Bayern Munich Held By Borussia Dortmund In The Latest ‘Klassiker’

The Bundesliga marketing machine went into overdrive, but even then, ‘Der Klassiker’ between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund wasn’t quite the classic of the good old days. Overall, an entertaining 2-2 draw couldn’t hide the cracks of what was, at times, a sloppy performance by both teams.

Perhaps it was the hangover of both teams losing their midweek games in the Champions League. While Bayern Munich harbors some small hopes after their 2-1 defeat at home to Inter Milan, Dortmund is all but out of the competition after getting smashed 4-0 in Barcelona.

Indeed, the return leg on Tuesday might be the last game in the Champions League for the Black and Yellows for some time. The draw at the Allianz Arena puts six points and three teams between Dortmund and a top-four spot.

The result for Dortmund is even more disappointing given the fact that there were chances to put the game away after Maxi Beier opened the scoring in the second half (48’). Instead, former Dortmund star Raphaël Guerreiro (65’) and then Serge Gnabry (69’) turned the game around for the Rekordmeister. Waldemar Anton equalized (75’), but then Pascal Groß missed a golden opportunity to win it for Dortmund.

Overall, the result is deserved. While Bayern dominated the first half, the second half went back and forth. While four goals certainly meant the match was entertaining, a case has to be made that they resulted from sloppy defending.

The opener by Beier, for example, was preceded by poor defending by Min-Jae Kim. The Korean has seemingly been running on fumes, and it showed. Gnabry, in the meantime, was shown little opposition by Dortmund’s backline ahead of his goal.

It sums up where both teams are at the moment. Dortmund is stuck in no-man’s land, and Bayern is huffing and puffing to the title thanks to a Leverkusen side that once again dropped points today—Die Werkself drew 0-0 against Union Berlin.

“One point is too little if we look at where we currently are,” Dortmund captain Emre Can said after the game in the mixed zone. “We have a whole lot of catching up to do. But it doesn’t make any sense now to calculate where we could be at the end. We simply needed to win the matches.”

Dortmund just don’t need to win matches; they also have to hope that Leipzig, Mainz, Freiburg, and Gladbach drop more points than they do in the outstanding five games. This is not impossible, but it is also unlikely.

Perhaps the only silver lining is that Dortmund will make significant money from the Club World Cup this summer. According to the Swiss Ramble, Dortmund will receive at $26.7 million from participating at the tournament. That income should at least somewhat help bridge the financial gap from Dortmund missing out on Champions League money.

The math is much better for Bayern. With Leverkusen also dropping points and Bayern with a much better goal differential, the Rekordmeister has the title all but wrapped up.

“You go into every game wanting to win,” Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany said. “So there’s a feeling that we could’ve done better. But with a view to the recent setbacks, we must have energy and togetherness.”

Indeed, given Bayern’s problems with injuries, the point is a success. As a matter of fact, no further players got hurt in the clash against Dortmund. With that in mind, the focus will quickly shift to Tuesday and the clash against Inter Milan.

“I think we can live with the point,” Harry Kane said. “Now we have to take it game by game, give it our all, and then we’ll see what this point is worth in the end.”

The point will certainly be enough to win the Bundesliga title. Will it bring enough momentum to see Bayern get past Inter Milan? We will find out on Wednesday.