Bayern Munich have one hand on the title but Borussia Dortmund’s display against them called into question their right to be part of Der Klassiker
“Die Bundesliga ist für uns vorbei.” Pep Guardiola’s infamous declaration in a 2014 press conference, with the title in the bag, that Bayern Munich’s league campaign was over might have been off the cuff, but he spent a long time afterwards trying to live it down. The drop in intensity that followed his words prefaced a pair of sluggish performances in the Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid, and Guardiola would later openly admit his error. It was probably the biggest mistake of his enthralling three-year spell at the Allianz Arena.
Jupp Heynckes is not about to make the same mistake. Three days before the Champions League quarter-final first leg at Sevilla, the coach picked a devilishly attacking line-up to face Dortmund in Der Klassiker on Saturday evening. They swarmed over their opponents, supposedly their most dangerous domestic adversaries, like a pack of wolves left unfed for days.
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Hertha Berlin 0-0 Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich 6-0 Borussia Dortmund, Stuttgart 1-1 Hamburg, Schalke 2-0 Freiburg, Hoffenheim 6-0 Cologne, Hannover 2-3 RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Augsburg, Mainz 0-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach, Werder Bremen 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
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