Sports
Der Klassiker will reveal whether Dortmund can keep pace with Bayern in 2025-26
MUNICH — Modern football hype prefers it when we place everything in a convenient box that doesn’t always reflect reality. I suppose it’s understandable.
Covering the German game as a commentator, however, you quickly resist the temptation to make Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund what advertising moguls might have us do with a fixture that has come to be known as der Klassiker.
It doesn’t lend itself to a simplistic “clash of the titans” narrative. Nuance and context are needed when understanding what this confrontation is.
Yes, it is the most-high profile Bundesliga fixture that the wider world often associates with the league and it features two heavyweight clubs, indeed the two most avidly followed in the Bundesrepublik. The action — as was the case last season in a pair of thrilling score draws — can be highly absorbing in front of some of the largest crowds in the world and offers a window into who is currently the best team in Germany.
However, this is not the German rivalry to end all rivalries along the lines of Real Madrid against Barcelona, Celtic vs. Rangers or Galatasaray against Fenerbahce. Nor should we pretend it is. Bayern fans simply don’t obsess on a weekly Schadenfreude basis over BVB, and the same is true of those of a schwarzgelb persuasion with regard to the Rekordmeister.
Some would argue that calling it a rivalry is stretching it, although it is certainly a Spitzenduell (a duel of top teams).
The fixture began to gain prominence in the 1990s with the threat to Bayern from the industrial west under the aegis of Ottmar Hitzfeld, who would later take his coaching talents to Munich. Back then, Bayern were not as dominant as they are now and players didn’t view Bayern-BVB as a cut above other matches.
Arguably the greatest era for this tussle was during Jürgen Klopp’s time in charge of BVB. Dortmund lifting the Meisterschale in 2011 and 2012 added spice and tension and it set the table for the all-German 2013 Champions League final at Wembley. This time, Bayern were victorious in a nailbiter.
The fact remains that BVB have come up empty in their Bundesliga title quest since 2012, most painfully in 2023, when they failed to play the considerable cards in their deck and gifted Bayern a winning hand on the final day.
In the past two seasons, der Klassiker, while still the most watched fixture in the Oberhaus, has played second fiddle on a competitive basis to Bayern’s meetings with 2024 champions Bayer Leverkusen.
This term, there’s no doubt the pecking order has shifted again. Bayern, under Vincent Kompany appear to have one of their most formidable formulas in several years. It raises the question: Can anyone get close to them in the Bundesliga?
The evidence of the first six matchdays is that BVB are likely the only team with a chance of preventing a Bayern runaway. They lack Bayern’s overall quality but there is a tenacity and defensive resilience about Dortmund in their current guise under Niko Kovac that makes you think they could, on a very good day, end Bayern’s flawless record in all competitions so far this season.
I find there is a general erroneous belief among casual fans that Bayern almost always beat BVB, and certainly in Munich. In fact, Dortmund’s past two visits have produced a 2-0 win and a 2-2 draw, the latter well merited with the pressure on to lift themselves up into a Champions League place against the odds.
Bayern will be firm favorites on Saturday, though. How could it be otherwise considering their 10 straight competitive wins to start the season with 38 goals scored?
The loose ends from Kompany’s first campaign at the helm have been tightened up to the point where it’s difficult to discern a weakness. Even with Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies and Hiroki Ito still on the sidelines, and Thomas Müller no longer part of the equation, Bayern are markedly better than they were up and down the pitch when the Belgian took over.
It’s natural to highlight Harry Kane, whose tally of 11 goals from six Bundesliga matches so far puts him on a pace to obliterate Robert Lewandowski‘s 41-goal single-season record. I’ve spoken at length in this space about Kane’s increased versatility with adept long-range passing and dropping into the Musiala position for increased effectiveness part of his repertoire.
But it’s also worth taking note of Bayern’s improved team statistics in the running and sprinting department. Rarely does the team with the highest possession percentage lead the field in distance covered, a category normally reserved for a team designed to play gegen den Ball (against the ball).
Dortmund don’t play with an especially high line and it’s to be expected that their Dreierkette (back three) will follow similar tactics at the Allianz Arena, while hoping to make the Umschaltmomente (transitional moments) count. This plays to the strength of the speedy Karim Adeyemi and natural line leader Serhou Guirassy.
To me, this encounter doesn’t actually need a vapid wrestling style introduction. It’s surely enough to make it about perfect Bayern and unbeaten Dortmund, first vs. second, on a collision course and an engrossing football contest.
And the German language has the perfect word for the occasion: richtungsweisend (pointing the way ahead).
Longtime NBA forward Danilo Gallinari announced his retirement from basketball Tuesday morning.
Gallinari, 37, spent 16 years in the NBA, playing in 14 seasons — and missing two others with torn ACLs — for several teams, beginning with the New York Knicks, who selected him sixth overall in the 2008 draft.
One of 299 players, per the Elias Sports Bureau, to have played at least 14 NBA seasons, Gallinari also played for the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics (no games logged), Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks.
The son of Vittorio Gallinari — a teammate and roommate of longtime NBA head coach Mike D’Antoni while the two were members of Olimpia Milano in the 1970s and ’80s — Gallinari is the second-highest-drafted Italian player ever, behind former No. 1 selection Andrea Bargnani, and his 11,607 points is the most of any Italian player in NBA history.
He was best known for his time with the Knicks, where he was the fresh-faced on-court part of their rebuilding project ahead of the star-studded 2010 free agency class while D’Antoni was the head coach, and with the Nuggets, where he arrived as part of the massive trade that brought Carmelo Anthony to New York in 2011.
It was in Denver that Gallinari was part of a 57-win Nuggets team in 2012-13 that was made up of several of the players who came with him as part of that Anthony trade and that appeared ready to make a run in the Western Conference playoffs when Gallinari tore his ACL late in that regular season.
Injuries were, unfortunately, a major storyline of Gallinari’s career, as he missed at least 10 games in all but one of his NBA seasons. He not only missed two entire seasons — 2013-14 and 2022-23 — to ACL tears but also missed the vast majority of his rookie year with a back injury.
But when he was on the court, Gallinari was a tremendously skilled offensive player — particularly given that he was 6-foot-10. His 1,456 3-pointers is the sixth most by any player in NBA history who is at least that tall. In February 2021, while playing with the Hawks, he became one of eight players in league history to hit at least 10 3-pointers while coming off the bench.
That season with Atlanta marked the only time Gallinari would make it as far as the NBA’s conference finals in his 14-year career, although he capped off his professional career by winning the Puerto Rican league title, and winning the championship series MVP award, with Vaqueros de Bayamon this past summer.
Gallinari’s last game in the NBA was Game 6 of the Bucks’ first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers in the 2024 NBA playoffs.
NEW YORK — Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz are facing a May trial on federal charges that they took bribes to help gamblers betting on their pitches.
U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto on Tuesday said jury selection would tentatively begin May 4 in Brooklyn federal court, with the trial opening the following week or sooner.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Sherman told the judge at the brief hearing that prosecutors anticipate the trial could last two weeks.
He said that both sides have been in discussions since the pitchers were arrested last month but that they have not yet talked about a possible plea deal in the case to avoid trial.
Matsumoto initially proposed a February trial date, but prosecutors and defense lawyers pushed for a spring start.
Sherman said prosecutors began providing defense lawyers with evidence and other materials this week in anticipation of a trial, including hundreds of gigabytes of files pulled from a number of electronic devices.
Clase, Ortiz and their lawyers declined to comment outside the courtroom. They’re due back in court Jan. 15.
The two have been out on bail since pleading not guilty last month to wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery.
According to prosecutors, the two accepted thousands of dollars in bribes to help two unnamed gamblers in their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on bets placed on the speed and outcome of their pitches.
The prosecutors allege that Clase, the Guardians’ star closer, began providing the bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 and then recruited Ortiz into the scheme earlier this year.
Lawyers for the men have denied the charges. Ortiz’s lawyer has maintained that payments between his client and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for legal activities, not payoffs.
Clase, 27, is a three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of the Year who is on the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract.
Ortiz, 26, earned a $782,600 salary this year as a starting pitcher for Cleveland.
The two pitchers have been on nondisciplinary paid leave since July, when MLB began investigating what it said was unusually high in-game betting activity when they pitched.
The Guardians open spring training in February. The team’s home opener is April 3.
Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí will be out for five months after undergoing surgery on a broken leg on Tuesday, the Catalan club have confirmed.
Bonmatí, 27, fractured her fibula in Spain training over the weekend and returned to Barcelona immediately to begin her recovery.
“Bonmatí has undergone successful surgery on a fractured fibula in her left leg,” Barça announced in a short statement on Tuesday.
“The procedure was performed by Dr. Antoni Dalmau at Hospital Barcelona under the supervision of the club’s medical services. The expected recovery time is around five months.”
The three-time Ballon d’Or winner picked up the injury on Sunday as Spain prepared for Tuesday’s UEFA Women’s Nations League final second leg against Germany.
– UWCL talking points: Chelsea’s title chances, PSG’s struggles
– Barcelona in Women’s Champions League: Fixtures, results, news
– Germany’s missed chances open up Nations League final vs. Spain
She had initially wanted to stay with the Spain camp to support the team in their quest to retain the trophy, but was advised to return to Barcelona for treatment.
On Friday, she had played in the first leg in Germany, which ended in a goalless draw.
Bonmatí will now miss the majority of what remains of the club season, although there is a chance she could return for the run in.
The Champions League final, should Barça get there, is scheduled to take place in Oslo on May 22, with the final round of Liga F matches not set to take place until a week later.
The loss of Bonmatí complicates Barça’s options in the middle park, especially in the short-term, with both Patri Guijarro and Kika Nazareth also unlikely to feature again this calendar year due to injuries.
In the meantime, Laia Aleixandri will continue to push up from defence alongside Alexia Putellas, with youngsters Vicky López, Sydney Schertenleib and Clara Serrajordi set to compete for the final place in the middle of the park.
NBA veteran Gallinari retires from basketball
Clase, Ortiz face May trial in pitch-rigging scandal
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