Bayer vs Dortmund, Match Preview: Looking forward to Leverkusen

BVB has had quite the month in September. After scoring 17 goals in a span of 3 games, we tied in a hard-fought match against the defending European champions Real Madrid. Now as we head into the next international break (yawn) we face another challenging opponent, Bayer Leverkusen. Bayer has struggled so far this season going 2-1-2 with losses to BMG and Frankfurt.

While Bayer has gotten off to a rough start they still are one of the best teams in the Bundesliga talent wise. With Chicharito playing in the front, Bayer are always a scoring threat in the final third.

The Mexican national team star isn’t the only threat on Bayer as new upstart Joel Pohjanpalo has taken the league by storm. With his three goals as a sub in the last 11 minutes against Hamburg, he’s earned himself a solid place on the team. He even started in a two striker lineup in their defeat to Mainz last week.

As for the midfield you are going to see the same cast of characters we’re used to at Bayer. With Bellarbi most likely out Kampl, Mehmedi, Brandt and Baumgartlinger or Aránguiz will be the starting midfield. Bayer’s incredibly fast and skilled midfield rivals our own, which will make a fun if not stressful match for us.

Brandt will probably make the most trouble for our midfield and defence with his pressing and vision. As for defenders, expect some combo of Dragovic, Tah and Toprak to create a solid defense. With the success of Bartra maybe we won’t need Toprak next year, so I won’t mind if he makes some big slip ups.

As for BVB, Schurrle, Bartra and Ramos are all out of the squad this weekend. Schurrle is a worrying subtraction from the lineup after being the subbed-on hero against Madrid. He only just came back from injury and looked banged up immediately when he got on the field against Madrid. Pulisic or Mor will probably be his replacement.

Since we are about to go on break there probably won’t be much rotation in the squad. We’ll probably play a best possible eleven of Auba, Pulisic/Mor/Raph, Dembele, Castro, Götze, Weigl, Sokratis, Ginter, Schmel, Pisz and of course Burki.

Let’s go BVB!!!