How do VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund stack up ahead of their Matchday 28 clash?
If the corresponding fixture between these sides earlier this season is anything to go by, Bundesliga fans across the globe are in for a treat when VfB Stuttgart welcome Borussia Dortmund to the MHP Arena on Matchday 28.
The two teams served up a six-goal thriller at Signal Iduna Park in November as Deniz Undav scored a second-half hat-trick - including a stoppage-time equaliser - in a pulsating 3-3 draw, but how do the teams stack up ahead of their latest tussle?
Well, for starters, not even runaway leaders Bayern Munich have picked up more points than Stuttgart and Dortmund since Matchday 19.
Niko Kovač’s side have collected 22 in that time - two more than Sebastian Hoeneß’s charges, who have lost only once in 14 league games and have claimed as many points as the defending champions in their last nine.
Watch: Dortmund 3-3 Stuttgart - highlights
Unfair though it is to single out one player to embody VfB’s scintillating form - Jamie Leweling, Angelo Stiller and Maximilian Mittelstädt are all enjoying remarkably consistent campaigns - it is hard to look beyond red-hot Undav as the talisman of this outstanding young side.
Currently second behind Harry Kane in the Bundesliga’s 2025/26 scoring charts, the 29-year-old Germany international has found the net in each of his last six appearances in Germany’s top flight - his longest scoring streak in the division - to lift his overall tally to 23 in all competitions.
Remarkably, Undav has been directly involved in seven of Stuttgart’s last nine strikes in the Bundesliga and UEFA Europa League. Having scored or assisted all VfB’s goals against Porto (L1-2), Mainz (D2-2) and RB Leipzig (W1-0), the forward netted twice and set up another in a thumping 5-2 triumph over Augsburg on Matchday 27 which lifted Die Schwaben into the top three.
Undav’s opener at the WWK Arena was particularly significant. Apart from stretching his run of consecutive goals/goal involvements to five, it also extended VfB’s scoring streak away from home to 18 Bundesliga matches, equalling a club record set during the 1984/85 season.
Only Bayern have scored more on their travels in the Bundesliga this season, but Hoeneß’s men have also succeeded in turning the MHP Arena into a near-impenetrable fortress. The Bavarians are the only side to defeat VfB on their own turf in 2025/26, while only Union Berlin and Hoffenheim have emerged with a share of the spoils.
In contrast to their exploits away from home, VfB’s success in front of their own fans has been built on a rock-solid defence. Marshalled by goalkeeper Alexander Nübel and the imperturbable Jeff Chabot, VfB’s back line has been breached just 12 times in 13 home matches this term - a joint league-low which underlines the magnitude of the task facing Kovač and his troops on 4 April.
Dortmund, though, have been happy travellers themselves this season. Their tally of 26 points away from home is bettered only by - you guessed it - Bayern, who are the only side to have conceded fewer away goals (12) than Borussia (15) in 2025/26.
Indeed, had it not been for the irresistible form of Vincent Kompany’s charges, Borussia may well be making the trip to Baden-Württemberg in an even stronger position. Their haul of 61 points after 27 matches is their best since the 2018/19 campaign, and would have seen them top the Bundesliga at the same stage of the 2022/23 season.
Star striker Serhou Guirassy, by his astonishing standards, has perhaps had a quieter season than anticipated, but the Guinean marksman has still found the net seven times in his last eight league matches, the latest of which helped Dortmund turn a two-goal deficit into a 3-2 victory at home to Hamburg.
Watch: Dortmund 3-2 Hamburg - highlights
While Die Schwarz-Gelben needed a late Ramy Bensebaini penalty to complete the turnaround, their xG value in that match - a staggering 6.2, the highest in Europe’s top five leagues this season - highlights the sheer threat Guirassy and Co. pose in the final third.
The numbers are no less impressive at the other end of the pitch. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel has kept a league high 12 clean sheets this season - in 44 percent of his appearances to be precise - while captain Nico Schlotterbeck and Waldemar Anton have been twin pillars of consistency in the Borussia back line.
On the right flank, Julian Ryerson has racked up nine assists in his last 10 league appearances - only Michael Olise has registered more than the Norwegian’s overall tally of 12 - while hitting more crosses from open play than any other player apart from Vladimír Coufal.
Ryerson’s opposite number, the tireless Daniel Svensson, is second only to the Hoffenheim star when it comes to intensive runs (2297 compared to 2306).
Dortmund were moments away from claiming all three points against Stuttgart back on Matchday 11, but Undav’s late leveller means they head into this mouthwatering tussle without a win over VfB in their last seven attempts in the league and cup.
Stuttgart’s run of five wins and two draws has helped them move level with Borussia in the overall head-to-head stakes, with both clubs currently on 48 victories from 122 meetings across all competitions.
Will Hoeneß’s side get their noses in front on Matchday 28? Or will Dortmund claim their first win over the Swabians since October 2022?
However it plays out, it is unlikely to be dull.
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