Berlin (AFP)
The struggle for the top scorer of the German Football League between Bayern Munich strikers Robert Lewandowski and Norwegian Borussia Dortmund Erling Halland in the “Classic”, which combines the leader and runner-up “Saturday”, in the most prominent matches of the fourteenth stage.
The Bavarian giant is a guest at the “Signal Iduna Park”, with an additional point from Dortmund “31 against 30”, on the impact of the strict measures taken due to the Corona virus, which has become more dangerous for the league matches, where the “Classicer” will be held in front of numbers that have reduced to 15,000. Spectators fear the repercussions of the pandemic, while many voices are calling for the “Bundesliga” matches to be held behind closed doors due to the fourth wave sweeping the country.
Dortmund international striker Halland, 21, put a hip injury behind him and kept him out of action for five weeks, when he scored in his first participation a goal “on the fly” and contributed to his team’s 3-1 victory over Wolfsburg in the previous stage.
Dortmund coach Marco Rose said about his top scorer with 19 goals in various competitions this season, including 10 in 7 league matches, that “it gives us a lot of energy, he is a player who can decide matches.”
The same applies to Bayern Munich striker and top scorer Lewandowski, who scored 14 goals in 13 games, and who finished Monday second in the Golden Ball award behind Argentine star Lionel Messi, despite scoring 41 goals in the “Bundesliga” during the 2020-2021 season, which allowed him to smash The record was held by the “gunner” Gerd Muller, also a Bayern star.
Leva did not stop there, but continued in this season’s test in the same vein, scoring 25 goals in his club’s shirt in various competitions, and 5 in his country’s shirt.
Bayern is armed with its victory over Dortmund in the last six confrontations between them, but the league leaders will miss many of the keys to playing due to the Corona virus, as Joshua Kimmich continues to be absent from the Bavarian club as he is quarantined at his home after the result of his positive tests for the Corona virus.
On the other hand, doubt is swirling about Leon Goretzka’s eligibility to participate after he left the team’s training Thursday due to pain in his hip.
For his part, Dortmund is still waiting for an answer about the fitness of young English midfielder Judd Bellingham to give him the green light to participate.
Former international midfielder Lothar Matthaus said this week that Haaland’s return after a five-week absence due to injury could contribute to Dortmund’s end to their streak of poor results against Bayern.
“Dortmund has a chance, because Haaland is back and because Bayern is missing a leader like Joshua Kimmich,” he said.
Bayern hopes to deviate from the expectations of its former star in his quest to win the tenth consecutive title in the “Bundesliga” next May.
Matthaus is worried that Bayern will want to take the opportunity to widen the gap between himself and his main pursuers, so he added, “If you are a common fan, you should hope that Dortmund do not lose, because Bayern will be four points away”, if they manage to win.
And this is indeed what Dortmund is seeking, as he wants Haaland to lead him to his first victory at home against Bayern two years ago, and to delight the few fans who got the chance to watch the confrontation.
However, memories of the last loss against the Bavaria giants 1-3 last August in the final of the local cup, still haunt the “black and yellow” team, with a double of his former player Lewandowski.
Before that, Haaland scored two goals last March to put his team ahead with two goals without a match, nine minutes after the start of the whistle in Munich, before Lewandowski responded by scoring a hat-trick from his team’s quartet to turn the table and emerge 4-2 winner.
Bayern chief executive and former goalkeeper Oliver Kahn insisted his striker was “the best striker in the world”, while Messi, the seventh Ballon d’Or winner, praised the Polish striker at France Football magazine’s awards gala Monday. The award was awarded to Lewandowski in light of what he achieved in the 2020-2021 season, after the decision to cancel the award due to the repercussions of the Corona virus.
“Robert Lewandowski was a first-class striker,” said the former goalkeeper, referring to “the ease with which he scores goals.”
Bayer Leverkusen receives the third with 24 points, the newcomer and bottom of the standings, Grouter Fürth, on Saturday, under the aura of brilliance of its young 18-year-old midfielder Florian Wirtz, after recovering from a hip injury.
And after he contributed to two goals from his team’s 3-2 victory over Celtic, to guarantee Leverkusen the ticket to qualify for the final price of the European League “European League”, Vertz opened the scoring in the 3-1 victory over Leipzig in the league on Saturday.
It seemed clear that Leverkusen’s decision to rest his young player for a period of 10 days in November to recover from a hip injury, worked in his favour, and began to reap the fruits of his successful policy.
“What happened was in his favour,” Leverkusen coach Gerardo Sewan said of Wirtz’s wonderful period. It was important to reduce his workload as much as possible.”
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