The final day of the Bundesliga on Saturday is set to be a thrilling one with the title race going down to the wire.
Borussia Dortmund holds a two-point advantage over rival Bayern Munich with both sides having just one game left to play.
Dortmund faces Mainz at home while Bayern – who has won the German title for the last 10 seasons – travels to Cologne to face Köln.
Dortmund winning the title would be a momentous occasion for a league which has been dominated so thoroughly by Bayern for the last decade.
Memories of Dortmund winning back-to-back titles under Jürgen Klopp, between 2010 and 2012, have long since faded as the Bundesliga title remained in Bavaria for an unprecedented period of Bayern success.
But under manager Edin Terzić – a boyhood Dortmund fan – and with a young, sprightly team, Die Borussen are within touching distance of a significant achievement.
And Dortmund’s ascent to the top is a heartwarming one too for neutrals as striker Sébastien Haller has been instrumental in the title charge.
Haller, who joined from Ajax last summer as Dortmund’s replacement for Erling Haaland, was diagnosed with testicular cancer just days after signing.
After two operations and four rounds of chemotherapy, he returned to the game in February and just when Dortmund’s title charge seemed to be dwindling, the Ivorian has found form – scoring four goals in his last two games.
Haller takes a shot against VfL Wolfsburg. – Leon Kuegeler/Reuters
Haller said it would be “unbelievable” for Dortmund to win the title in his first season at the club.
“I’m always positive and you just say: ‘Why not?'” he said, per the Bundesliga website.
“Before I started being able to play for Dortmund, we were sixth, so of course you have other targets in mind. And now suddenly you are able to play for the title. I think we just need to be humble, grateful, and still work as we did in the last months and weeks, and then we will see.”
For Bayern, losing the German title would be a disappointing end to a disjointed season – midway through the season, Bayern sacked head coach Julian Nagelsmann and replaced him with Thomas Tuchel.
Bayern did look poised to claim an 11th consecutive Bundesliga title until last week when it suffered a damaging 3-1 defeat to RB Leipzig at home, which gave Dortmund the initiative.
The Bavarian side knows it needs to beat Köln and hope that Dortmund slip up at home against Mainz to have any chance of retaining the title.
Thomas Müller, longtime Bayern forward, said that all the team is focused on.
Müller celebrates after Bayern Munich beat Schalke. – Lukas Barth/Reuters
“We now need to make sure we put this setback behind us,” he said after the shock defeat to Leipzig. “We’ve still got a game next week.”
The final round of Bundesliga fixtures kick off at 3.30 pm in Germany/9.30 am ET.
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