A full nine-match fixture list will be played in the German Bundesliga on Saturday for the final round of games from the regular season. There’s plenty for followers to get excited about with teams battling for points at both ends of the table. Bayern Munich is confirmed champions heading into the weekend thanks to a strong finish. The top-four places have all been decided, as have fifth and sixth in the Europa League slots.
In this article, our football writers preview the game of the day where Borussia Dortmund take on Bayer Leverkusen. This fixture is scheduled to kick-off at 14:30 GMT and will be shown live on television to followers of German football across the world. Borussia Dortmund is finishing with a flurry and enter on the back of a stunning winning run. They have collected a maximum of 15 points from their last five league starts. Opponents Bayer Leverkusen have been disappointing this season and will finish no higher than sixth in the charts. They are unbeaten in their last three, but travel on back-to-back draws.
Followers of the stats have reason to expect a high scoring match on Saturday. The last meeting of these sides produced three goals: Bayer Leverkusen nicking a hard-fought 2-1 home win. Both teams have scored in each of the previous two games, and we’ve seen a total of 25 goals scored in the last five. Will this game follow that trend?
Dortmund’s sprint finish
Borussia Dortmund fans making their season predictions in the summer would have hoped to see their team pushing for the title by this stage of the campaign. Things haven’t quite worked out that way, and the home side is third in the table. They have secured a place in the top four and will be playing Champions League football next season but achieved that without ever worrying the champions, who continued their dominance over German football.
Dortmund enters game 34 of the season with 61 points on the board, 14 fewer points than Bayern Munich and four less than runners up RB Leipzig. The hosts are, however, level with Wolfsburg in fourth, so they could drop a place.
The home team enter this match with stats of 19 wins and four draws against ten defeats, scoring 72 goals and conceding 45 in the process. When taking a closer look at those numbers, we note they have the same number of wins as second-placed Bulls but have suffered more defeats than any other team in the top seven of the division. Dortmund has also conceded more goals than Union Berlin in seventh. Plenty to work on for the coaching staff in pre-season.
Had it not been for a solid finish to the season, we could have seen Borussia Dortmund miss out on the top four and Champions League football. However, they found their feet just when it mattered and put together a winning run of form. Dortmund set up for this game with the confidence that comes from a winning run. They were last seen in action beating Mainz 3-1 on the road a week ago. That comfortable win followed a stunning 4-1 victory over RB Leipzig in the German DFB Cup the match before.
Leverkusen fans left feeling let down
Bayer Leverkusen was impressive last season, blazing a trail of glory to the latter stages of the Europa League and making a dent in the Bundesliga. Fans had hoped to see them build on that with another strong showing and many pundits had Bayer picked out to bag another top-four finish to secure Champions League football. Supporters were left feeling let down by their team, however. Perhaps it was the empty stadiums, but the team failed to live up to expectations and have already missed out on the top four. They won’t be playing in UEFA’s elite competition next season. Instead, Leverkusen will be dropped into the Europa League, where they will be one of the pre-season betting favourites to win it.
The visitors arrive for this match, sitting sixth in the table with 52 points on the board. That tally means they can’t climb any higher but won’t sink any lower. Eintracht Frankfurt is five points better off, while FC Union Berlin in seventh is five behind. Leverkusen has won 14, drawn ten and lost nine games so far this season, scoring 52 goals and conceding 36. They have found the net fewer times than Stuttgart in ninth but boast one of the best defensive records in the league. The focus this summer will be improving the attack and spending big in the transfer window to find a striker good enough to fire the club back into the top four.
Bayer enters this match, having lost just one of their last five league games. That run consists of two wins, two draws and a defeat. They are unbeaten in their last three at this level, following a victory with back-to-back draws. With nothing to play for, the danger here is the team may have downed tools and already have one eye on the summer break or the Euros. We’ll quickly find out in this match how much drive the team have.
Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen prediction
There’s nothing to play for here, and that could mean followers end up with a dull match, the kind we have become used to seeing at this stage of the season. Win, lose or draw, we won’t see Leverkusen change their position, but Dortmund could slip even lower in the pecking order than they are now. Avoiding that should keep the team focussed, and the home advantage also boosts their chances.
Bayer Leverkusen knows where they went wrong this season. Next term, they must turn their chances into goals to get back into the top four. It has been a poor campaign by their high standards, and the players will want to prove they are looking forward to next season. Signing off with a win would help them achieve that.
Bundesliga odds
The pre-match betting available at 22bet has Borussia Dortmund priced at 1.6 with Bayer Leverkusen 5.2. Fancy the draw? That’s 4.22.
Make sure to bet on Borussia Dortmund vs Bayer Leverkusen with 22Bet!
