Borussia Dortmund vs Leverkusen preview: Win or bust for Peter Bosz

After a disappointing loss to rivals Schalke 04 last weekend, Borussia Dortmund will travel to Leverkusen in a match that will define the 5th place on the league table.

Peter Bosz faces a critical game of his tenure as Borussia Dortmund manager. While the board decided not to sack him after the Schalke debacle, they may not be so forgiving if Der BVB lose this weekend. With the club already looking at possible replacements, Bosz faces a must win game against an in form Leverkusen side.

Match Information

Date: December 2nd

Time: 3:30 p.m. CET (local time)/9:30 a.m. EST

Venue: Bay Arena, Leverkusen

Form Guide

Borussia Dortmund:

Last 5 matches: DLLLD

Last match: Borussia Dortmund 4-4 Schalke 04

Analysis: Dortmund had a major implosion this past Saturday at the Signal Iduna Park in the Revierderby. After going up 4-0 in the second half with goals from Aubameyang, Guerreiro, Gotze, and an own goal. After this Dortmund collapsed, they conceded 4 goals in the second half. In addition to this Aubameyang earned a red card after a reckless challenge and Naldo finished the comeback in injury time after heading in a corner.

Bayer Leverkusen:

Last 5 matches: LLWWW

Last Match: Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Eintracht Frankfurt

Analysis: Leverkusen had a tight match against Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend. Die Werkself managed to come off with the game winner in the 76th minute after Kevin Volland scored with an assist from Admir Mehmedi.

Opposition star man

There is one player that scares me the most in this Bayer Leverkusen starting 11 and that is Kevin Volland. This is his second year with the team and he already has over 17 goals scored in all competitions. In this season he has already scored 8 goals and it seems as if he can’t be slowed down. Those 8 goals put him at 3rd place behind Lewandowski and Aubameyang on the Bundesliga goalscoring chart.

Kevin Volland has been in stunning form for Leverkusen this season. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images) /

Matchup History

Dortmund and Leverkusen have already played 76 matches in the history of both clubs. Out of those 76, Dortmund has the advantage since they have won 28 of them, but Bayer is just one game shy of matching their record. In the last 10 matches, Dortmund has won 5 of them while Leverkusen has just won 3.

Transfer History

Both of these teams have made a bunch of transfers in its history. In Dortmund’s 1997 Champions League winning team, one of its members were transferred from Bayer Leverkusen. One of them is legendary Dortmund left midfielder Knut Reinhardt who played 225 games for der BVB and 138 for Bayer Leverkusen. More recently in 2015, Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen made an indirect swap sending Gonzalo Castro to Dortmund, while Dortmund sent Kevin Kampl to Leverkusen. Finally, the most recent “trade” was Dortmund receiving Ömer Toprak while Leverkusen received Sven Bender.

Borussia Dortmund signed Gonzalo Castro from Bayer Leverkusen. (Photo by TF-Images/TF-Images via Getty Images) /

Possible lineups

Dortmund 3-4-2-1

Bürki – Toprak, Sokratis, Bartra – Schmelzer (c), Weigl, Kagawa, Guerreiro – Schurrle, Pulisic – Yarmolenko

Leverkusen 3-4-3

Leno – L. Bender (c), Tah, Retsos – Mehmedi, Aranguiz, Baumgartlinger, Brandt – Volland, Bailey – Alario

Final Prediction

Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Borussia Dortmund

This could end up being Peter Bosz’ final game as Borussia Dortmund manager. However, with the team in free-fall, its hard to imagine them getting the three points away to a strong Leverkusen side. Without Aubameyang and Gotze, the other players will have to step up for the Black and Yellows.

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