A Klassiker squad based on jersey numbers

But what if you could combine them into one super squad? To do just that, bundesliga.com has pitted players against each other based on shirt numbers. While some numbers were relatively straightforward, there were some that caused some serious managerial headaches. Having to pick just one of James or Reus? What a decision to have to make…

1. Manuel Neuer over Roman Bürki

The four-time World’s Best Goalkeeper’s record speaks for itself. Neuer has won the Bundesliga in each of the last six seasons, the DFB Cup four times and the UEFA Champions League in 2013. On top of that, he’s also a FIFA World Cup winner with Germany in 2014. Injuries hampered his progress last season but as his Bayern goalkeeping colleague Sven Ulreich believes, Neuer’s “presence in goal provides the team with a sense of security”. For many, the 32-year-old sweeper-keeper is a must in any team.

Bürki is perhaps enjoying his best season to date with Dortmund. Quick on his feet and now seemingly even more confident, the former Switzerland international’s stats are well up on the 2017/18 campaign as he concedes fewer goals and saves a greater proportion of shots bound for his net. Now a hugely reliable first choice at the Signal Iduna Park, the former Freiburg stopper is perhaps simply unfortunate to be up against Neuer.

Watch: The Bundesliga - home of the world's best goalkeepers

The 19-year-old defender has come along nicely since his 2017 move from Paris Saint-Germain. Last season he started the campaign as cover at left-back before fading onto the bench, but this year under Lucien Favre he’s been allowed to feature in the central position that the 6’5’’ France U20 international prefers. Bar a bruised foot, he’s been a regular at the heart of the BVB defence since breaking into the team, winning over 78 per cent of his aerial duels, boasting a pass completion rate of over 90 per cent and has even turned goalscorer with crucial strikes in a pair of 3-2 wins over Bayer Leverkusen and Hertha Berlin.

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The number most frequently reserved for left-backs, it’s oddly unoccupied at both clubs. A fact to aggravate the footballing purists out there.

4. Niklas Süle over Abdou Diallo

The new face of Bayern and Germany’s defence, Süle has been named Niko Kovac’s first-choice centre-back and has featured in all but three Bundesliga matches all season. His pace, reading of the game and assured nature on and off the ball make him such a great asset to his teams. The fact he has only committed 12 fouls in over 2,000 minutes of Bundesliga action this season is astonishing despite contesting almost 300 duels. Completing over 94 per cent of his 1,865 passes also represents a remarkable statistic for a 23-year-old centre-back standing at 6’5’’.

Diallo has also enjoyed an impressive debut campaign in Dortmund with Favre utilising the left-footer’s versatility at the back. He’s featured at centre-back and left-back in his 22 league appearances since joining from Mainz. A 91 per cent pass completion and 58 per cent challenge success rate are both statistics the 22-year-old can be proud of.

An incredibly tough decision but Hakimi’s versatility perhaps gives him a slight edge here. The Real Madrid loanee has proven himself just as adept at left-back as he is on the right, going unbeaten in his first 17 Bundesliga games. He’s chipped in with two goals and four more assists in his 20 league outings and averages a touch of the ball over 90 times per 90 minutes.

No current Bayern or Dortmund player has more experience in Der Klassiker than Hummels, who has featured five times in Munich red and 14 in the black and yellow of Borussia. He is, though, very unlucky to miss out on this squad with his ball distribution from the back in particular an asset for any team, as well as his remarkable disciplinary record of no cards and just five fouls in 15 league outings this season.

6. Thiago over Thomas Delaney

Delaney has formed a powerful partnership in midfield alongside Axel Witsel since the pair arrived in the summer. The Dane’s combination of grit and endeavour looks to be what Borussia have been lacking for some time, but Thiago has proven himself perhaps even more crucial to this Bayern side. The Spain international may be renowned for his passing and assists in the final third, but he’s also displayed a more dogged side to his game, often sitting as the deeper midfielder and showing his willingness to get stuck in. Proving that he is one of the most well-rounded midfielders in the game at present.

Fans of a certain generation won't remember Bayern without Ribery. The Frenchman has over 200 combined goals and assists in over 400 appearances for the record champions during 12 seasons in Bavaria and he could have his hands on a record-breaking ninth Bundesliga title this season. But there may well be a changing of the guard in the league with a teenager from South London making waves.

After a year of settling in at the Signal Iduna Park, Sancho has burst into life in his second Bundesliga campaign. His tally of 12 assists is a league best with Bayern’s Kimmich just behind, and the winger has also chipped in with eight goals of his own. Despite not turning 19 until the end of March, he’s the only Dortmund player to have featured in every Bundesliga match this season. Already a U17 world champion, he’s now a regular in the senior England side. The Bundesliga is Sancho’s oyster.

Watch: The story of Jadon Sancho

Somewhat of a good luck charm for Bayern, the Spaniard has lifted the Bundesliga in all six seasons since joining from Athletic Bilbao. No one in history has reached 100 victories in the league quicker than him (120 games). He found himself in and out of the team earlier in the season but has since established himself as the man to anchor the Munich midfield, especially in big games, showing he enjoys the trust of coach Kovac. His last four goals have also put Bayern 1-0 up.

9. Robert Lewandowski over Paco Alcacer

There aren’t enough superlatives out there to describe Lewandowski’s Bundesliga career. On the verge of 200 goals in Germany’s top flight, he holds the record for most goals by a non-German after recently overtaking Claudio Pizarro, has the second-best goals-per-minute ratio in Bundesliga history, holds Guinness World Records for the fastest hat-trick, four and five-goal hauls, all done as a substitute, and more. He’s enjoying another bountiful campaign in 2018/19 with a league-best 18 goals, as well as seven assists. No one has had more efforts on goal in the Bundesliga this season than the Poland campaign.

Summer signing Alcacer already has a league record of his own after scoring 11 goals in just 12 substitute appearances. All in all, the former Barcelona striker has 14 from his 20 Bundesliga games to date. By no means a record to turn your nose up at, but as countless strikers have discovered in the past, it’s almost impossible to displace Lewandowski.

Watch: Lewandowski's rise to global stardom

An incredibly tough decision for a coach with Götze enjoying a profitable season back in the Dortmund team. Four goals and six assists for the former Bayern man have come from 18 games, with the vast majority even coming since the winter break. The man who scored the winner for Germany in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final against Argentina has also captained Borussia in the absence of Marco Reus, demonstrating the regard in which the 26-year-old is held.

Robben’s record throughout his career, however, is almost peerless. Just one game short of 800 senior appearances for club and country, the Dutchman remains an asset even at 35. Ninety-eight goals in 198 Bundesliga games, and how many of them have seen him cut inside onto his left foot and score? Even after 10 seasons in Germany, no one has found a solution to stop it. A string of injuries have limited Robben to just nine league appearances in 2018/19, but when fit he is always a potent weapon in attack.

11. Marco Reus over James Rodriguez

James has burst into life in recent weeks with a hat-trick against Mainz – his first for Bayern – taking him to seven goals for the season, as well as notching up three assists, in just 17 Bundesliga games. The Colombian has been a driving force for the record champions as they overturned a nine-point deficit to Dortmund to retake top spot. He’s formed a crucial Spanish-speaking trio in midfield with Martinez and Thiago, with the three of them complementing each other in terms of winning the ball back and turning the play around into a devastating attack as quickly as possible.

Reus, however, is almost singlehandedly driving Dortmund towards the title. The local boy and now club captain is BVB’s leading goalscorer with 15 and has recorded six further assists. The 29-year-old makes Borussia tick. With Reus in the side in 2018/19, they average 2.36 points and 2.59 goals per game. In the four matches where he’s been absent due to injury, those values drop to 2.00 and 1.75 respectively. Perhaps more crucially in this title race, he has netted the match-winning goal six times this season, as well as equalising on two occasions as Dortmund beat Bayern 3-2 earlier in the campaign. A three-time recipient of the Bundesliga Player of the Month award in 2018/19, Reus’s importance cannot be understated.

Watch: All of Reus' goals in 2018/19 so far

A number often reserved for the fans who act as the team’s 12th man, it has been left unoccupied at Dortmund since Ewerthon’s departure in 2005 and even longer in Munich – current assistant coach Robert Kovac last wore it back in 2002.

13. Raphael Guerreiro over Rafinha

One of Bayern’s most faithful servants, Rafinha has been an able understudy at both right and left-back this season, featuring in 13 Bundesliga matches. A six-time German champion with 329 appearances under his belt, the Brazilian is a true squad player.

However, European champion Guerreiro is handed the unlucky (for some) No.13 shirt in this squad due to his versatility. Able to play anywhere on the left, as well as in central midfield, the Portugal international already has 15 goals and 15 assists to his name in just 76 appearances for Dortmund. Injuries have limited his playing time since joining from Lorient in 2016, but the 25-year-old looks to have put that behind him and is enjoying a productive 2019 with a pair of goals and assists each in his more attacking role on the left wing.

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16. Manuel Akanji

The 23-year-old has become the centre-back of choice at the Signal Iduna Park since arriving from Basel in Switzerland in January 2018. Only a persistent hip injury has restricted him to 17 league games this season, but he’s committed just six fouls in his 1,485 minutes on the pitch in 2018/19, won 62.3 per cent of his challenges and found a teammate with over 94 per cent of his passes. What would strikers think if they came up against a centre-back pairing of Akanji and Süle?

Boateng’s record speaks for itself. The defender has won the World Cup, Champions League, Bundesliga six times and much more. In his eight seasons with Bayern, he’s proven himself a key man at the back in terms of defending and attacking. He’s won almost 70 per cent of his duels this season, while the 6’4’’ centre-back has proven himself a colossus in the air where he comes out on top 80 per cent of the time. His passing has also been key for the Munich club and Germany with an excellent eye for a long pass, taking out most of the opposition team with an inch-perfect ball over the top.

Spanish teenager Gomez is just starting out in his career. The UEFA European Under-17 champion has played just one minute for Dortmund this season in the Champions League and was on the pitch for just seven minutes in last season’s Bundesliga. An attacking midfielder from Barcelona’s La Masia academy, keep your eye out for this youngster.

18. Leon Goretzka over Leonardo Balerdi

Bayern’s summer signing from rivals Schalke, Goretzka has very quickly settled into life in Bavaria. He’s the club’s third-top scorer this season from midfield with six goals (same as Thomas Müller) but the 24-year-old hasn’t only demonstrated his abilities in attack. He’s equally as comfortable in a deeper midfield position, helping to control the game with his passing and cool head. Four further assists from his first 22 Bundesliga games with the record champions is just reward for his efforts.

We’re yet to see Balerdi in the black and yellow of Dortmund, but it’s only a matter of time for the 20-year-old centre-back. The Argentine featured for his nation at the U-20 South American Championship in January just days after signing for Borussia from Boca Juniors.

Two players we’re perhaps yet to see the best of this season, although Davies is still in the process of settling in since his winter arrival from the Vancouver Whitecaps. The 18-year-old winger has featured for just 56 minutes so far in the Bundesliga but did come off the bench to become Bayern’s youngest scorer in 20 years with his goal against Mainz, despite playing at left-back. Expect plenty more to come from the Canadian.

That has been said of Dahoud for some time now. The former Borussia Mönchengladbach starlet joined the other Borussia with plenty of expectation, but the Syria-born midfielder, who won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship with Germany just two years ago, is yet to cement a position in the Dortmund team despite making over 50 appearances in two seasons.

Philipp is approaching a half century of BVB appearances and has a healthy return of 11 goals in that time since arriving from Freiburg. A versatile attacker, it’s perhaps that flexibility (and injury) that’s hampered him at Dortmund as the 25-year-old has failed to nail down a place. He does, however, remain an incredibly useful squad player with an ability to play on either wing or more central as a lone centre forward or a deeper second striker.

South Korean winger Jeong is on the fringes of the Bayern first team. The 19-year-old has been a relative regular on the bench of the record champions this season but has only spent 13 minutes on the pitch across two senior appearances in the Bundesliga and Champions League.

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22. Serge Gnabry over Christian Pulisic

Pulisic’s list of achievements in his four years at Dortmund is extensive as the youngest US Soccer Male Athletic of the Year and runner-up of the inaugural Kopa Trophy has clocked up over 100 competitive appearances in Black and Yellow. There is a feeling progress has slowed this season as a string of muscular injuries have hampered his playing opportunities. However, two goals and three assists in 15 matches is in fact on track compared to his return of four goals and six assists from 32 Bundesliga games last season.

Gnabry, though, is one of the form men in this Bayern team and has become a key figure under Kovac, featuring in every game when fit. His own decision to spend a season on loan at Hoffenheim on the back of joining the record champions from Werder Bremen looks to have paid dividend as the 23-year-old has put in mature performances, demonstrated his talent for dribbling, beating a man and also scoring goals. Capable of playing anywhere across the front line, or even in deeper wide positions, Gnabry has proven an excellent addition to the Bayern team already.

The 19-year-old left-back has been included in a Bayern first-team squad on five occasions but is yet to make his senior debut.

24. Corentin Tolisso

A World Cup winner with France, Tolisso looked set to push on from a solid debut season in Germany that saw him have a hand in 10 goals from 26 Bundesliga appearances. The 2018/19 campaign, however, has been a complete write-off for the 24-year-old since suffering a cruciate ligament rupture on Matchday 3. He scored in that 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen, but it’s likely all we’ll see from “Coco” until the new season after the Frenchman only recently started running again.

25. Thomas Müller over Luca Unbehaun

Bayern Munich through and through, Müller is approaching 500 games for the club and already has over 300 Bundesliga appearances under his belt. The 29-year-old has been there and won it all, brings the best out of those around him and holds a remarkable record of never losing a Bundesliga game where he’s scored. Müller has netted 110 times in 87 league games, with Bayern winning 82 of them and drawing just five.

An U17 Bundesliga champion, teenage goalkeeper Unbehaun is yet to feature for the Dortmund first team but was on the bench for the DFB Cup round of 16 defeat to Bremen as the club went through a mini goalkeeping crisis.

Currently the second-longest serving member of this Dortmund squad, Piszczek has proven himself an always willing servant and, injuries aside, remains the first-choice right-back at the Signal Iduna Park despite turning 34 at the end of the season. With six assists (plus a rare goal) in his 17 Bundesliga games this term, the Poland international is still showing he’s got what it takes at the highest level.

Ulreich has demonstrated he’s one of the most reliable back-ups in the Bundesliga when he stepped in to fill the void left by Neuer’s injury last season. It saw him keep 12 clean sheets in just 29 games – one short of Schalke’s Ralf Fährmann’s league-best 13 in five matches more. A Bundesliga veteran with over 200 appearances, Ulreich is a solid pair of hands in goal.

One of the finest left-backs in world football, 26-year-old Alaba is already a seven-time Bundesliga winner and a crucial element of Bayern’s play in both attack and defence. The Austrian averages a foul every other game and has still never missed a Bundesliga match through suspension. Going forward, his left foot always poses a threat, whether looking for teammates with his crosses (almost three per game this season) or smashing his “AlaBOOM” free-kicks towards goal. He’s also scored in every Bundesliga season where he’s played more than three games.

Wolf has had a stop-start beginning to life since joining from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer. The DFB Cup winner, has, however, proven himself a versatile addition to the BVB squad, featuring on both wings, as a centre forward and even at right-back.

28. Axel Witsel over Paul Will

Like Delaney, Witsel has added grit and determination to the Dortmund midfield since joining in the summer and has been a key cog in their title challenge. The Belgium international has had the third-most touches of the ball in the league this season and boasts the second-best pass completion from open play, as well as winning over 60 per cent of his challenges, proving a force both in the air on the ground.

Germany U20 international Will is on the fringes of the Bayern first team but is yet to take to the pitch. The central midfielder has been included in the senior squad three times, including the Klassiker encounter earlier this season.

Already a seven-time domestic champion in Germany, Italy and France, 22-year-old Coman has already clocked up over 100 appearances for Bayern – and that’s despite some rotten luck with injuries. The winger is seen as the long-term successor to fellow Frenchman Ribery. Demonstrating blistering pace, he scores or assists a goal almost every three games in the Bundesliga.

Schmelzer is currently Dortmund’s longest-serving player and a former club captain. An experienced head who’s faced Bayern 26 times already, including 14 in the Bundesliga. The two-time champion also boasts a balanced record against the Munich club with five wins, four draws and five defeats. However, a broken ankle has seen him absent for long stretches of this season.

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32. Joshua Kimmich

Perhaps one of the best right-backs in world football, as well as playing in central midfield, Kimmich is the only Bayern player to be on the field for every single minute this Bundesliga campaign. Often touted as a future captain for club and country, the 24-year-old is one of the most crucial members of Bayern and Germany squads. Famously signed personally by Pep Guardiola, he’s now a must in any team.

A former 1860 Munich player, Weigl know what beating Bayern is all about. The 23-year-old has enjoyed a bit of a comeback in 2019 after featuring just four times prior to the winter break with the natural defensive midfielder filling in at the heart of defence. Dortmund are yet to lose a league game with the five-time Germany international in the side this season, while he himself has won just short of 60 per cent of his challenges and completed 94 per cent of his passes.

Eighteen-year-old centre-back Mai has two Bayern first-team appearances to his name after featuring at the back end of last season. The 2016/17 U17 Bundesliga winner has featured among the substitutes a further 10 times.

34. Jacob Bruun Larsen

The 20-year-old winger’s stock has risen substantially this season thanks to a string of impressive performances. Two goals and an assist from the now full Denmark international in 18 Bundesliga games this season doesn’t quite do justice to his displays. Good on the ball with an eye for a teammate, Bruun Larsen is constantly improving.

35. Marwin Hitz over Renato Sanches

Sanches’ time in Munich has been turbulent but looked to be back on the up earlier this season with a run of 14 consecutive appearances in all competitions. However, the bustling midfielder, who boasts a passing accuracy of almost 94 per cent, has again struggled for form and playing time in 2019.

While the Portuguese midfielder is a more than useful addition to a team with his energy, a squad also needs an experienced back-up goalkeeper. Switzerland international Hitz may have only featured three times for Dortmund, including the 3-2 win over Bayern, but is a proven Bundesliga player. A champion with Wolfsburg in 2008/09, he’s also one of the few goalkeepers in the league’s history to score a goal from open play.

With 27 caps for Turkey, Toprak is a vastly experienced head at the centre of defence. He’s amassed more than 200 appearances in the Bundesliga for Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg, but so far this season has served as back-up for the defensive line.

Früchtl has been mooted as a long-term successor to Neuer in the Bayern goal. The 19-year-old is yet to make his senior debut but is an U17 Bundesliga champion.

37. Meritan Shabani

The 20-year-old is seen as an attacking midfielder for the future and has already featured three times for the first team.

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39. Ron-Thorben Hoffmann

Currently second choice for the Bayern reserves behind Früchtl, 19-year-old goalkeeper Hoffmann has featured on the first-team bench just once.

40. Eric Oelschlägel

The 23-year-old goalkeeper joined from Bremen’s reserves in the summer and was thrust into the spotlight when Bürki and Hitz were both ruled out of the DFB Cup last-16 match against his former club. His debut for his new employers was eventful with a number of excellent saves taking a thrilling tie to penalties, where Werder came out on top.