Dortmund head coach Peter Bosz admits to enjoying the style of RB Leipzig's play.
When Borussia Dortmund host fourth-placed RB Leipzig at the Westfalenstadion on Saturday night, it won't just be about three points but also about sending a message.
For the Westphalians, the match against a direct rival for the Champions League spots will, on Matchday 8, be the first high-profile match in the Bundesliga, courtesy of a relatively easy starting schedule.
Thus far, Dortmund have had two high-profile games in the Champions League against Real Madrid and Tottenham, which both ended in drab 3-1 defeats, putting their ambitions to reach the round of 16 in jeopardy.
Borussia Dortmund RB Leipzig 4:30 PM UTC Game Details Home: 1/2 Draw: 7/2 Away: 11/2 Odds from bet365 bet365 PickCenter GameCast Lineups and Stats
Hence the league leaders still have to prove their aptitude against skillful opponents such as Leipzig, who possess the sort of weapons that can severely hurt Peter Bosz's side.
For starters, BVB's high defending line will have to worry about a pacey transition-based attack fronted by one of Germany's best strikers in 21-year-old Timo Werner. Werner, is touch-and-go due to a neck injury but Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed on Friday that he will at least be in the squad.
And as Bosz underlined at his news conference on Friday, Saturday's guests have "the quality to play actual football." One could interpret that as a cynic remark towards teams that sit back and lurk on the counter against Dortmund, but it is a fact that Leipzig have added more of a possession-based approach to their repertoire, raising last season's average possession from 53 percent to 62 this term.
It is unlikely that Hasenhuttl's side will see the majority of the ball on Saturday night given that they are the away team and view possession football more like a necessity against increasingly defensive opponents, whereas Dortmund have embraced possession-heavy football as their philosophy.
However, as Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane already pointed out, it doesn't hurt to keep the ball from Dortmund in order to evade their very aggressive pressing and then attack the space that will open up behind the yellow shirts. That is of course easier to say as the coach of Los Blancos.
But the guest can reckon with Liverpool-bound midfielder Naby Keita, who will return to the starting lineup after sitting out a three-match suspension. The 22-year-old's dribbling skills that translate into a high pressing resistance and ability to send precise balls into the space behind a high defensive line, will make the contest at the Westfalenstadion all the more interesting.
With two sets of fans that have very little time for each other, and two teams that favour fast-paced football and like to press their opponents, BVB vs. RBL should be an enticing affair all by itself. Though, in the bigger picture it is very much a statement-game for Dortmund's title ambitions.
Dortmund vs. Leipzig should be entertaining as both teams possess quality attackers and play a proactive style of football.
If the Black and Yellows draw or lose, while Bayern Munich gain ground with a win against Freiburg under newly installed coach Jupp Heynckes, this weekend could mark an unwanted momentum swing in the race for the Meisterschale. On the flipside, Dortmund can demonstrate to their southern rivals how enormous a five-point margin can feel like with a win against Leipzig.
Hence it will be important to quickly shift into top gear after the international break, which helped many players to recuperate after a straining September, and allowed the likes of Andre Schurrle and Marcel Schmelzer to work on their comebacks while Julian Weigl and Mario Gotze were able to use the time to improve their fitness.
"Mario Gotze is very fresh," Bosz reaffirmed after the two-week intermission. "I can observe in training that he's getting fresher in training every day. If you have kids, usually you don't see how they grow if you spend every day with them but if you see them after a month you see how much they grew. With Mario, however, I see how he gets fitter every day."
A fit Gotze in midfield can make all the difference for BVB just like Naby Keita can for Leipzig. But the international break always takes its toll on key players such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Christian Pulisic, who have to deal with the reality of following the 2018 World Cup from the couch as both Gabon and the United States fell short in the qualifiers.
"[Aubameyang and I] talked about that shortly," Bosz revealed, "Obviously, he is disappointed but now the focus has to be on Leipzig."
More of a headache, however, will be the injury of veteran right-back Lukasz Piszczek, who returned from the Polish national team with a ruptured ligament and has been ruled out for "weeks, maybe months," as Bosz put it. The 53-year-old already has to make do without injured full-backs Marcel Schmelzer, Erik Durm and Raphael Guerreiro and now sees his options further limited.
Unless he opts for a three-at-the-back formation with three centre-backs, Bosz has 18-year-old centre-back Dan-Axel Zagadou and 23-year-old Jeremy Toljan to cover the left-back and right-back positions. This is far from ideal heading into a busy October -- a month that is not only scary due to Halloween decorations, but also due to the fact that Dortmund have managed to win just three Bundesliga games out of 11 over the past three seasons. Saturday's match also marks the only home game of the month, as Leipzig's visit is followed by four road games over all competitions.
Stefan Buczko covers Borussia Dortmund for ESPN FC. Twitter: @StefanBuczko.
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Source: espn.co.uk