Match Preview: Run with the Bulls

Well, this should be fun.

After an agonizingly long two weeks of vapid international play, the Bundesliga is back. This week, Borussia Dortmund will be visiting the corporate puppets: Red Bull Rasenball Leipzig. I think I speak for pretty much everyone when I say a win here, especially a decisive one, would feel very gratifying indeed.

Even though they’ve just been promoted this past summer, the Red Bulls Right Backs will undoubtedly be a tough tide to beat. As a young and fast team, they will be dangerous on the counter attack, and Dortmund’s midfield will have to be prepared to deal with the likes of pacey Timo Werner and Yusuf Poulsen.

For more on what to expect from RB Leipzig, feel free to read our Key Matchups, or our RB Leipzig season preview.

As for Dortmund, it will likely be more of the same for Thomas Tuchel’s squad. No definitive lineup has been released yet, but Tuchel will likely go with the same 4-2-3-1 that we saw last match against Mainz. However, it looks as if Shinji Kagawa picked up an ankle injury during the international break, so Götze will make his Dortmund debut, taking Shinji’s starting spot at number 10.

Another change I could see Tuchel making is Weigl getting the starting spot at #6 over Sebastian Rode: seeing as Dortmund will probably control most of the possession, it would make sense to have somebody capable of conducting play through the midfield, rather than someone like Rode, who’s more of a defensive player. Sebastian has been playing extremely well, though, so I doubt it will hurt us too much.

Even though this isn’t our “full guns blazing” lineup, there’s still plenty of firepower here to cause RB plenty of problems. Aubameyang has seemingly settled into form, and the combined pace of him, Schürrle, and Dembélé should cause havoc for RB, especially if they commit men forward while counterattacking. Time to go Bullfighting!

AUF GEHTS DORTMUND!!!