Bundesliga: 1. FC Nuremberg - FC Bayern Munich

By Joachim, bettingexpert.com | Edited 15:44 12.06.2011

The Bavarian derby is upon us - Nuremberg will host Bayern Munich in what promises to be another exciting Bundesliga match-up on Saturday afternoon. In this matchday's previews we have been talking a lot about suprise teams - sitting in 6th place Nuremberg certainly is another one of them in a crazy Bundesliga season. Both teams have to win in order to reach their respective goals, so there will be even more than just the regular tension in this heated match-up.

Bundesliga | 1. FC Nürnberg - FC Bayern München

The Munich supporters can't be too pleased about their team's performance this season either.

Nuremberg have the fifth place firmly set in their sight, and want to play in next season's edition of the Europa League badly. That would be a tremendous success for the club, that almost relegated last season and barely eluded relegation in the two playoff games against 2nd division team Augsburg last year. But it's a long and hard journey still for the Nuremberg squad, notable opponents on their way include Borussia Dortmund and Hannover 96, and of course Bayern Munich. The money the club could earn through playing internationally next season is also potentially important to keep great talents like Ilkay Gündogan around. Next year's squad will go through some changes either way, as key players like Julian Schieber and Mehmet Ekici actually belong to other clubs (VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich) and likely cannot be bought. But in the end it boils down to bringing it against Bayern Munich and keeping the three points in Nuremberg. The line-up will change just slightly, coach Dieter Hecking will play with Javier Pinola as a left wingback again, since his suspension due to yellow cards is up. Marvin Plattenhardt will have to take his place on the reserve bench again.

Bayern Munich has to win this game just as much in their bid for third place, which is still fiercely contested by Hannover 96. Coach Louis van Gaal will be replaced by Leverkusen's Jupp Heynckes next season, but the squad is said to be very loyal to him still, and are determined to battle it out for the Champions League qualification spot. Last matchday's narrow 1-0 victory over last of the table Mönchengladbach showed a concerning lack of form though, continuing the trend of the last few weeks that have cost them all title chances this year with a stunning string of losses to Dortmund, Schalke and Inter. Nevertheless van Gaal will likely field the same squad as last week.

Probable line-ups

1. FC Nuremberg

Schäfer - Chandler, Wollscheid, Wolf, Pinola - Simons - Hegeler, Cohen, Gündogan, Ekici - Eigler

Missing in action:

Bunjaku, Frantz

FC Bayern Munich

Kraft - Lahm, Luiz Gustavo, Badstuber, Pranjic - Kroos, Schweinsteiger - Robben, Müller, Ribéry - Gomez

Missing in action:

Olic, van Buyten

Bundesliga | FC Nürnberg - FC Bayern München

Verdict

So far there have been 53 matches between the two teams, with Bayern Munich clearly ahead having won 32 of those games. Bayern is very much a feared opponent for Nuremberg, against no other team they have lost as many games. Despite performing rather poorly this season, it seems very likely that Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry will once again make the difference. Add to that World Cup shooting star Thomas Müller and very much in-form Mario Gomez, and Nuremberg just will have more to chew than they can swallow. This game will result in a deserved victory for the guests.

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