Bundesliga preview: Dortmund look to get back on track

Borussia Dortmund will be looking to rebound from last week’s shock loss when they tackle fifth-placed Mainz in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

With eight games remaining, the Bundesliga leaders are nine points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, and it seems only a calamitous form slump could rob them of their seventh Bundesliga title.

But last week’s slip up against Hoffenheim would have jangled the nerves of Juergen Klopp’s men and it remains to be seen how they will handle the pressure of hosting Mainz.

The challengers lost 1-0 to Leverkusen on Sunday and are desperate for points in a bid to secure European football next season.

Also on Saturday, Bayern Munich will hope to put the disappointment of their Champions League exit to Inter Milan behind them when they travel to seventh-place Freiburg.

The reigning champions handed out a 6-0 thumping to Hamburg on Saturday, courtesy of a hat-trick from Dutch ace Arjen Robben, and one wonders how different Louis van Gaal’s side’s season could have been had the winger been fit for more of it.

Third-placed Hannover welcome Hoffenheim, while Nuremberg play host to Werder Bremen.

St Pauli will be looking to climb out of the relegation zone when they travel to the Commerzbank Arena to take on fellow battlers Eintracht Frankfurt, while on Sunday Leverkusen will hope Dortmund have stumbled against Mainz when they host Schalke.

Schalke, who are in 10th place but last week secured a place in the last eight of the Champions League at the expense of Valencia, sacked coach Felix Magath and replaced him with former Hoffenheim coach Ralf Rangnick.

Sunday’s other game sees second-last Wolfsburg travel to the Mercedes-Benz Arena to take on struggling Stuttgart, while the weekend’s fixtures kick off on Friday with another relegation dogfight when bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach welcome 14th placed Kaiserslautern.