Dortmund desire derby boost
Friday, December 3, 2004
Article summary
BV Borussia Dortmund hope to give their fans reason to cheer in a frustrating season by beating FC Schalke 04.
Article body
By Mark Bennett
The Ruhr-derby between BV Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04 on Sunday is the pick of the weekend's Bundesliga matches, upstaging even leaders FC Bayern München's match at rivals 1. FC Nürnberg the previous day.
Sell out
In the Ruhr valley there is no bigger fixture than the match between Dortmund and Schalke, and 83,000 fans will converge on the Westfalenstadion for a game that has been sold out for months.
'Difficult situation'
Dortmund have not beaten Schalke in six years, but reversing that trend by picking up a victory here would give their fans something to cheer about in an otherwise disappointing season. "We are in a difficult situation, but the match against Schalke will bring the best out of every player," Dortmund coach Bert van Marwijk said.
'Arrogant' Schalke
Schalke, two points behind Bayern in second, come into the match looking to bounce back from Wednesday's UEFA Cup defeat by Feyenoord, and coach Ralf Rangnick wants to see a change of attitude from his players. "We were arrogant in the match on Wednesday and therefore deserved to lose," he said. "We won't make the same mistake twice."
Kaiserslautern derby
In Sunday's other derby, 1. FC Kaiserslautern are at home to local rivals 1. FSV Mainz 05 who have surprised with their solid start to the season. They are in eleventh place, five points clear of Kaiserslautern.
Bayern test
Bayern travel to Nürnberg on Saturday needing to win to maintain their lead at the top of the Bundesliga. These two teams have played each other 170 times, and the rivalry has been fuelled even more this season by the fact that Bayern coach Felix Magath used to be in charge in Nürnberg.
Nürnberg upbeat
"I hope Nürnberg can avoid relegation, but we want to take all three points," Magath said. His Nürnberg counterpart, Wolfgang Wolf, added: "Wins against Bayern provide a lot of satisfaction. We admire them because they have been one of the leading clubs in Europe for many years, but we still want to beat them."
Saturday games
Also on Saturday, Hannover 96 travel to Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen are away to SC Freiburg, DSC Arminia Bielefeld are at home to FC Hansa Rostock, Bayer 04 Leverkusen host VfL Wolfsburg, VfB Stuttgart take on VfL Bochum 1848 and Hertha BSC Berlin are at home to VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach.
