In Simon Rolfes, the Bundesliga and its partner AWS have an expert who knows the Bundesliga from A to Z. Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Sporting Director, Rolfes wore Die Werkself's colours 288 times between 2005 and 2015, and represented Germany on 26 occasions. Rolfes is the ideal man to write a weekly column for the 'Bundesliga Match Facts Zone' on bundesliga.com, analysing current trends and giving unique insight on the Bundesliga Match Facts.

In this edition, Rolfes gives his views on Matchday 15's clash of the titans between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund, and in particular the meeting of Erling Haaland and Dayot Upamecano.

By Simon Rolfes

Since Matchday 5 of this season, the AWS Speed Alarms have enabled us to see which players are the quickest in each Bundesliga fixture. With this in mind, I was particularly interested in the duel between Erling Haaland and Dayot Upamecano in last weekend's match between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund. They are without doubt two of the Bundesliga's most interesting players.

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Both have broken the barrier of 35 km/h (21.75 mph) this season and belong in the top ten fastest players in the league. While the pace of Dortmund's young striker is already widely recognised, Upamecano's top speed may come as a surprise to many. The defender has got increasingly quicker over recent years and was clocked at an impressive 35.39 km/h this season, making him the fourth fastest sprinter in the Bundesliga – even quicker than Haaland, who 'only' hit 35.16km/h.

Yet it is not just their extreme speed that makes these two players so interesting. Haaland has one of the most potent shots in Europe, and what makes him even more extraordinary is how fast he can move with such a muscular physique and a height of 1.94m (6'4").

Upamecano has the full package, meanwhile, belonging to the top-ten rankings not only in speed, but also in tackles won and pass accuracy. If you were to carve a raw diamond for the centre of your defence, it would certainly look very similar to the 22-year-old.

Watch: RB Leipzig 1-3 Borussia Dortmund - highlights

About the players

2

Dayotchanculle Oswald

Upamecano

FC Bayern München

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It was therefore an extremely interesting meeting between these two players, who are both able to win games almost single-handedly for their teams. It would have come as no surprise, therefore, to see Upamecano making a beeline for Haaland as soon as the game had kicked off, keeping him under very close observation, at least in the first half. In the 36th minute, both hit their top speeds in a side-by-side race that Haaland edged at 34.74km/h, compared to Upamecano's 34.32km/h – enough to earn both a place in the top four fastest players on Matchday 15, together with Union Berlin's Sheraldo Becker and Borussia Mönchengladbach's Breel Embolo. The Dortmund striker could not make anything of his marginal speed edge on this occasion, however.

Haaland did manage to use his pace to better effect in the second half, on the other hand. Just before the opening goal of the game, which he set up, he managed to steal a yard on Upamecano down the right wing, playing a neat one-two. For Dortmund's third goal, he intelligently got in around Upamecano's back, and could no longer be caught by the Leipzig defender. Haaland's movement in the goal that made it 2-0 was particularly impressive, though. He picked up the ball in midfield, dribbled away from five Leipzig players, including Upamecano, and raced into position to flick Jadon Sancho's cross in.

Watch: Bundesliga launches AWS Speed Alert

Haaland was ultimately able to evade his marker at the decisive moment, emerging as the winner of this particular contest with Upamecano – as he had done also on Matchday 33 of last season, when he scored twice. That said, Upamecano will certainly bounce back, with a great career ahead of him, and you cannot win every time.

About the clubs

Borussia Dortmund

SIGNAL IDUNA PARK

RB Leipzig

Red Bull Arena