| 4 | RB Leipzig | 12 | 5 | 21 |
| 5 | Borussia Dortmund | 12 | 4 | 20 |
| 6 | Freiburg | 12 | 0 | 20 |
| 7 | Mainz | 12 | 6 | 19 |
| 8 | Wolfsburg | 12 | 6 | 18 |
| 9 | Stuttgart | 12 | 2 | 17 |
| 10 | Borussia M'gladbach | 12 | 1 | 17 |
| 11 | Union Berlin | 12 | -1 | 16 |
| 12 | Werder Bremen | 12 | -5 | 16 |
| 13 | Augsburg | 12 | -9 | 15 |
| 14 | Hoffenheim | 12 | -7 | 12 |
| 15 | St Pauli | 12 | -5 | 11 |
| 16 | Heidenheim | 12 | -9 | 10 |
| 17 | Holstein Kiel | 12 | -18 | 5 |
| 18 | VfL Bochum | 12 | -23 | 2 |
