The 2025 Bundesliga season will open with a super challenge: between Borussia Dortmund, who is lagging behind in the standings but is slightly improving, and the German Champion Bayer Leverkusen, who is on a very strong rise, second, just four points behind leaders Bayern. It will therefore be a match that, first and foremost, will test both teams after the three-week break: for Borussia Dortmund, a possible victory would mean partial third place, at least for twenty-four hours and considering the start of the yellow and black and also the recent draws, it would be a notable result and would consist of the first real "registration" for the championship, while for Leverkusen, triumphing also at the Westfalenstadion would sound like a very strong signal to all the competitors, Bayern first and foremost. Bayer, like Dortmund, was hesitant at the start of the championship but for some time now they seem to have returned to the incredible levels of last year where, however, despite their great run, they were unable to overcome the yellow and black either in the first leg or in the return leg in Dortmund where, on the contrary, they saved what would have been a total invincibility (Leverkusen finished with 0 defeats in the Bundesliga) with the equalizer in the 97th minute by Croatian defender Josip Stanisic, now a Bayern player.

Borussia Dortmund's shape and key statistics

Borussia Dortmund said goodbye to 2024 with what was their first away win in the Bundesliga: the 1-3 in Wolfsburg which, with 3 goals in 6 minutes from Malen, Beier and Brandt, left a trail of the brilliant and incisive team that we have often seen in recent years but not in recent months.

That success, in fact, in addition to being the first away from home, was also the only one for the yellow and blacks in the last 5 games where there were 1 win, 3 draws and 1 defeat. Not a great cross-section just as, for now, the Bundesliga played by Sahin's boys cannot certainly be defined as brilliant, who, apart from the hat-trick in the last match and other rare flashes, are missing right up front, where they have always been excellent (so far only the seventh attack in the championship).

Within their own four walls, however, the numbers of the yellow and blacks improve, indeed excel: undefeated in the last 11 league matches and first for home performance in this Bundesliga with 6 wins and 2 draws that make the trip to the Westfalenstadion always very difficult for the opponents.

Bayer Leverkusen's shape and key statistics

Bayer Leverkusen probably didn't want to stop, having, in the last match of 2024, liquidated Freiburg with a 5-1 without history. The five goals were worth the 8th consecutive success for the red and blacks who, in this series of victories, in addition to climbing to second place in the league, have straightened the situation in the Champions League where they are now third.

So far in the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen have collected 32 points, the result of 9 wins, 5 draws and only 1 defeat, scoring almost 2 and a half goals per game! (2.47).

In their last 21 matches, the German champions have only lost against Liverpool in early November and that was also Bayer Leverkusen's only away defeat this season, with the Bundesliga record away from the BayArena being 4 wins, 3 draws and 0 defeats.

Match Prediction and Tactical Overview

This is a beautiful and uncertain match because if it is true that Bayer Leverkusen closed the year with a remarkable streak of successes, it is also true that Borussia Dortmund, at home, is the team that has scored the most points in the Bundesliga. A draw, therefore, certainly cannot be ruled out and indeed should be considered but, seeing the negative precedents of the red and blacks at the Westfalenstadion where even in last year's triumphal ride, they came very close to defeat, BetMines' prediction goes for a double chance at home in a match that, however, ideally, remains a "triple".

• BetMines algorithm prediction for the match Borussia Dortmund – Bayer Leverkusen predicts the 1X sign at 61%
• BetMines algorithm prediction for the match Borussia Dortmund – Bayer Leverkusen predicts the 2 sign at 39%

Borussia Dortmund – Bayer Leverkusen predicted lineups

Borussia Dortmund (4-1-3-2): Kobel; Ryerson, Anton, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Nmecha; Sabitzer, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy. Coach: Sahin

Bayer Leverkusen (3-4-1-2): Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapié; Frimpong, Xhaka, Palacios, Grimaldo; Tella; Wirtz, Schick. Coach: Xabi Alonso