Borussia Dortmund vs Hertha BSC

Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund will lock horns with endangered Hertha BSC on the ultimate matchday of the season.

Borussia Dortmund’s comfortable 3-1 victory away to relegated Greuther Furth last time out has mathematically sealed their sixth runners-up finish in the last ten Bundesliga seasons. With nothing but pride left to play for, Erling Haaland will be keen to wave goodbye to the Signal Iduna Park faithful with a bang after agreeing to join Manchester City at the end of the season. The Norwegian goal machine has had an enormous contribution in establishing Dortmund as one of the funniest teams to watch in the Bundesliga of late, as seven of their last eight games on home soil have produced 5+ goals (W4, L4). Interestingly, ‘Die Borussen’ head into proceedings as the only side in Europe’s top-five leagues yet to draw a home match this season (W12, L4).

As for Hertha, last weekend’s underwhelming 2-1 defeat at mid-table Mainz means their hopes of extending top-flight status to another season go down to the final matchday. A draw will suffice for Felix Magath’s team to avoid joining the dreaded relegation play-offs regardless of other results. A defeat may even keep them in the Bundesliga if 17th-placed Stuttgart fail to beat Cologne at home. The losing scenario is very much on the cards, as Hertha have lost their final game of the season in their last five Bundesliga campaigns. In fact, ‘Die Alte Dame’ are winless in seven successive Matchday 34 fixtures (D2, L5) since beating TSG Hoffenheim 3-1 in 2012. On the bright side, a 3-2 win in the reverse fixture at Berlin’s Olympiastadion halted Hertha’s five-game losing H2H streak against Dortmund.