Lothar Matthaus admitted that despite rooting for Bayern to win the Bundesliga this season, he hopes Borussia Dortmund would win Der Klassiker tonight.
Former Bayern Munich midfielder said he wanted an exciting end to the season.
“I hope they win the league for them and for their fans because I played for the club for 12 years.
“On the other hand, I want a competition. Tomorrow there’s a game between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, Bayern are four points ahead of Dortmund. Part of me wants Dortmund to win the game to make the Bundesliga really competitive right until the last game. If Dortmund win then it’s going to be really open right until the end of the season.
“I think Bayern will be happier if my prediction is correct because I think it will finish 2-2. Both teams have come back well after the break for Corona. Dortmund have picked up six points, scored six goals and not conceded any.”
Matthaus makes further analysis for the game tonight, and believe it will be difficult for Bayern to break through Dortmund defence.
“They are very good in defence. Bayern played very well against Frankfurt, they won 5-2. It’s a game between the two best teams in Germany, their league positions – first and second – reflect this.
” I see what’s happening on the field and I’m sure we have top players in both teams, we have pace in both teams and we have quality players who can make the difference at the highest level, like Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, Kimmich for Bayern, Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper as well.
“For Dortmund we have Sancho from England, Haaland from Norway, great young players, Hazard the Belgian, Guerreiro, the European Champion with Portugal in 2016, Hakimi on the right. Really good players and I’m really intrigued about the game. I can’t wait for kick off and for the game to start.
“It’s a game between the best two teams and can really make Bayern Champions because if they win, they are seven points clear and I think the championship is over then. Of course, anything is possible. I think it’ll be an open game, that’s why my prediction is 2-2. I’ll keep my fingers crossed a little bit for Dortmund because I like to see the competition go right until the end, for it to stay close between these two teams and maybe another team can come into the race like Leverkusen or Leipzig.
Matthaus also admitted that Haaland will be a greater weapon for Dortmund against Bayern in the years to come.
“It is very difficult because when someone is moving, when someone is fast, when someone is strong, how can you control him? It is not possible to control him for 90 minutes. He will always get his chances to score. It is very difficult. You have to close him off. You are not allowed to give him space. You are not allowed to give him the speed he needs. On top of that, he also makes good runs into the box when Dortmund come from the wings. That is Dortmund’s style of play.
They come with the speed of Sancho and (Achraf) Hakimi from the right and (Raphaël) Guerreiro and
(Thorgan) Hazard from the left who then send the ball from the outside into the box.
Haaland is going to go to the first post and the second post – especially the first post. Most of the time. That is his usual run. You have to close him off somehow. It is very difficult to control him for 90 minutes, however, sometimes he doesn’t have a very good day at the office, making it a lot easier for you!”
But instead of picking Haaland as his favourite Dortmund player, Matthaus would love to see Jadon Sancho plays in Bayern shirt.
“They have a lot of good players, but I think I would take Sancho who can play on the left or the right wing. He can help Bayern Munich. Especially because Bayern only have (Serge) Gnabry and (Kingsley) Coman in those positions – and (Ivan) Perisic. Sancho is a world class player. I like him very much. He is a top scorer at Dortmund. He has scored 15 or 16 goals this season. He can give a lot of assists and, for me, that is the player I would like to see in the red shirt of Bayern Munich.”