GOAL! The Bundesliga Magazine - Matchday 21
Munich - GOAL! The Bundesliga Magazine is the DFL's weekly TV programme, offering a global audience a unique perspective on Germany's top flight throughout the season. We have in-depth previews of the upcoming league action, exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes reports, the best goals from the latest league encounters and much more besides
Top Game
Saturday's late kick-off features a perennial Bundesliga classic as Bayern Munich play host to Schalke 04. Bayern eased to their third win of 2013 at Mainz, equalling yet another top-flight all-time best-mark in the process: the 3-0 victory at the Coface Arena was their ninth clean sheet in ten away games this season, a total no team has ever topped over the course of an entire campaign. Given that the men from Munich also have a record points tally (51) and goal difference (+44) after 20 games, the challenge facing their visitors from Gelsenkirchen can hardly be overstated. To make matters worse, Schalke go into the game on the back of a shock last-minute home loss to cellar-dwellers Greuther Fürth, a fantastic debut goal from big-name new signing Michel Bastos notwithstanding. The Royal Blues will be hoping for more instant inspiration from their Brazil international, but they could be in for a long afternoon against Bayern's dream machine - which is itself churning out the results without having really had to shift into top gear yet this year.
Spotlight
Since taking up the reins as Borussia Dortmund head coach in the summer of 2008, it is no exaggeration to say that Jürgen Klopp has overseen a revolution at the famous Ruhr district club. The young team he painstakingly knitted together on a limited budget unexpectedly swept all before them to storm to the Bundesliga title in 2011, a feat they repeated last year - with victory in the DFB Cup thrown in for good measure. This time around, Dortmund are doing their level best to stay in touch with the FC Bayern steamroller on the home front, but in Europe they have taken their game to new heights and re-established themselves as a major player on the continent's biggest stage. In the first of four special reports examining what has made Dortmund so successful under Klopp, we look at the power football that has been blowing opponents away left, right and centre for the past couple of years.
3 Minutes with...
...Robbie Kruse. Despite having turned out in most of Fortuna Düsseldorf's matches as they battled to promotion via the play-offs last season, the Australian attacking midfielder was still something of an insider tip as Fortuna kicked off their first Bundesliga campaign in 15 years. It's a different story now, however. Kruse has been a virtual ever-present in the top flight in 2012/13 and, with four goals and as many assists so far, is playing a vital part in keeping a side widely tipped to go straight back down comfortably clear of the relegation zone. GOAL! chats with the easy-going Australia international, who swapped Melbourne for Düsseldorf in 2011.
In addition, an overview of the winter transfers, the usual in-depth look ahead to the best of the weekend action and a spot of celebrity darts at the Imtech Arena for good measure - it's all in this week's edition of GOAL! The Bundesliga Magazine
