The Chippy: Dortmund walk a tightrope with Sancho and Ighalo is living his best life

We’ve got a midweek Der Klassiker really big match in Germany today

As someone who prides themselves on being a hipster “Borussia Dortmund is my second team” fan and a part time “old man yells at cloud” guy I wanted to clear the air about something.

Don’t call the Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund fixture Der Klassiker (German Classico). There’s really nothing classic about it. It’s a very recent term! In Building the Yellow Wall by Uli Hesse, the author points out that the wikipedia article for Der Klassiker wasn’t created until 2014, a year after the two sides met in the Champions League final.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a big match. Commercially it’s the biggest match in German football, but that’s because these are the only two teams to have won the Bundesliga in the last decade.

Traditionally, they’re not the biggest rivals. For Bayern that would be either 1860 Munich or FC Nurnberg. For BVB that would be Schalke. The two are rivals now because they’re both good, which is the same reason why in the 70s Bayern’s big rivals were Borussia Monchengladbach.

Anyway, Bayern are four points ahead of BVB in the table heading in to this one so it’s definitely a big one. Even though regardless of the outcome I don’t think Bayern will lose any other game this season so long as they’re played behind closed doors.

Borussia Dortmund walking Jadon Sancho tightrope

The Bundesliga is now two games into their comeback and so far Borussia Dortmund’s best player, Jadon Sancho, hasn’t started in either match. They can say he’s injured all they want but the reality is he’s played in both games so far so I’m not going to put a lot of validity to that claim [Ed.: Sancho is on the bench again today].

BVB are walking a tightrope when it comes to Sancho, and it’s actually a little eye-opening when you realize that other teams may be faced with the same dilemma.

Borussia Dortmund are in the midst of a title race and you would think for that they’d need their best player. They also know that Sancho has one foot out the door already as he seeks a move to England, and probably Manchester United, this summer.

BVB now have to face a few questions. Is Sancho fully committed to their title pursuit — and Tuesday’s result against Bayern could definitely swing that decision depending on which way it goes — or is he worried about picking up an injury in this condensed schedule that could put a move in jeopardy?

On the same side, Dortmund have to be worried about that too. Sancho is their most marketable asset and their key to a big payday this summer. We don’t know when next season will start, all we know is that the games are coming thick and fast right now. An injury to Sancho could be devastating for them and they would definitely want him to stay fit.

For now it looks like they could be walking this tightrope of trying to limit Sancho’s exposure to injury, while also competing in a title race. Makes you wonder how other teams with “sellable” players may treat them when they come back, especially if they don’t have as much to play for.

Zlatan Ibrahimović suffers injury in training

Early reports from AS suggested it was an achilles injury that could be career threatening but this morning reports have come out saying it’s just a calf injury and he’ll be fine.

AC Milan have clarified the situation, saying:

“AC Milan can report that Zlatan Ibrahimović reported an injury to the soleus muscle of his right calf in yesterday’s training session.

“The Achilles tendon is perfectly intact. An examination will be carried out in 10 days.”

Ibrahimović suffered a similar problem earlier this year, causing him to miss matches in January and February.

A 38-year-old’s body is starting to break down? You don’t say! It would have been a sad end to a great career, so we’re glad it’s not as bad as first feared.

Bruno and Pogba are training together

Breaking news: Two teammates are training together now that teams have returned to training.

Not sure why this is news, but the people have been desperate to see it and now you can catch this quick video of Bruno working out while Pogba looks on approvingly.

Shanghai Shenshua offer Odion Ighalo four year contract worth £75 million

Scores four goals against lower level and Europa League competition, suddenly gets massive pay raise.

Odion Ighalo is the only person in the world living his best life in 2020.