Yes I have said all this season that Bayern and Real are the only 2 teams that will win the Champions League

Bayern have a very good side now especially with their strength of depth

It seems strange to be saying this considering it is a German team we're talking about, but the only stumbling block they may have is can they mentally get over the collapse of last season?

In my article I mentioned that a victory for them against Dortmund would effectively kill the Bundesliga title race stone dead, but alternatively if Dortmund go away to Bayern and pick up three points then the gap is reduced to five points and an element of doubt may creep into the Bayern players' minds?

Dortmund already look down and out for the league though to be honest and I doubt that Schalke or Frankfurt could maintain a title challenge especially since they're already quite far behind

Excellent article. They've got a real chance.

Interesting what you say about mentality. In recent times the German national team and club teams have notoriously been bottlers.

Despite being a good team last season, Dortmund failed miserably in Europe and I think they have now focused much more effort on their European performances and it has worked for them.

However, they're playing a risky game as when you let your domestic form suffer because of participation in European competitons then if you are put out of Europe which is more than likely considering the quality of teams in the competition, then you will end up in a mess domestically and it may set you back a couple of years. You could actually liken it to Chelsea last year, although they miraculouslly won the Champions League with some terrific performances, however had they failed on doing that then the club could have gone back about three years at least.

It is strange Darren, as the German national team also bottled it against Italy in the European Championships when the majority of people thought they would take care of them quite comfortably.

You always associate the Germans with efficiency, just being professional enough to get the job done.

They even blew a 4-0 lead at home to Sweden too.

I don't think Dortmund are out of the league. It's so early in the day and are perfectly capable of going on a run and getting back in contention. Like it's been said, the game between the two is going to be huge. I'll make sure I watch that game.

On the German's bottling it, as an England fan, I must admit it's refreshing to see.

The Erdevisie looks like the most competitive title race this year