Der Klassiker: No place like home for Hummels and Götze
The respective transfers of Mats Hummels and Mario Götze between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern München were among the biggest headlines of the summer, not least because both players returned to the clubs where they started their professional careers.
Ahead of Saturday's reunion in Der Klassiker at the SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, bundesliga.com takes a look at the inverse paths the former Dortmund teammates have taken...
Watch: The impressive career stats of Mats Hummels and Mario Götze:
Origins
Hummels: Born in 1988 in Bergisch-Gladbach, near Cologne in central western Germany, Hummels joined the Bayern youth academy as a child, where his father worked as a coach. However, the defender's talent did the rest and he made good progress, eventually signing professional terms in December 2006, before making his Bundesliga debut against 1. FSV Mainz 05 in May 2007. Further first team opportunities were limited, though, so he moved to Dortmund in January 2008.
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Götze: Once Götze had his foot in the door of the Dortmund senior team there was no going back. A two-footed attacking midfielder able to dribble and play the killer pass, he sealed a place in the first team and made his senior Germany debut in November 2010 at the age of 18. Götze shared those two Bundesliga titles with Hummels, but after contributing 22 goals and 32 assists for BVB in 83 Bundesliga matches he joined Bayern in summer 2013. He won three successive Bundesliga crowns in Munich, and made global headlines by netting the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final. However, with playing time increasingly hard to come by at the Allianz Arena, Götze returned to his boyhood club in July 2016.
Watch: Götze's best five Bayern goals:
What now?
Hummels: Since making a winning return to his former haunt in the 2016 Supercup, Hummels has made a further 14 appearances for Bayern in all competitions. The Germany international has only missed one game in the Bundesliga and, whether it has been alongside Jerome Boateng or Javi Martinez at the heart of the Bayern defence, already looks to have slotted seamlessly into the title-defending groove.
Watch: Highlights of Bayern's 2016 Supercup win over Dortmund:
Götze: Having failed to hit top form in the last few seasons, the Dortmund No.10 has shown glimpses of his former black-and-yellow self under Thomas Tuchel. Moreover, in familiar surroundings and with close friends Marco Reus and Andre Schürrle now in the same team for the first time, Götze has the ideal conditions to once again make the Bundesliga stage his own and propel BVB towards more trophies.
Watch: A look at Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski's best moments together:
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