Borussia Dortmund can dethrone Bayern Munich and make the Bundesliga a competition again

Jude Bellingham is doubtful with a knee injury, but he will certainly be on the field against Mainz on Saturday.

Sébastien Haller, remembered with mixed feelings by West Ham fans, is on track to perhaps wrap up the season’s story. Mats Hummels was there the last time they did it in 2012 and will be at the heart of the defense as the Westfalenstadion, which we sadly have to call Signal Iduna Park, spurs them on.

Perhaps even Jurgen Klopp, Erling Haaland, Ilkay Gundogan and Jadon Sancho will take some time off from training to monitor progress.

Just when we thought the Bundesliga had ceased to function as a proper competition, Borussia Dortmund has been shaken up and ready to win the title, their first since Klopp who won in 2011 and 2012, which in turn were their first victories since 2002.

Since that last win by Klopp, Dortmund and the rest of Germany have had to watch Bayern Munich win every Bundesliga. Ten whole years have passed since someone conquered them. A whole generation of kids has grown up knowing nothing but red ribbons on the trophy.

What is even more confusing is that Bayern Munich, usually so cold-blooded, completely dropped the penultimate hurdle.

With one-nil against RB Leipzig at the Allianz Arena last weekend, a victory that would have kept the title in their hands, they conceded a ridiculous goal from a corner kick.

As a nine-year-old team, they flouted the convention of letting defenders hang back in case their opponents won the ball back. Then they conceded two penalties for a 3–1 defeat.

Not that you could really trust Dortmund to capitalize, despite that Bayern blunder. They have proven adept at not taking advantage of opportunities to consolidate their advantage.

In April, with a one-point lead over a disarrayed Bayern team having just sacked Julian Nagelsmann and appointed Thomas Tuchel, Dortmund capitulated completely in the title fight.

They conceded within 13 minutes, keeper Gregor Kobel kicking in the air as a long clearance rolled into the net and then found themselves 3–0 down on 23 minutes. That felt like the title was done and dusted off, a decisive shift in momentum now that Tuchel had Bayern back on track.

Dortmund seemed to have lost their chance at the title, but Bayern feel at home on Saturday with a 3-1 defeat at home to RB Leipzig.

Thomas Tuchel has not had the desired impact since replacing Julian Nagelsmann in March

Still, Dortmund had another chance to take the lead in the match, as Bayern lost at Mainz. They took on lowly Bochum the following Friday, but only managed to draw 1-1.

They were on the wrong side of a terrible decision not to award a penalty when Karim Adeyemi was knocked to the ground by Danilo Soares. The crucial point was that Bayern regained the lead at the top of the table.

So it was by no means a guarantee that Dortmund would sweep Augsburg away from home after Saturday’s Bayern defeat on Saturday.

But even without Bellingham they did so, with Haller scoring the goal that ended the home side’s resistance after 58 minutes and went on to secure a second-place finish in a 3–0 win.

Having been diagnosed with testicular cancer in July, shortly after moving from Ajax, and undergoing two surgeries and chemotherapy to remove the tumour, his contribution this season has been extraordinary. Nine goals and three assists in 18 games have partly filled Haaland’s gap in the team.

For Bellingham, this could be the culmination of one of football’s brightest moves, as he left Birmingham City at the age of 16 to continue his football education with Dortmund, correctly deducing that he would get a better balance between playing time and competitiveness in the Bundesliga than sitting on the bench at a big six Premier League club. If this is his last moment before joining Real Madrid, what a moment it could turn out to be.

His contribution has also been remarkable. You just get used to him leading the team at 19 and powering them with crucial goals against Eintracht Frankfurt, Wolfsburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach in recent weeks.

Haller had to undergo chemotherapy and two surgeries after he was diagnosed with a tumor

He has since returned to the team in 2023 and propelled them to the Bundesliga title

You want your big players to come forward when the pressure is high and Bellingham just comes naturally to those occasions. That is undoubtedly why Florentino Perez sees him as a born Real Madrid player.

Of course, it is not over until the great Viking soprano releases her twenty-minute aria in Richards Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. Or, to put it in layman’s terms, until the fat lady sings. But Dortmund will not pass up this opportunity, will it?

Bayern’s Thomas Muller played mind games, referencing the famous 2000-01 season final, when Schalke fans poured onto the pitch to celebrate, thinking they had won the league – this was an unimaginable age before 5G mobile coverage – after they Unterhaching 5- had defeated. 3, while Bayern fell behind at Hamburg.

But with Bayern being the football equivalent of the Death Star there was an unavoidable sting in the story, Patrick Andersson scoring an injury time equalizer to win the title.

All those Dortmund pains over the years – that 2013 Champions League final defeat to Bayern, those transfers from Robert Lewandowski and Mario Götze, Oliver Kahn’s kung fu kick on Stephane Chapusiert – just might be healed if Dortmund can beat Mainz on Saturday . And the Bundesliga may feel like a competition again.

If Heidi Klum turns on you, your time is up. According to our colleagues at Bild, the German supermodel attended the 3-1 defeat to RB Leipzig and enjoyed the corporate hospitality before posting a video of CEO Oliver Kahn on Instagram.

Klum’s hot take: ‘Is this the last time we see him? I don’t know…” She then spoke about sports director Hasan Salihamidzic and said, “Hasan has to go… oops! Did I say that? Sorry!’

Tuesday, May 30, is the crucial day for the two when Bayern’s supervisory board, where vice-deputy chairman Uli Hoeneß is still regarded as the dominant patriarch, meets with the football club’s board of directors before deciding what to do next.

A trophy-less season has to be blamed and Thomas Tuchel was only appointed in March, so no doubt one of the above will have to volunteer to be sacked.

Heidi Klum joked that Hasan Salihamidzic should leave after Bayern’s disappointing campaign