"English football has no true equivalent, with Liverpool and Manchester United fans unable to agree on a name for their grand-slam meetings. Up in the land of fitba, there's this weekend's 450th Old Firm/Glasgow derby (delete as applicable according to your stringency on Scottish company law). And Germany has Der Klassiker, between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund."
"Though questions are often raised over whether this is a true, classic rivalry; Dortmund have not won a league title since Jurgen Klopp was making his rounds in 2012. Since then, Bayern have celebrated a league title with lashings of weissbier outside the Rathaus every year save for 2024, when Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen went unbeaten to wear the crown."
"Here is where the needle began, with a spat between all-round nice guys Lothar Matthaus and Andy Moller in 1996 and then Oliver Kahn's flying kick on Stephane Chapuisat before biting Heiko Herrlich's ear in 1999. All good stuff if you want to build up a deep-seated rivalry."
Der Klassiker between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund is marketed as Germany's premier football rivalry, yet its historic credentials are questionable. Bayern's Bundesliga dominance extends back to 1968-69, with their chief rivals in the 1970s being Borussia Mönchengladbach. Dortmund only emerged as a genuine challenger in the mid-1990s, winning two domestic titles and the DFB-Pokal in 1997. Tension escalated through incidents involving Lothar Matthäus, Andy Möller, Oliver Kahn, and others in the late 1990s. However, following near-bankruptcy after their 2002 title, Dortmund struggled to maintain competitiveness. Bayern's sustained dominance, winning nearly every league title since Klopp's departure in 2012, has reduced Dortmund to a developmental club rather than a credible challenger.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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