10 things you need to know about Der Klassiker between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich
Kung-fu kicks, biggest Bundesliga wins, Champions League final drama and Lewandowski vs. Alcacer: Matchday 11's headline encounter between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich will surely add another intriguing chapter to Der Klassiker folklore.
1) Balance of play
bundesliga.com has delved into the past of one of European football's most mouthwatering match-ups, dusting off the history books to bring you ten facts that will keep your excitement on the boil as we continue the countdown to Der Klassiker.
All in all, the Bavarians hold the edge over Dortmund, with 45 Bundesliga wins to BVB's 24, and Bayern have failed to win only twice and lost just once - 1-0 in November 2016 - in their eight most recent encounters. Goal difference in those Bundesliga games is heavily weighted in favour of the reigning champions, who have netted 188 times to Dortmund's 119, including six without reply in the duo's last meeting.
Watch: Take a trip down Klassiker memory lane
2) What's mine is yours
After emerging as Bayern's most threatening challengers in the 1990s, Dortmund went through a lull before Jürgen Klopp revived them, pulling them alongside Bayern at the pinnacle of German football. The pair do not like sharing with anyone else either: in the past nine seasons Bayern (seven times) and Dortmund (twice) have jealously guarded the Bundesliga title for themselves, while they have picked up 15 out of a possible 18 titles between the league and DFB Cup since 2009.
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3) Lewy, meet Paco
While the two teams take top billing, one central sub-plot is the duel between Robert Lewandowski and the man who has succeeded Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Michy Batshuayi as Dortmund's main source of goals: Paco Alcacer. While the prolific Pole is a perennial threat to Bundesliga defences, Dortmund's stealthy Spaniard is a new riddle for opponents to solve. They have struggled to work him out so far - how will the Bayern rearguard fare?
Watch: Paco Alcacer, the latest Dortmund goalgetter
4) First date fail forDer Kaiser
The heavyweight duo first went toe-to-toe in the Bundesliga on 16 October 1965 in Munich. The game went Dortmund's way thanks to two goals from Reinhold Wosab while a promising Bayern youngster named Franz Beckenbauer missed a penalty. Wonder what became of him…
5) Would you pass me the soap, Bixente?
With passions Himalayan high, the game has, unsurprisingly, set off its fair share of fireworks. Dortmund's giant Czech striker Jan Koller earned himself a place in kicker magazine's team of the week as a goalkeeper after replacing the red-carded Jens Lehmann — and not conceding a goal — in Bayern's 2-1 Klassiker win of November 2002. Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn's infamous kung-fu kick on Stephane Chapuisat and attempted bite on Heiko Herrlich (see below) set the tone for April 1999's tempestuous 2-2 draw, but the April 2001 meeting was undoubtedly the most fiery with its blur of ten yellow cards making it the most ill-disciplined Bundesliga game on record. Bayern were shown eight, and had Bixente Lizarazu and Stefan Effenberg sent off while Dortmund's Evanilson also had an early bath in the 1-1 draw.
7) Single or return?
Money is not the only thing that has made the journey between the two clubs. Mario Götze left Dortmund for Bayern in 2013 only to return in 2016, passing Mats Hummels en route. Unwanted as a youngster at Bayern, Hummels made his name at Dortmund and then a triumphant return to Munich as a double Bundesliga winner and world champion in 2016. Another former BVB-man, Lewandowski, has excelled at Bayern, and notably — along with Götze — found the net in a 5-1 Bayern Klassiker win in October 2015. Hummels too had scored as Dortmund won 3-1 in Munich in February 2011, their first triumph in Bavaria in 20 years and a key victory behind the first of their back-to-back title wins.
9) Klopp-ered
Klopp masterminded one of Dortmund's most famous Klassiker triumphs that the now-Liverpool boss classed as "the most exceptional moment in our history." Already Bundesliga champions, Die Schwarzgelben faced Bayern in Berlin in the DFB Cup final. Ninety minutes later, fuelled by a magnificent Lewandowski hat-trick, BVB lifted the trophy, though the emphatic 5-2 scoreline probably stung Bayern even more.
10) Robb-ed
Bayern did take sweet revenge though, and on the biggest stage of all. In the first-ever all-German UEFA Champions League final in 2012/13, Arjen Robben's 89th-minute goal left Bayern on top of Europe for the fifth time thanks to a 2-1 win at Wembley in a season they completed an unprecedented treble masterminded by Jupp Heynckes.
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