German Klasiko or Der Klassiker. It is similar in name only, not in nature to Spain’s El Clasico or even Argentina’s Superclasico. It is not a derby like the Old Firm in Glasgow, the eternal Belgrade, Istanbul, or Athens… Politics is the main reason for the enmity between Real Madrid and Barcelona, while the rivalry between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Buenos Aires is based on social differences. Rangers and Celtic fans are divided along religious lines, while Red Star and Partizan, Galatasaray, and Fenerbahce, or Olympiakos and Panathinaikos have local historical rivalries. Like Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille, the rivalry between Bayern and Borussia Dortmund is based on the fact that they are each other’s biggest domestic rivals. And like Klassik in France, Der Klassiker is a fairly recent phenomenon. The two clubs have won 23 of the last 27 Bundesliga titles, with the Munich team seriously dominating.
It may not have a social and political background, but the clash between Bayern and Borussia – itself a historic clash between their namesake states of Bavaria and Prussia – has dominated German football for just over two decades.
Even the biggest fans of Borussia are skeptical about whether their club can upset the powerful machine from Bavaria, which was hindered to some extent by this year’s departure of its best scorer Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona. Compared to previous years, it is interesting that neither of the teams enters the Klassiker at the top of the table – the leader in the Bundesliga is currently Union Berlin with 17 points. Bayern and Borussia each have 15 points, but due to the better goal difference, the club from Munich occupies the third position, and its rival the fifth position.
In recent years, the club from the “Allianz Arena” has shown brutal dominance against Borussia, and its last defeat was recorded on August 3, 2019, in the German Super Cup, while it lost in the national championship on November 10, 2018. Willingly or not, the millionaires left the dominance in German football to Bayern, who won the last 10 titles, while they turned to the “production” of young footballers, who were later sold to other clubs for huge sums of money. According to some data, they are the leading club in the world in terms of earnings from the sale of players.
Counting the Supercup games in 2020 and 2021, the Bavarians have won as many as eight against their biggest rival, and only once in that period did they not concede at least three goals.
