April is packed with thrilling duels, and the final spurt begins with a true cracker as FC Bayern entertain Borussia Dortmund on Saturday (Live in English from 18.30 CET on our exclusive fcbayern.com ticker). "This match marks the beginning of the decisive phase," Jupp Heynckes said on Friday, looking forward to the match. On Tuesday FC Bayern take on Sevilla in the Champions League quarter-finals. "We have a permanent three-day rhythm now, so it would be good to start off with a win," explained the 72-year-old.
However, the task will be anything but easy, as Heynckes stressed. On the one hand, it is difficult "to recover our rhythm after the international break." On the other hand, matches against Borussia have never been easy. This goes for Saturday too, even if Dortmund are 18 points adrift after 27 matchdays. "I know from experience BVB are highly motivated and usually play very well when they travel to Munich," Heynckes warned.
Vidal and Bernat missing
Another problem after the international break is that Arturo Vidal is injured. "He has a severely bruised thigh. The doctors advised me not to field him," revealed Heynckes. The Chilean, Manuel Neuer, Kingsley Coman and Juan Bernat will miss out, the latter "not available with a slight irritation of his capsule."
Another factor for the starting line-up is the workload Heynckes' men have had in the last few days. The match away to Sevilla has no influence as Heynckes "absolutely" wants to win against Borussia. If Schalke fail to win at home against Freiburg earlier on Saturday and Bayern win their match, they would seal the championship title. It would be the first time for Bayern to clinch the title at the Allianz Arena.
Dortmund without Reus and Toprak
Dortmund aim to thwart the celebrations. "I'm not planning to have Bayern celebrate the championship title against us," declared Peter Stöger on Thursday. After all, Borussia's goals are ambitious. "Bayern's aspiration is to be the best team - they've lived up to it. Our aspiration is to be the second-best team. We have yet to achieve that," added the head coach of the side lying third in the table.
The Austrian will have to make do without Marco Reus (adductor problems) and Ömer Toprak (muscle problems). "Both haven't trained with the team. I doubt it'll be enough for Saturday," said Stöger.
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