The Bavarians will be without Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and David Alaba at Signal Iduna Park and the BVB boss is hoping to cause an upset
Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Borussia Dortmund are a long way off of Bayern Munich’s level, but believes his side can beat their rivals when they meet on Saturday.
Dortmund are climbing back up the Bundesliga after a terrible first half of the season and currently sit in 10th place, 31 points behind Pep Guardiola’s men.
Klopp admits that his side have fallen some way since they won two straight league titles between 2010 and 2012 and faced Bayern in the Champions League final in 2013.
He does, though, believe they can still pick up three points at Bayern’s expense at the Signal Iduna Park at the weekend, especially without the injured Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and David Alaba.
“We are not on the same level as Bayern at the moment,” he told reporters. “Nevertheless, we surely still have a chance to win, although the situation now is very different from recent years. There is a really big gap in points between us and them now.
“Even Bayern would miss players like Robben, Alaba and Ribery, but they still have a good attack with Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski. I’ve heard of worse. Also Philipp Lahm will be in form.
“Without Ribery and Robben, they are missing their fastest players, so they have to change. We need to consider how they might react to it. Then there will be opportunities for us.
“We have to defend very well if we want to be successful.”
With his side five points behind Augsburg, who occupy the final European place in the Bundesliga, Klopp feels his side can still climb higher up the table.
“We have no motivation problems. The team is in a relatively good shape. Our objectives are the same in the club.
“Each point we win back also gives us the chance to get back up the table.”