Bundesliga preview: Borussia Dortmund vs Fortuna Düsseldorf
Borussia Dortmund’s title hopes hang by a thread as the Black and Yellows host Fortuna Dusseldorf in the penultimate fixture of the season.
The dream of winning the Bundesliga is ever so slim for Dortmund as a win for Bayern Munich will crown them as German champions this weekend. Der BVB are trailing the league leaders by 4 points and will need to win their remaining games and hope that Bayern slip up twice, to have a chance at winning the league. Bayern Munich have a difficult fixture up against RB Leipzig and a challenging final fixture away at Frankfurt next week. Borussia Dortmund will be hosting Fortuna Dusselforf tomorrow before the final game away at Borussia Mönchengladbach next week.
Match information
Location: Westfalenstadion, Dortmund
Date: 9/5/2019
Time: 3.30pm CEST |2.30pm BST| 9.30am ET
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Borussia Dortmund
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Borussia Dortmund shot themselves in the foot last week after giving up yet another lead in the latter part of the game. Christian Pulisic scored a brilliant goal after beating 3 players and slotting the ball past Pavlenka. Paco Alcacer made it 2-0 after his trademark freekick doubled Dortmund’s lead. But as shown many times before this season, the team’s lack of ability to see out a game cost them again as 2 goals in 5 minutes by Kevin Mohwald and Claudio Pizarro left both teams coming away with a point.
Fortuna Dusseldorf
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Fortuna Dusseldorf are a team that is more than capable of causing an upset. Dusseldorf was the first team to hand Dortmund a Bundesliga defeat this season back in December. They also famously drew 3-3 against Bayern thanks to heroics from Dodi Lukebakio. But they have not beaten Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion since February of 1986. But even a draw is enough to throw the Black and Yellows out of the title race for good and Dusseldorf are more than capable of doing just that.
Team News
Captain Marco Reus and full back Marius Wolf are still suspended having picked up red cards in the Revierderby just two weeks ago. Reus is set to return for the final clash against Borussia Mönchengladbach while Wolf is done for the season. Hakimi is also out for the season with a metatarsal injury while Sancho is a doubt for unknown reasons and Zagadou due to his knee.
Dusseldorf just have one injury problem Zimmer but other than that the team is fit and ready to play.
Opposition star man: Dodi Lukebakio
The Belgian international on loan from Watford has scored 10 goals this season and can be very difficult to contain. His speed and dribbling ability is one of the best in the Bundesliga. If he’s on a breakaway then you may as well just add a goal to the team’s tally. Jerome Boateng said that he is the toughest opponent he’s had so far since moving to the Bundesliga. The Dortmund defence will certainly have to contain a tiger in Saturday’s game.
Last match: Fortuna Dusseldorf 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
The reverse fixture was a frustrating game for the Black and Yellows as Dusseldorf handed them their first Bundesliga defeat of the campaign. Marco Reus had his goal ruled out offside due to an unnecessary run by Christian Pulisic which proved costly as the game went on. Lukebakio scored the opener after a defence-splitting pass found the Belgium international who proved to be too quick for Diallo. After being unable to break through the Dusseldorf defence, Jean Zimmer scored a screamer from outside of the box to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.
The Black and Yellows eventually got one back after Lukasz Piszczek chipped the ball to super sub-Paco Alcacer who headed it past Rensing. It was not enough however and Dusseldorf walked away with all 3 points.
Expected lineups:
Dortmund: Bürki – Piszczek (c), Weigl, Akanji, Diallo – Witsel, Delaney – Pulisic, Götze, Guerreiro – Alcacer
Dusseldorf: Rensing – Zimmermann, Ayhan, Hoffmann, Suttner – Lukebakio, Stöger, Bodzek (c), Raman – Kownacki, Hennings
Key questions facing Lucien Favre ahead of Dusseldorf game. dark. Next