The first match of Bundesliga being held since the beginning of a winter break will see Borussia Dortmund hosting defending champions Bayer Leverkusen on Friday.
The Black and Yellows have played 15 games for the season, just managed to accumulate 25 points on the table placing the team at the sixth position; however, before the break due to the world cup, they had an impressive win over Wolfsburg 3-1 on December 22 While the Leverkusen is on the second place of the same table with 32 points playing just 16 games and it is only four points
The winter break could not have come at a better time for Dortmund head coach Nuri Sahin because his team has only won one out of the last five matches, a period that has also seen them record three draws and one loss.
Sahin’s side were creating almost three goals expected on this occasion; they scored three goals between the 25 th and the 30 th minute and despite being a man down half through the second half they were made to defend in a calm manner.
They will finish as the joint sixth-highest-scoring team in the Bundesliga this season – but Dortmund are potentially set to net fewer goals this season than they have in any other top-flight campaign since they managed 47 the season before they ended seventh in 2014-15.
This owed much to their rearguard: The Black and Yellows have shipped on 22; a tally that is the eighth-best in the division and claimed only three shutouts in fifteen league matches.
Dortmund have won only once and drawn twice in their last three home matches, but they beat 11 of their last home matches at Signal Iduna Park.
The champions, on the other hand, arrived to the encounter on Friday with Freiburg having been thrashed 5-1 on December 21, match in which Patrik Schick bagged four goals.
Given that Alonso's team had already lost six league games this season—more than they had in their whole 2023–24 campaign—some believed they had lost the title battle.
Leverkusen, however, has taken advantage of Bayern Munich's four-point loss in their last four league games to win their last five Bundesliga games as well as their last eight games across all competitions.
Die Schwarzroten have scored 16 goals in their previous five Premier League games, despite only stopping their opponents from scoring once during that time. This indicates that they have been playing well in front of goal in recent weeks.
Although Leverkusen has won their last three away games, it should be mentioned that they have lost one and drawn four of their last five away games.
Although Dortmund's injury problem has partly subsided, Niklas Sule's ankle injury and Pascal Gross's red card from the previous game will still prevent them from playing.
While offensive midfielder Brandt may provide support for striker Serhou Guirassy, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens is expected to start in the final third.
Victor Boniface may return to play if he passes a late fitness test, but Leverkusen will not be able to choose attacker Amine Adli.
If Boniface is not judged ready to start, expect Schick to stay ahead of Florian Wirtz and Nathan Tella.
Granit Xhaka, a midfielder, is doubtful, but if he does play, Exequiel Palacios will probably be his teammate.
