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Dortmund must be brave and bold at Bayern

Dortmund must be brave and bold at Bayern

Borussia Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl has demanded the defending German league champions travel to Bayern Munich with bravery and self-belief for Saturday's key Bundesliga clash.

While November is still far too early to talk about the league title being won or lost, victory for either side would throw down a marker and give an indication of where the German league title may be heading next May.

Bayern are five points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, but second-placed Dortmund have claimed 16 from a possible 18 points in their last six league games and beat Munich 3-1 at the Allianz Arena last February.

"We showed last season we can beat anyone on a good day," said Kehl.

"Of course, we need bravery and have to believe in ourselves and push ourselves to the very limits in Munich."

One frustrated spectator come Saturday will be Bayern's Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger, who is recovering with a broken collarbone and says watching his team play Dortmund will hurt him more than the 15cm scar.

"It's much easier to see certain things from up in the stands than out on the pitch, but you can't do anything about it and that hurts," he confessed.

"It'll be a close match, but I reckon we'll throw everything into it and end up winning."

"They won't pack their defence, they don't have the players for that.

"They're really good in attack with the likes of (Japan's Shinji) Kagawa, (Poland's Robert) Lewandowski and (Germany's Mario) Goetze.

"We have more quality than Dortmund, so we just have to make sure we show that quality. If we do, we'll be hard to stop, even by Dortmund."

Before Bayern square up to Dortmund on Saturday night, there will be a battle royal in the afternoon when Borussia Moenchengladbach host third-placed Werder Bremen who are just one place above them in the league and level on points.

Having flirted with relegation last season, 'Gladbach are proving dark horses this season and have enjoyed narrow 2-1 victories over both Hanover 96 and Hertha Berlin in previous weeks.

Germany midfielder Marco Reus, who scored both their goals at Hertha, is one to watch having broken into the national squad this season, while Bremen's veteran striker Claudio Pizarro has scored 11 league goals in 11 games.

Fifth-placed Schalke play Nuremberg on Saturday and look likely to be without Peru forward Jefferson Farfan and Germany defender Benedikt Hoewedes after they both suffered knee injuries while on international duty.

Farfan injured his left knee in Peru's defeat by Ecuador in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, the same night Hoewedes suffered tore cruciate ligaments in his right knee in Germany's 3-0 win over Holland in Hamburg.

Friday

Kaiserslautern v Bayer Leverkusen free sport live here.

Saturday

Schalke 04 v Nuremberg, Freiburg v Hertha Berlin, Cologne v Mainz, VfL Wolfsburg v Hanover 96, Borussia M'gladbach v Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund

Sunday

VfB Stuttgart v Augsburg, Hamburg v Hoffenheim