Dortmund and Bavaria are also causing a stir with their future planning before the top game for the championship. Why Coutinho and Nübel have no future in Bavaria – and Götze has to go abroad.
Borussia Dortmund against Bayern Munich, second in the table against the first: Tomorrow Tuesday evening (from 6.30 p.m. in the live ticker at t-online.de) this is the right game at the perfect time – for both teams and for the Bundesliga in general. Both clubs came out of the Corona break very dominant and stable. It is a real pleasure to watch them. Since the other top European leagues have still not started their operations, the whole world will watch this game – if not in the stadium.
The rivals not only cause a sensation in sports – the future planning of the clubs also makes headlines. Here are six theses about the duel and the most important personal details.
Photo series with 20 pictures
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1. If Dortmund does not win, Bayern will be the champions.
BVB are four points behind FC Bayern before matchday 28. Since both clubs have just improved defensively over the course of the season, I make up my mind and say: Dortmund has to win the direct duel if you still want to become champions. Bayern then have to go to Leverkusen for the difficult away game, which could make things really explosive. Should Bayern play at least in a draw in Dortmund, it won’t. Then I’m pretty sure that Bayern will also be champions.
Both clubs will hardly give up any points during the rest of the season. Dortmund may have to do without some extremely important players like Marco Reus, Mats Hummels or Axel Witsel. On the one hand, this is painful because they are absolute top players. On the other hand, it has been seen in the last few games that they can compensate for this and compensate for it – in an impressive way. We don’t need to talk about the quality of Bavaria.
2. Haaland is the second best striker in the league
At Borussia Dortmund there are currently some players who are responsible for the upswing. For me there are three in particular. Julian Brandt has made a huge step forward. If he remains so stable, there will be no way around him in the national team. Thorgan Hazard had a few problems in the beginning, but has now finally arrived. And Erling Haaland by storm is just an outstanding guy. He works for the team, rubs himself and has this unconditional will to win.
Haaland is in a very good position in Dortmund and is the second best striker in the league after Lewandowski, who will still cause a sensation. Hiring him and Emre Can in the winter was optimal. You can’t do better transfers in winter. After Lewandowski, Haaland is Dortmund’s best storm purchase in recent years.
3. Götze still has what it takes to be a top European club.
Dortmund manager Michael Zorc announced on Saturday before the game in Wolfsburg the end of Mario Götze after this season. The contract is not renewed. Of course, that hurts for the player, it’s hard – but it’s also open and honest. You have to accept such a decision. Mario knows where he’s at.
He now faces the most important decision in his career, the all-important step. The most important thing is that he finally plays again. At the age of 27, he has to play 40, 50 games in one season. And from my point of view he has to go abroad for that. If I would give him advice, I would say: “You played for the top clubs in Germany, you are our World Cup hero for life – now have the experience abroad. Also for personal development.” England, Italy, Spain – I can imagine that he will get a good offer. The Bundesliga no longer makes sense to me. He was at Bayern, twice at Dortmund. And I can’t imagine Hertha.
I’m also sure that Götze still has what it takes to be a top club. Götze can still play at the highest European level for four or five years. Right from the start, he has to have 100 percent trust from the trainer and his environment – that is the decisive factor for him. I just like him as a type of player and I am sure that we will experience him in really good shape again.
4. For Coutinho it’s over because Müller is so strong.
Thomas Müller is in a brilliant shape. He scored one goal against Frankfurt and prepared another. In the last 17 Bundesliga games, he has been involved in 20 goals. Müller would certainly not play so strongly if the currently injured Philippe Coutinho would play on the ten.
So I don’t think Coutinho will stay out of the season. FC Bayern has already announced that it has not drawn the purchase option for 120 million euros – and that would be a utopian sum in Corona times and simply unrealistic.
I think Bavaria judges this purely athletically. And Flick currently trusts Müller one hundred percent. He has his freedom and pays back. If you see Flick setting up who he trusts, that’s a clear sign that Coutinho’s trip will go somewhere else after the season. With James Rodriguez it didn’t really work on ten. In the end there is no room for ten with Bayern with Müller.
5. FC Bayern should also extend to 2023 with Ulreich.
FC Bayern did everything right with the contract extensions of the past few weeks – especially with goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer. The question that still needs to be answered: What is going to happen to number two, Sven Ulreich? If Ulreich approaches the club after the past few years as a replacement for newcomers and asks to be allowed to leave the club in order to become number one elsewhere, Bayern will certainly not slam the door in front of him because of his merits.
For me, however, it would be the most understandable sporting decision to extend with Sven Ulreich until 2023. Neuer and Ulreich – that’s the perfect duo. If Neuer failed in the past, Ulreich did a great job, whether in the Bundesliga or the Champions League. You won’t get more class than number two. Ulreich is so loyal that you can confidently take him to the tournament as number three in the national team.
I can imagine Bavaria will fight for him too – and that would be right.
6. The change of Nübel can cost him his career
Before his free transfer to FC Bayern in summer, Alexander Nübel is currently going through the toughest steel bath imaginable in the Bundesliga. He is in an incredibly difficult situation. At his current club Schalke 04, they first put him on the throne, gave him sporting confidence and even made him the captain. Then they took everything back from him. Nübel is not alone to blame for his situation, but the outlook is also bleak.
After Manuel Neuer’s contract extension, Nübel will probably be number two at most by 2023. If Bayern also extends with Ulreich, he tends to remain number three. Under no circumstances can he be satisfied with that. Nübel has to play to get better and develop his personality – and at a high level. Therefore one can discuss whether the decision to go to Bavaria in the summer was wrong. I’m sorry? No. This is soccer.
In my opinion there are two options. Either Nübel emerges stronger from this situation and becomes a really great goalkeeper. Or he will continue his career beyond the Bundesliga in the medium term if he doesn’t pack it. To be clear: a decision like this can cost him his career. Even if he leaves Bayern in the next few years, he will always be the goalkeeper with Bayern’s past. He will surely get another chance at a good club. But he will be under extreme pressure.
At the end of the column, I would like to get rid of a few personal sentences on my departure from KFC Uerdingen. The club and I have agreed not to discuss any details in public – I want to stick to this agreement. This has to be accepted and respected. Therefore, I only say that the evaluation of many media neglects the actually most important aspect: the sporty one. When I started at Uerdingen, the club was in 16th place with 13 points. I left it with 39 points, five points behind the promotion ranks. Some players called me afterwards and thanked me. That was totally positive for me and therefore no reason to dismiss this station as a mistake. I draw a positive conclusion, even if the engagement only lasted for eight months.
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