By John Bagratuni, dpa
Berlin (dpa) – Borussia Dortmund and Schalke are bitter rivals but have something in common as the second half of the Bundesliga season starts: being 10 points away from where they want to be.
And it could get worse on the weekend.
Dortmund have fallen 10 points behind leaders Bayern Munich with a 2-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in mid-week and now face a similarly difficult task at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Bottom club Schalke meanwhile suffered a stoppage-time 2-1 loss against Cologne and are 10 points from safety, as well as eight away from the relegation play-off berth.
In this desperate situation they face mighty Bayern on Sunday, the champions who humiliated them 8-0 in the mid-September season-opener.
Dortmund’s six defeats so far are two more than in the entire 2018-19 season and just one less than in the past campaign, and coach Edin Terzic was fuming after his talented and youthful but inconsistent team faltered again in Leverkusen.
“We won’t accept that we are trying to pass the ball more time in order to score an unbelievably beautiful goal over 48 passes,” Terzic said.
A Champions League berth is the least Dortmund want. They are currently there in fourth but only two points ahead of eighth-placed Frankfurt, with Gladbach in seventh just one point behind them. Leipzig in second are meanwhile six ahead.
Sports director Michael Zorc insisted that “we shouldn’t be building castles in the air” when it comes to the title but that “our challenge is to qualify for the Champions League” which “we must show on Friday night at Gladbach.”
The hosts welcome Marcus Thuram back from a five-game ban for spitting at an opponent but have a debate around forward Breel Embolo and an alleged violation of coronavirus restrictions as they aim to end a run of 11 straight defeats against Dortmund.
Schalke could meanwhile see veteran striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar get his first playing time in his return to the club against Bayern who have been far from glorious lately but four points clear at the top after somewhat lucky wins over Freiburg and Augsburg.
“There is still hope, I am convinced we can still save ourselves,” Schalke coach Christian Gross said defiantly after the latest setback against Cologne.
A victory Wednesday would have seen them just two points off the play-off spot, but the big gap, plus a very demanding schedule with four matches out of their next five against top six teams – Bayern, Leipzig, Union Berlin and Dortmund – makes it difficult to believe in a turnaround.
“There’s nothing else we can do apart from carry on working hard and believing in ourselves. We’ve got so many games still to play and we’re the only people who can do something about our situation,” midfielder Omar Mascarell said.
Bayern are enjoying life at the top but coach Hansi Flick admitted that “it’s our ambition to dominate over 90 minutes” and not just parts of it.
“Now we have to make sure that we can improve on our performance at Schalke,” he said.
Bayern have won the last seven league matches against Schalke with a goal-difference of 26-2 and are unbeaten against them in 20, with Schalke’s last win in December 2010.
The weekend not only pits first against last but also second against second-last when Leipzig visit Mainz on Saturday which also sees Freiburg v Stuttgart, Leverkusen v Wolfsburg, Bielefeld v Frankfurt, Augsburg v Union and Hertha Berlin v Bremen. The other Sunday game is Hoffenheim v Cologne.
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