Bayern v Dortmund: Danks takes charge of Germany's biggest game while Kompany recovers, and Kane brings the Ballon d'Or
Allianz Arena, Saturday 31 October, 18:30 CET. Both clubs have 17 points and no defeats. Bayern are without Kompany, Neuer and Díaz; Dortmund are without their captain Can. The winner leads Germany alone.
Bayern Munich host Borussia Dortmund at the Allianz Arena at 18:30 CET on Saturday 31 October. It is matchday 8 of the Bundesliga, the German top division, and the first meeting of the season between the two clubs who have won most of the league titles of the last 15 years. If you want the history and the rivalry explained from the start, our guide to Saturday’s two derbies has it. This piece is about the team news, which has changed a great deal in a week.
Why it matters
The two clubs are level at the top. Bayern and Dortmund both have 17 points from seven games, five wins and two draws each, and neither has lost. Bayern are first because their goal difference, which is goals scored minus goals conceded, is +19 against Dortmund’s +8. Freiburg and Leverkusen are next on 13 points. Whoever wins on Saturday goes three points clear with one round left before the November international break.
The two teams have got there in opposite ways, according to the Bundesliga’s own preview published on Friday. Bayern have scored 25 league goals, including 18 at home, which the league says is a record for this stage of a season. Dortmund have scored 12, only the ninth-best total in the division, but have conceded four, the fewest of anyone. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel has five clean sheets, the most in the league. A clean sheet is a game in which a team concedes no goal.
German football calls this fixture the Klassiker, “the classic”, the name for Bayern against Dortmund. Last season’s first Klassiker, also on Bayern’s ground, finished 2-1 to Bayern, and Bayern went on to win the title by 16 points.
Bayern without their head coach
Vincent Kompany will not be on the bench. The Bayern head coach collapsed at training last week and was taken to hospital, according to an Associated Press report carried by ESPN on Friday. He has since gone home. Max Eberl, Bayern’s board member for sport, told the German broadcaster ARD on Wednesday that Kompany had been treated for meningeal irritation, an inflammation of the tissue around the brain and spinal cord, after a viral infection and a hip problem.
Aaron Danks, Kompany’s assistant, is in charge. He led Bayern to a 6-1 win over Magdeburg in the German Cup on Wednesday, and on Friday he said the coaching staff were under instruction not to involve Kompany. “We don’t talk to him about football. We’ve been given clear instructions there,” Danks said, in the same report. “He needs to recover and spend time with his family.”
Danks is English, 43, and has never played professionally. He worked with Kompany at Anderlecht before Bayern, ran Aston Villa as caretaker between Dean Smith and Unai Emery, and took charge of Bayern’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain last season when Kompany was suspended, according to the Bundesliga’s profile of him. He has done big nights before. He has not done a Klassiker.
Team news
No confirmed team news as of 07:30 CET; the official teams are normally published about an hour before kick-off, so expect them around 17:30 CET.
What the Bundesliga’s official team-news page said on Friday: Bayern are without Luis Díaz (muscle injury), Ndiaye (appendix) and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer (foot). Jamal Musiala is a doubt with a hamstring problem. The league’s separate preview also lists Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović as doubts. Kimmich has been on leave after a death in his family, ESPN reported on Tuesday.
The good news for Bayern is Harry Kane. He won the Ballon d’Or, the award for the best footballer in the world over the past season, on Monday. He is the first English winner for 25 years and Bayern’s first for 45, according to ESPN, and the club has said it will mark the award before Saturday’s game. He has four league goals this season. Michael Olise has six, plus three assists, and Serge Gnabry scored his 100th Bundesliga goal last weekend. Dayot Upamecano has not lost a Bundesliga game he has played in for 51 matches, the league says.
Dortmund, coached by Niko Kovač, are without their captain Emre Can (knee), as well as Karetsas (foot), Konstantelias (knee) and Lerma (muscle). Meyer is listed as a doubt with illness. Nico Schlotterbeck wears the armband in Can’s absence and is back after a long injury. Serhou Guirassy has two league goals this season and four in three Champions League games.
One number from the league’s preview is worth knowing before kick-off: Kobel has played Bayern ten times in the Bundesliga and has never been on the winning side.
The week around the game
| Date | Fixture | Competition | Kick-off (CET) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 31 Oct | Bayern v Dortmund | Bundesliga, matchday 8 | 18:30 |
| Tue 3 Nov | Atlético Madrid v Bayern | Champions League, matchday 4 | 21:00 |
| Wed 4 Nov | Dortmund v Real Betis | Champions League, matchday 4 | 21:00 |
| Sat 7 Nov | Mainz v Bayern | Bundesliga, matchday 9 | 15:30 |
| Sat 7 Nov | Dortmund v Elversberg | Bundesliga, matchday 9 | 15:30 |
Times come from the fixture feed used across this site and can still change. After 8 November the league stops for the international break.
How to read the market
BettingBeast’s prices, captured at 13:54 CET on Friday, had Bayern at 1.37 to win, the draw at 6.38 and Dortmund at 8.61. Decimal odds show how much you get back for every unit staked, including the stake, so 1.37 means a return of 0.37 on top of each 1 risked. As rough probabilities, that is about 73% for a Bayern win, 16% for a draw and 12% for Dortmund. The three add up to slightly more than a whole because the platform’s margin, its built-in fee, is included.
That is a very one-sided price for a game between two unbeaten teams level on points. It reflects Bayern’s home record, their goals, and history: Bayern have won far more of these meetings than Dortmund. It was captured before Friday’s news about Kompany and the line-ups, so it says nothing about how the market views Danks in charge. The goals line, the number of goals the market splits the game at, is 3.5, with over at 1.69 and under at 2.40. Over being the shorter price means the market leans towards four goals or more, which fits Bayern’s 25 goals more than it fits Dortmund’s four conceded.
What to watch
Who plays in goal for Bayern, and whether Kimmich and Musiala are on the team sheet, are the first things to check at 17:30 CET. Then the first 20 minutes: Dortmund’s whole season has been built on conceding almost nothing, and Bayern’s on scoring early at home. One of those records breaks on Saturday.
Our lean, phrased as a possibility and not a forecast: the market’s 3.5-goal line looks high against the meanest defence in the league, and a game with three goals or fewer seems more likely than the price suggests. That is a lean about the shape of the match, not about who wins it.
18+. Gambling involves risk and can be addictive. Please gamble responsibly. Prices quoted were correct at the time stated and move. This article is information and opinion, not advice; no outcome is certain. Odds links go to BettingBeast. Help: Gambling Therapy.
- Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund evenly matched heading into Klassiker statement, Bundesliga. Read 07:05 CET, 31 Oct 2026.
- Bundesliga Matchday 8 probable teams, Bundesliga. Read 06:58 CET, 31 Oct 2026.
- Kompany to sit out Bayern-Dortmund after leaving hospital, ESPN (Associated Press). Read 07:02 CET, 31 Oct 2026.
- Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane gets hero's welcome on Bayern Munich return, ESPN. Read 07:12 CET, 31 Oct 2026.
- Aaron Danks: Who is Vincent Kompany's right-hand man at Bayern Munich?, Bundesliga. Read 07:00 CET, 31 Oct 2026.
Plain-text version: bayern-v-dortmund-danks-takes-the-klassiker-with-kompany-recovering-at-home.md