It is a long time since the winners of a Klassiker may not be sitting pretty at the top of the Bundesliga at the end of the game.
But even a ninth successive victory for Bayern Munich over Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday may not be enough for the champions to be at the summit.
Bayern head into the first showdown with Dortmund this season in third place, level on points with Edin Terzic's fourth-place side as Union Berlin surprisingly lead the way ahead of Freiburg after eight matches.
It is the first time in 13 years that neither side have been in the top two when this fixture has kicked off.
Dortmund have already suffered three Bundesliga defeats this season, but they come into the game buoyed by a 4-1 Champions League victory at Sevilla.
Bayern hammered Viktoria Plzen in midweek after a 4-0 rout of Bayer Leverkusen, so there could be goals aplenty this weekend.
Stats Perform previews the 132st showdown between the two rivals in all competitions in the Bundesliga era by picking out some standout Opta data.
Dortmund desperate to end dismal Klassiker run
The last time Dortmund got the better of Bayern was back in August 2019, when they 2-0 winners in the German Super Cup.
Their two goalscorers in that game are no longer at the club, with Jadon Sancho at Manchester United and Paco Alcacer with Sharjah.
Dortmund have not beaten Bayern in the Bundesliga since winning a classic 3-2 in November 2018, Marco Reus – who is missing this weekend due to an ankle injury – claiming a double.
Only against Hamburg between 1982 and 1985 have Dortmund lost eight competitive games in a row, so another defeat this weekend would set an unwanted record.
Hummels could make timely return
Mats Hummels has missed the two games since the international break due to illness, but could return against his former club.
Nine of the 10 goals Dortmund have conceded in the Bundesliga this season have been when Hummels was not on the pitch.
They have shipped only goal in 512 minutes while the vastly experienced centre-back has been on the field, but let in one every 23 minutes without him.
Terzic said ahead of the match: "We would be very happy if he were an option. It's a case of seeing how he feels and how his body reacts to the workload."
Sane and Musiala firing for free-scoring Bayern
Leroy Sane and Jamal Musiala have made great starts to the campaign for Julian Nagelsmann's side.
Sane endured a difficult start to life at Bayern after his move from Manchester City, but the winger has scored nine goals this season – four of those coming in the Champions League.
Only Gerd Muller has scored more than Musiala's five goals in eight matches at the start of a Bundesliga season as a teenager, the Bayern and Germany legend striking seven times at the start of the 1965-66 campaign.
Falling behind may not be a problem for free-scoring champions
The importance of starting strongly is stressed so often, but Bayern may not be too concerned if they go behind.
That is because Dortmund are the only team this Bundesliga campaign to lose twice after leading in games (3-2 v Werder Bremen and 3-2 at Cologne).
Not that Bayern have been slow to get going, as they have scored 16 goals in the first half of Bundesliga games this season, with no other team scoring more than nine.
Barcelona must 'work hard' to achieve Champions League glory, says Flick
Hansi Flick tempered expectations of Barcelona's chances of silverware in his first season in charge ahead of facing Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.
Flick has led Barca to 13 wins from 15 games in all competitions, scoring 50 goals in those games while conceding just 14 times.
Some standout matches have seen Barca thrash Clasico rivals Real Madrid 4-0 while also brushing aside Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League in their last match in the competition.
While Flick understood the fans' excitement after those results, he urged his side to keep their feet on the ground with a long season still in front of them.
"We have to work hard. There are many teams who dream of the same thing, of winning (the Champions League)," Flick said.
"For the moment, we're going to focus on working hard and grinding out, so then we'll see what happens. We have to focus on our goal which is to keep improving.
"A team's form fluctuates a lot over a long season. The important thing is to focus on winning the next match. Sure, after the match against Bayern everything changed.
"But we are just starting. The important thing is how we finish the season. We could say that our goal is to be in the top eight."
Flick, however, insisted he was not surprised by his side's impressive start to the campaign despite enduring a trophyless season last term.
Barca are nine points clear at the top of LaLiga and 11th in the Champions League table ahead of facing Red Star, who are without a win from their three games so far.
"Before we came here we analysed the whole team, every player. We realised that there was very good quality overall," Flick said.
"Another thing to point out is that we wanted to improve how we defend and did small changes in the way we play. The players liked it and they are happy working on it.
"The players play a big role, they are helping us a lot.
"The start was already good on the pre-season in North American and the players are very happy, although there are still many things to improve."
And Barca will be confident of keeping their fine form going against a side that has lost 81% of their matches in the Champions League (P21 W2 D2 L17).
This is the first European meeting between the two sides since October 1996 in the Cup Winners’ Cup, a 1-1 draw with Giovanni cancelling out a Zoran Jovicic's opener for the Serbians.
PSV 4-0 Girona: Dutch side get first win of Champions League
PSV Eindhoven won their first match in the Champions League this season as they thrashed Girona 4-0 at the Philips Stadion on Tuesday.
Ryan Flamingo got the scoring under way after 16 minutes as he turned Malik Tillman's long throw home, despite replays showing that it should have been disallowed as Tillman's foot was over the byline before releasing the ball.
Tillman got himself on the scoresheet 17 minutes later with a fine finish after he arribed into the box unopposed.
Things went from bad to worth for Girona after half-time, with Arnau Martinez receiving a red card 10 minutes into the second half for a second bookable offence.
From then, it was all one-way traffic and PSV might feel aggrieved not to have won by a bigger margin given their glut of second-half chances.
Ismael Saibari was next to put the ball in the back of the net, although his effort was ruled out for a foul in the build-up following a VAR review.
Johan Bakayoko did get PSV's third with seven minutes to go, before a Ladislav Krejci own goal wrapped up the rout in the 88th minute. The result leaves Girona 26th in the table on three points, while PSV are 19th with five points.
Odegaard returns to full Arsenal training ahead of Inter tie
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has returned to full training after spending two months out of action with an ankle injury.
Odegaard has missed 12 matches for the Gunners in all competitions after damaging his ankle ligaments against Austria while on international duty with Norway in September.
The 25-year-old midfielder trained with Arsenal ahead of their trip to the San Siro to face Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Mikel Arteta's side have, however, struggled in Odegaard's absence recently, failing to win any of their last three games in the Premier League.
In the seven games that Odegaard has missed in the top-flight, Arsenal's win percentage dropped from 66.7% to 42.9% after going unbeaten in their first three games.
The Gunners have also averaged 1.6 points per game without Odegaard, compared to 2.3 points won with the Norwegian in their ranks.
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