On Sunday, Union Berlin host Borussia Dortmund in match that sees first vs fourth. Union Berlin will be looking to maintain their surprising lead at the top of the table, while Dortmund will be wanting to close the gap to Union.
In midweek, Union hosted Malmo in the Europa League and won 1-0 thanks to a Robin Knoche header. This result meant Union will be at least in the Conference League knockout stages come the new year. In the league, Union played out a tough 1-0 win away to VfB Stuttgart. Initially, Union struggled to score past Florian Müller in the VfB goal, but in the 76th minute Paul Jaeckel broke the deadlock with a header and to give Union the three points, which kept them at the top of the table.
Dortmund hosted Sevilla in the Champions League in midweek and drew 1-1 which postponed their chance to qualify out of the group to the next matchday. Sevilla opened the scoring through former Bayern Munich player Tanguy Nianzou before Jude Bellingham equalised which meant he had scored in all four games in the Champions League this season. In the league, Dortmund came from behind to draw with Bayern Munich 2-2. Goals from Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sane gave Bayern the lead before Youssoufa Moukoko cut the deficit in half in the 74th minute. This set up a dramatic finale as Anthony Modeste equalised in the 95th minute after heading in a Nico Schlotterbeck cross to rescue a point for Dortmund.
The big question going into this game is how Dortmund’s defence deal with the likes of Jordan Pefok and Sheraldo Becker who can make a claim for being the best duo in the Bundesliga this season as Jordan has three goals and two assists in eight matches, while Becker has six goals and three assists in nine matches and even picked himself up a player of the month award for August. Dortmund’s defence after a strong start have proved to be rather shaky as of late with the absence of Mats Hummels and Gregor Kobel, but with both making their returns in midweek it will prove a big boost for the Schwarzgelben.
Last season saw Dortmund come out on top both times. In the first meeting between the two, Dortmund won 4-2 at home with Erling Haaland scoring twice along with Raphael Guerreiro and a Marvin Friedrich own goal. In the second meeting, Guerreiro would score again while Marco Reus scored twice in a 3-0 win.
Union Berlin:
Rönnow – Baumgartl, Knoche, Diogo Leite – Ryerson, Khedira, Gießelmann – Schäfer, Haberer – Jordan, Becker.
Borussia Dortmund:
Kobel – Meunier, Hummels, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro – Bellingam, Can – Adeyemi, Brandt, Malen – Moukoko.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
