Going into this matchday Borussia Dortmund held a seven-point lead over fierce rivals Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga table. This lead may not seem much, but for the last six seasons Bayern have won the title with ease as their opponents have struggled to maintain a serious title challenge. The last team to have denied Bayern the title? Borussia Dortmund in the 2010/11 season.
Since that title win, Dortmund have struggled to find consistent form under a series of coaches. We had the end of now-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopps era before Thomas Tuchel and Peter Bosz each led the side for a short period. With every change of coach, the game model was altered and the expectations placed on the playing staff shifted. This lack of consistency can be the difference between a club meeting expectations and falling short.
This season has seen yet another new coach appointed with the former Borussia Monchengladbach coach Lucien Favre in the dugout. Favre is a coach with a history of success in the Bundesliga and he has used of a variety of tactical systems so far this season. This match would see Favre against another tactically flexible coach, Julian Naglesmann of Hoffenheim. In the reverse fixture, the two sides drew 1-1. This match would once again result in a draw.
Team news
The most striking piece of team news was that the Dortmund talisman Marco Reus was injured and unavailable. His place in the starting line up was taken by Maximilian Phillip in the 10 role. In recent weeks we have also seen Bosz choose to utilise the young midfielder Julian Weigl in a defensive role. This continued as he partnered French defender Abdou Diallo.
Hoffenheim started in their regular 3-5-2 shape with Brazilian forward Joelinton in attack alongside Croatian international Andrej Kramaric. There was a slightly unusual partnership in the midfield with Florian Grillitsch playing as the controlling midfielder and Kerem Demirbay and Leonardo Bittencourt as the more advanced players.
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