Leipzig vs. Dortmund preview: Marco Rose’s revenge match
BVB travel east for this extremely salivating matchup. In an unbelievable turn of events, Marco Rose’s first game with Leipzig is against the club that sacked him in the summer.
RB Leipzig
Everything has come full circle. Marco Rose’s first challenge as RB Leipzig's new boss comes against Borussia Dortmund. This was meant to be. It will be intriguing to see how Rose coaches against a Dortmund squad he knows so well, as he paces the opposing touchline.
Rose has a difficult job ahead with Leipzig slumping after suffering blowouts to Eintracht Frankfurt and Shakhtar Donetsk in the last week. With their only win coming against lowly Wolfsburg on the season, there isn’t a player in-form on the team.
One thing’s for certain. Leipzig still have one of the deepest, most talented squads in the league. Christopher Nkunku and Timo Werner will likely start in Rose’s 3-4-1-2 formation, while it’s not clear which center-back pairing the new coach will favor.
In his introductory press conference, Rose stated that, “I identify really strongly with my home, with Leipzig. It's never easy to take on a role in the public eye in your home city. The people here expect a lot from the club and from me."
Team News
Dani Olmo, Lukas Klostermann and Yussuf Poulsen are out with long-term injuries.
Borussia Dortmund
It’s hard to say BVB are playing their best football at the moment, but they’re still getting the job done with four wins in five games. The convincing victory on Tuesday over Copenhagen displayed that their attack could be picking up steam yet again.
Captain Marco Reus has two goals and five assists already on the season, but it’s unclear whether some of his offensive teammates will return. Karim Adeyemi and Donyell Malen are still questionable, but Gio Reyna impressed and avoided injury (finally) in their first round Champions League match.
Alexander Meyer will make his first-ever start in the Bundesliga on Saturday with Gregor Kobel out injured. Nico Schlotterbeck will undoubtedly play as the left center-back, but it’s unclear whether trainer Edin Terzic prefers Mats Hummels or Niklas Sule in the pairing at the moment.
Terzic is pleased with his defense thus far: "We're happy that all the central defenders are in such good shape at the moment. We already said before the season that we had really strengthened ourselves there. We can always keep the option open of playing in a three-man formation."
Team News
Kobel, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Mahmoud Dahoud, Mateu Morey and Sebastien Haller are unavailable. Malen, Adeyemi and Thorgan Hazard are questionable.