The German Bundesliga is back, and already in the first round of the new year (2015) we have a derby game where the third placed Bayer Leverkusen welcome Klopp’s side, Borussia Dortmund which are eager to forget an incredible bad half of the season and to run away from the league bottom.
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Bayer Leverkusen vs Borussia Dortmund Live Streams
Match Highlights & Replay – ready after the game end
January 31, 2015 • 17:30 • BayArena, Leverkusen
Referee: K. Kircher
Bayer are exactly where it was expected to be at the start of the season, and this is the third position, but a big surprise are Borussia Dortmund which according to many should be on the 2nd. Instead, the popular Millioners are on the second place from the bottom, lagging 13 points behind the 2nd placed team, Bayer Leverkusen. In the first part of the season Bayer stun Borussia in Dortmund with a 2-0 win, but in the last seven games they failed to beat Borussia at home.
Bayer Leverkusen had a very good first half of the season, especially if we consider all the competitions, like sealing the next round of the Champions League.
In Bundesliga they sit currently on the third place, although they do not have a big point difference that brings them some peace as four clubs are on only 1-2 points behind them, while the gap compared to the second VfL Wolfsburg who defeated Bayern Munich 4-1 this Friday is 9 points.
A reason for this is a large number of draws, is their home form, where they played five times without a winner and usually Bayer always at home recorded better results. Consolation is that at home they are still unbeaten. As for away records, 3 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats suggest that Roger Schmidt’s side have even more room to improve if they want to keep the third place.
Bayer did not make a change in the team, while in a way of looking to improve their defence, they officially bought the Croat Tin Jedvaj from AS Roma who was previously on a loan in Leverkusen, but he is one of the injured players on which the coach Schmidt can not count for this derby match. Donati and Reinartz are recovered, but Bayer will miss a very important player, Korean Son, who is in the Asian Cup, Drmić could get a chance from the first minute.
Bayer Leverkusen probable lineup : Leno – Hilbert, Toprak, Spahić, Wendell – L.Bender, Castro – Bellarabi, Calhanoglu, Drmić – Kiesling
Probably there was not a team that anticipated the Bundesliga pause more than Borussia, after completely failing in the first part of the season. Klopp’s side currently sits on the 17th place and only a one more scored goal puts them above the last placed team, Freiburg. The second half of the season, Klopp’s team looks like on a start of the new season, as elimination from the Bundesliga would be an incredible thing for this German club.
The good news is that Borussia sealed the next round of Champions league, competition in which Klopp’s side is doing a much better job. Klopp has survived the hot seat and the only player which Borussia signed so far is the midfielder Kampl from Salzburg.
Dortmund’s attack is not working, that is obvious, Ramos and Imobille are out of form so the returnee from the African Cup of Nations, Aubameyang, could gain an advantage in attack. The good news for Klopp is that Marco Reus and Kevin Grosskreutz are recovered but Langerak, Durma, Blaszczykowski, Kehla and S.Bender are all sidelined.
Borussia Dortmund probable lineup : Weidenfeller – Piszczek, Sokratis, Hummels, Schmelzer – Sahin, Gundogan – Kampl, Reus, Mkhitaryan – Aubameyang