Take two for Dortmund and Frankfurt
Dortmund - The in the DFB Cup earlier this week, Borussia Dortmund's focus now turns back to the Bundesliga as they plot a second win against Eintracht Frankfurt in the space of five days on Matchday 21 Saturday (kick-off 15.30 CET).
Good response
Neutrals may say that the more difficult of the two tests - a cup quarter-final at Frankfurt without Sven Bender and Marco Reus - has already been negotiated. But with BVB winless at home since 1 November, the outcome this weekend is by no means a foregone conclusion.
After ending 2013 with three straight home league defeats for the first time since March 2000, Dortmund once again faltered in their opening game of 2014, managing just a 2-2 draw with FC Augsburg and conceding even more ground to table-toppers FC Bayern München.
That said, their form since then has been more representative of the Dortmund we have come to expect under Jürgen Klopp. Before reaching the last four of the cup thanks to a late Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang header on Tuesday, BVB had recorded back-to-back wins at Eintracht Braunschweig (2-1) and Werder Bremen (5-1), delivering in the latter a performance that showcased the razor-sharp attacking football which has become their trademark.
Home comforts
Now head coach Jürgen Klopp is keen to build on that recent good form, as well as giving the Signal Iduna Park faithful something to shout about. "After three away games, we're looking forward to the atmosphere at home and it would be nice to win in front of our own fans again," said the 46-year-old at the pre-match press conference.
"We deserved to win in Frankfurt. We learned a lot about how they're likely to play and we aim to make use of that. We know we'll have to be very strong if we want to beat them again, though."
History against the Eagles
Klopp's counterpart Armin Veh - who incidentally has only one Bundesliga win from 14 attempts against Borussia as a coach - admitted his team "are clear underdogs, but we're certainly in with a chance of taking something". To that end, he is weighing up a few "possible changes" to his starting line-up, meaning the likes of Carlos Zambrano and Joselu may miss out, while the injured Pirmin Schwegler definitely will.
History would not appear to be on Eintracht's side as they prepare to travel to the Ruhr. Frankfurt have lost more league games to Dortmund (38) than any other team and have won just one - losing 22 - of the last 24 matches at BVB in which they conceded the opening goal. Whichever team he picks, Veh will no doubt be hoping that Dortmund wither under the Signal Iduna Park lights once more.
Possible line-ups:
Dortmund: Weidenfeller - Piszczek - Friedrich, Hummels, Schmelzer - Sahin, Bender - Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Reus - Lewandowski
Frankfurt: Trapp - Jung, Russ, Madlung, Djakpa - Rode, Flum - Aigner, Meier, Barnetta - Rosenthal
Bernie Reeves
Relive this emotional encounter between Dortmund and Frankfurt from May 2011, courtesy of the official Bundesliga YouTube channel:
