Borussia Dortmund winger Henrikh Mkhitaryan. (Photo : Getty Images)
A high-profile match between two of the top three contenders in the 2015-2016 Bundesliga season, Bayer 04 Leverkusen (10-6-5, 35 points) and Borussia Dortmund (15-3-3, 48 points), will be facing each other at the BayArena on Sunday, Feb. 21st.
The two teams are coming off tough victories in their previous matches and had drawn the no. 1 and no. 4 squads, Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin, prior to that.
Bayer forced the Bavarians into a goalless draw on Feb. 6th before surviving a 2-1 win over newly-promoted squad SV Darmstadt 98 last Saturday at the Merck-Stadion am Bollenfalltor to surpass Hertha in the third spot of the league table, as per ESPN.
Hertha and Bayer are tied on points, but the latter has the superior goal differential with +9 as compared to the former's +6.
Darmstadt drew first blood in their encounter courtesy of a short-range header from forward Sandro Wagner at the 28th, but an own goal from team captain Aytac Sulu equalized the game at the 62nd.
Midfielder Julian Brandt scored the winner at the 77th to help the visitors pull off the much-needed win.
Meanwhile, Die Borussen also drew Hertha, 0-0, on Feb. 6th before they nipped Hannover, 1-0, at their home field of Signal Iduna Park also last Saturday, via SkySports.
Midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the winning goal for Thomas Tuchel's side to add another three points in their record in the overall standings. The win put BVB 13 points clear of Bayer in the league table.
The match will be crucial for the hosts than for the visitors as a win will help them stay clear off fourth-running Hertha for the third and last qualification spot for the group stage of the 2016-2017 UEFA Champions League tournament.
The predicted result is a high-scoring but close 3-2 victory for Borussia Dortmund. Roger Schmidt and his boys should hope that Hertha loses to Wolfsburg to stay at par with the capital city residents. However, Bayer is quite capable of an upset as they have shown against Bayern Munich.
Bayer Leverkusen starting lineup (4-2-2-2 formation): Leno; Jedvaj, Tah, Toprak, Wendell; Frey, Kampl; Bellarabi, Mehmedi; Brandt, Kiessling
Borussia Dortmund starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Burki; Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer; Gundogan, Ginter, Kagawa; Mkhitaryan, Reus, Aubameyang
