Borussia Dortmund will shift their attention back to the Bundesliga when they travel to the Commerzbank Arena to face Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
The Black and Yellows are coming on the back of a goalless draw with Barcelona while securing a 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen last weekend. And a win could potentially help them move ahead of RB Leipzig at the top of the table.
As for Eintracht, they will be looking to recover from their damaging 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the UEFA Europa League in midweek.
How Eintracht could approach this game
Eintracht were actually the more threating side against the Gunners on Thursday. But, they lacked the end product and will thus be hoping for a bit more luck this time out.
The Eagles’ primary target will be to take advantage of Lukasz Piszczek on the right flank. The Pole is expected to start for Dortmund after returning from injury. His lack of pace and mobility makes him a weak link in Dortmund’s build-up play.
That means Filip Kostic will have the license the get forward and bombard the left flank. Adi Hutter is also expected to instruct the two central midfielders to isolate Axel Witsel and Marco Reus, two of Dortmund’s best ball-carriers.
What should be Dortmund’s plans?
Borussia Dortmund’s biggest weapon is their counter-attacking prowess. The Black and Yellows can switch from defence to attack real quick, thanks to the telepathic combination of their attacking trio of Reus, Jadon Sancho and Paco Alcacer.
During possession, the Bundesliga team will look to use the trickery of Sancho to cause havoc in the Frankfurt defence, which boasts the services of an ageing David Abraham and Makoto Hasebe. That means the visitors could really take advantage of their pacy attackers and their swift movements to unlock the Eintracht backline.
However, Lucien Favre should add much more focus on defending, especially from corners and free-kicks. Their inability to defend set-pieces has cost them a lot of goals and they can’t afford that this weekend.
What will be the likely outcome?
Frankfurt using their two central midfielders to isolate the opposing midfielders worked pretty well against Arsenal. But, it may not work against Dortmund, who have far better ball-carriers in Witsel and not to mention, Reus. Thomas Delaney, too, is a good passer of the ball.
Besides, given the way the Eintracht defence has fared so far, the Ruhrpott giants are unlikely to face any real difficulties in breaching the backline, especially putting pressure on the duo of Martin Hinteregger and Abraham in a slightly wide role.
