By DPA
Hamburg : Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen have major player concerns ahead of their top-of-the-table clash that is to highlight an extraordinary weekend of German Bundesliga football.
The top duo meet Sunday, 24 hours after third-placed Bayer Leverkusen take on number four SV Hamburg.
If that wasn’t enough, Schalke 04 visit their biggest rivals Borussia Dortmund, where they threw away a possible title in the penultimate round last season, in the other Sunday game.
The Munich-Bremen clash won’t decide the Bundesliga title as there 15 matches to follow, but it could signal a trend shortly after the winter break.
“It is a special match for us because we can move further ahead of Bremen,” said Munich’s general manager Uli Hoeness.
Munich got a scrappy 2-1 win at Hansa Rostock in last week’s restart from hibernation, but went three points clear at the top as Bremen lost for the first time in Bundesliga history at home against lowly VfL Bochum.
Munich’s main concern is the absence of French superstar Franck Ribery, who is out for three weeks with a thigh muscle injury. Bremen are even worse off, with key midfielder Torsten Frings injured along with forward Ivan Klasnic, Boubacar Sanogo at the African Nations Cup and defender Naldo suspended.
“Of course Franck’s injury weakens the team. But it shouldn’t affect our rhythm. I don’t foresee a real problem,” said Hoeness, naming Bastian Schweinsteiger or Hamit Altintop as good alternatives on Ribery’s position.
The first season meeting in Bremen saw an awesome 4-0 Munich triumph, but Werder forward Aaron Hunt announced a much closer game Sunday.
“We have something to make up for, and that will happen,” said Hunt.
Leverkusen and Hamburg, meanwhile, trail Munich by six points as they clash in the BayArena.
Hamburg managed no more than a 1-1 home draw with Hanover last Saturday, but have won the last two matches in Leverkusen. Bayer have lost just once in their last six games in what is a so far impressive season for them.
That cannot be said of Schalke, who are seven points shy of Munich and with little hope of ending a German title drought 50 years after the last success in 1958.
Dortmund rank a modest 12th, but a victory against the arch-rivals would make up for many other poor showings in the campaign. Dortmund won 2-0 least year, which allowed VfB Stuttgart to steal the title from Schalke.
Schalke coach Mirko Slomka said that the defeat from May 2007 would “surely provide some motivation” for his players Sunday.
The big unknown factor for all the top teams in action is how their stars will have recovered from midweek country duty in the form of various friendlies around the continent.
The other games are Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Arminia Bielefeld (Friday), VfB Stuttgart vs. Hertha Berlin, VfL Bochum vs. Energie Cottbus, Hanover 96 vs. SC Karlsruhe, Nuremberg vs. Rostock and VfL Wolfsburg vs. MSV Duisburg (all Saturday).