Konrad Laimer needed help to get off the pitch against RB Leipzig last weekend. Niko Kovac should be delighted that Bayern will be without their ball winner.
Bayern have it down as a foot or knee problem, according to the fullest preview yet, though nobody in Munich has put a date on his return.
Jamal Musiala and Min-jae Kim were pulled out of that same game too. Kompany's staff believe Musiala shook off his dizzy spell in the heat quickly enough, but more information has been shared about Musiala's absence seizures since then.
Why Laimer's foot changes the shape of it
Laimer is the absence that should interest die Schwarzgelben most.
Vincent Kompany leans on him to press, to cover and to plug whichever gap opens up. Lose him and Bayern lose flexibility rather than firepower. Firepower they can always find.
Kovac asks his two support men to break beyond Serhou Guirassy the moment Dortmund win the ball back. Pull a natural ball-winner out of the Bayern midfield and there is suddenly room for those runs to have greater impact.
Die Borussen have their own worries. Maximilian Beier took a blow to the knee at Arsenal, so Kovac left him out against Roma rather than gamble on him.
Waldemar Anton was held back for the same reason and went straight into full training on Tuesday. Emre Can is the bigger question, because Ricken wants the captain at centre-back as soon as he's fit.
So both camps carry problems. Only one of them has a midfielder who needed helping off.
The trophy drought argument
BVB haven't lifted a trophy in five years. Supporters keep circling back to it. That drought is a heavy thing to carry into a Klassiker at the Westfalenstadion.
Felix Nmecha has gone on record to say that beating Bayern would set the tone for the whole campaign. Ole Book struck a similar note this week, as BVB Buzz reported in his upbeat assessment.
Pre-season exposed a soft defensive edge, something BVB Buzz picked up on in their summer talking points. Against Roma, Daniel Svensson was exposed down the left early on and Ramy Bensebaini failed to help his teammate out at all when he turned his back on Paulo Dybala's shot from the right corner of the six-yard box.
Then, with less than ten minutes of the match played, Dortmund fell two behind. They failed to deal with a near-post corner from which Bryan Cristante was able to power home a free header.
Bayern have beaten Aston Villa and Leipzig in pre-season, and they will believe that they are looking better prepared for Saturday despite Laimer's expected absence.
Nine Supercup meetings between these two have produced five Bayern wins against four for Dortmund. Not much in it, then.
The Yellow Wall will do its bit on Saturday night. Kovac needs his back three to stand up for an hour longer than it managed against Roma, when a two-goal deficit had been conceded within 10 minutes.
Verdict: Bayern remain favourites even below full strength, though die Schwarzgelben may never get an easier crack at this trophy than on Saturday
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