Preview: Borussia Dortmund vs. RB Leipzig - prediction, team news, lineups

Borussia Dortmund entertain RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga on Saturday in a dress rehearsal of next Thursday's DFB-Pokal final.

Both sides still have plenty left to play for in the league, however, with Dortmund chasing a Champions League qualification spot and Leipzig still mathematically able to overtake league leaders Bayern Munich.

Match preview

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Dortmund comfortably booked their place in the final of the DFB-Pokal for the 10th time in their history with a crushing 5-0 win against second-tier outfit Holstein Kiel last weekend.

Edin Terzic, who will be replaced by Marco Rose as BVB's head coach in the summer, will be hoping to bow out as the fifth manager to win Germany's domestic cup competition for Dortmund after Giovanni Reyna (twice), Marco Reus, Thorgan Hazard and Jude Bellingham all scored in a blitzkrieg first half.

Perhaps more importantly for Dortmund, though, certainly from a financial standpoint, as well as increasing their chances of keeping hold of the likes of Jadon Sancho and Erling Braut Haaland this summer, is ensuring that they finish inside the top four places and qualify for the Champions League for a sixth successive season.

Those hopes looked dead in the water after losing to top-four rivals Eintracht Frankfurt just over a month ago, but a run of four consecutive Bundesliga victories has put BVB right back into the mix.

The most recent of those was a particularly crucial one, with third-placed Wolfsburg beaten by Haaland's brace despite Bellingham being sent off just before the hour mark.

Dortmund head into the weekend only one point behind Frankfurt and two points behind Wolfsburg with three matches remaining, so a win could take them as high as third place depending on results elsewhere.

Despite Leipzig still having a chance of winning the Bundesliga, Julian Nagelsmann will be all too aware that those hopes are incredibly slim with Bayern only needing to win one of their last three matches to wrap up a ninth successive title, so it may not be a bad time for Dortmund to be playing them in the league at all ahead of Thursday's cup final.

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Indeed, with Nagelsmann set to replace Hansi Flick as Bayern manager in the summer, the 33-year-old may feel that he will have several opportunities in the upcoming years to win Bundesliga titles.

As such, his priority may be winning both his first trophy as a manager and Leipzig's first major trophy as a club after Die Roten Bullen's dramatic 2-1 win after extra time against Werder Bremen in last Friday's DFB-Pokal semi-final.

Florian Kohfeldt's side, who are currently on a run of seven successive league losses, proved somewhat surprisingly stubborn opponents throughout the affair, with Leipzig amassing 28 shots and 65% possession.

Substitute Hwang Hee-chan finally found the breakthrough after 93 minutes, only for Leonardo Bittencourt to equalise in injury time of the first half of extra time.

However, in the dying seconds of the match, Hwang turned provider to allow Emil Forsberg to apply the finishing touch and sink Bremen hearts.

While Leipzig must beat Dortmund on Saturday to keep their outside title hopes alive, Nagelsmann may be treating it as more of a trial run for Thursday's final.

Team News

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Bellingham is suspended after his dismissal against Wolfsburg, but the 17-year-old will be available once again for Thursday's DFB-Pokal final against Nagelsmann's side.

Mahmoud Dahoud could join Emre Can or Thomas Delaney in midfield having missed the semi-final win over Holstein Kiel due to suspension himself.

Haaland was not risked in the semi-final due to a minor muscle injury, and Terzic may be tempted to spare his top goalscorer for the final.

However, with points desperately required to finish inside the top four, the 20-year-old will probably start, with Reyna likely to drop out of the side as a result after suffering a minor calf issue himself.

Mateu Morey, Youssoufa Moukoko, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Axel Witsel and Marcel Schmelzer are all unlikely to feature again this season due to injury.

Leipzig, meanwhile, are likely to have to wait even longer to hand Dominik Szoboszlai his debut, with the winger still a doubt due to the groin injury which has kept him sidelined since joining from Red Bull Salzburg in January.

Lazar Samardzic is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, while Christopher Nkunku, Tyler Adams, Lukas Klostermann and Marcel Halstenberg are all minor doubts.

As such, Nagelsmann could go with an unchanged side to the one which narrowly beat Bremen in the DFB-Pokal semi-final last weekend, although Forsberg will be hoping for a start after being the match-winner.

Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Hitz; Piszczek, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro; Dahoud, Can; Sancho, Hazard, Reus; Haaland

RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Orban, Konate, Upamecano; Mukiele, Kampl, Sabitzer, Haidara, Angelino; Forsberg, Sorloth

We say: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 RB Leipzig

Dortmund's need for a win is arguably greater than Leipzig's, who may be more focused on Thursday's DFB-Pokal final.

Haaland and Sancho caused Nagelsmann's side major problems in transition in the reverse fixture, so if they are allowed similar amounts of space to run into, there is little doubting their decisive quality.