Borussia Dortmund return from the international break with a home game against VfB Stuttgart
in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
It promises to be an enticing matchup between the third and fourth-placed teams, who boast resolute defences while also possessing a few lethal weapons upfront.
Both teams are tied with 21 points each after 10 league games this season, but the BVB sit ahead of their next visitors by virtue of goal difference.
In their last top-flight match before the hiatus, Dortmund were held in a late 1-1 draw by Hamburg, who struck an equalizer in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
Meanwhile, Die Roten fought back twice against Augsburg to prevail 3-2, with star striker Deniz Undav netting the winner in the 80th minute.
Here's what to look forward to from Dortmund's titillating league affair with Stuttgart
1) Battle of steely defenses
With only seven goals conceded, Borussia Dortmund have the best defensive record in the Bundesliga this season after only runaway leaders, Bayern Munich (6). What's more impressive is that Dortmund have managed to pull it off even without their skipper Emre Can and a few injuries to key centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck, too.
Head coach Niko Kovac has done a fabulous job of beefing up their backline as the Yellow and Blacks have registered six clean sheets from 10 games. Even though Stuttgart's defensive record isn't as stellar, they are still the third-best team on account of goals conceded with 12.
They too have some instrumental figures in defense who have led by example, such as Jeff Chabot, whose vision and positional awareness have been key to dealing with incoming threats. He's also won the 'Man of the Match' award twice in eight appearances.
Meanwhile, Dan-Axel Zagadou was the highest rated player on WhoScored for Stuttgart after only Undav in their 3-2 win over Augsburg as the former Borussia Dortmund defender delivered a masterclass in winning aerial duels and making perfectly-timed tackles.
2) Tale of two prolific strikers
Now speaking of the attack, both Dortmund and Stuttgart possess a talismanic figure upfront in Serhou Guirassy and Deniz Undav respectively.
Guirassy's tally of five goals in nine games is bettered only by four players in the Bundesliga, but it's worth noting that four of his goals came in the opening three league games alone. Since then, he's managed just one more in the next six appearances, signaling a steep decline in form.
But Kovac has vowed to keep playing him and expressed confidence in the Guinean getting back into his stride. Having enjoyed a rest during the international break, Guirassy will be looking to hit the ground running again.
As for Undav, the German international suffered a ligament tear in August that forced him out of four league games. But since recovering, he has netted three in four appearances, including a match-winning brace in their last outing.
With Ermedin Demirovic currently out with a foot injury, the goalscoring mantle of Stuttgart is once again upon Undav to carry, and his record of three goals in five games against Dortmund holds him in good stead.
3) Stuttgart, Dortmund's new bogey team
Borussia Dortmund's struggles against Bayern Munich are well-documented. But there's another side that has had its numbers in recent games, which is Stuttgart. In fact, Die Roten are on a five-game winning streak against the BVB, a spectacular run that includes a 5-1 shellacking in September 2024.
Interestingly, Kovac's first game in charge of Dortmund was also against Stuttgart, coming on 8 February 2025, wherein his side went down 2-1 at the Signal Iduna Park.
After winning four games in a row between 2021 and 2022, Dortmund are now winless against the Baden-Württemberg outfit in their last six, their joint-worst run in the fixture since an identical run between September 2003 to March 2006.