Borussia Dortmund’s title hopes took a massive hit in midweek as Bayern Munich defeated Lucien Favre’s team 1-0 at Signal Iduna Park.
Now, Favre’s team must rebound and pick up points versus Paderborn on Sunday to maintain their top-four place in the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund are just four points above fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen.
The yellow and black could not only fail to win the Bundesliga crown but ultimately fall out of the top four. Paderborn took points off of Borussia Dortmund when they met in November. Their last match ended 3-3 with Paderborn remarkably taking a 3-0 lead into halftime.
Back to work 🏃 pic.twitter.com/Bv28eseC98— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) May 27, 2020
Back to work 🏃 pic.twitter.com/Bv28eseC98
Streli Mamba scored twice for Paderborn before Gerrit Holtmann tallied a third goal. In the second half Jadon Sancho, Axel Witsel and Marco Reus all scored to level the game. Favre will ultimately look back on the season at that 3-3 draw as one of the big dents in the team’s title charge.
Following Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich, the big talking point was the lack of fitness and unprofessionalism shown by Sancho. The winger returned from the break out of shape and has failed to start any of the team’s matches since the hiatus ended.
Sancho could start in attack on Sunday after striker Erling Haalad suffered a knee injury versus Bayern. Favre stated Haaland shouldn’t be out for long after limping off in the second half.
Haaland will be joined on the sidelines by Borussia Dortmund captain Reus who continues to be out with an injury. Reus has only played 19 times in the league this season due to injury. Nico Schulz and Dan-Axel Zagadou will also miss out on the trip to Paderborn.
Paderborn coach Steffen Baumgart has just one fitness issue and that is Luca Kilian. The midfielder is not fully fit.
Borussia Dortmund and Paderborn have met three times in the Bundesliga between 2014 and 2019. The BVB are unbeaten in those three matches posting two wins and one draw. Of course, that draw occurred earlier this season at home when Paderborn put three goals past them.
Paderborn are eight points from the relegation playoff place and desperately need a win to have a chance of survival. They have nothing to lose by going out and attacking the BVB once more.
All three of the teams’ matches in the Bundesliga saw over 2.5 goals with two of those fixtures seeing both teams score. Sunday’s game should see both teams find the back of the net and over 2.5 goals being scored.
Borussia Dortmund could struggle but should get a win versus Paderborn to solidify their top-four place.