Why Borussia Dortmund may want Bayern to win the Bundesliga

It’s a wildly inflammatory suggestion but German football expert Florian Bogner and Eurosport UK’s Pete Sharland believe there is little appetite for them to triumph.

"I know some Borussia Dortmund fans and they’re like, 'to be honest, we don’t want to be champions this year'," said Bogner.

"Why? Because can you imagine winning a title in an empty stadium? Can you imagine someone holding up the Meisterschale in front of an empty stadium? Can you imagine doing a championship parade with nobody allowed to freak out?

"They will take it [the title] if it’s there, of course. But the approach is ‘just get it over with’. I think everything is falling into place that Bayern Munich will win it again and nobody will care about it afterwards."

Dortmund returned to action with a 4-0 dismissal of Schalke on Saturday with star teenager Erling Haaland scoring the opener at an empty Signal Iduna Park.

Haaland and fellow youngster Jadon Sancho, who made a brief cameo from the bench, have been consistently linked with moves away from the club – even though the former only arrived in January.

"If they win the league this year, I think it might accelerate some of their best players leaving," said Sharland.

"But if they don’t win the league, they’re probably going to keep everyone together for at least another year, maybe two years.

"If this team stays together for two or three years, they could win the Champions League. There’s that much potential."

Dortmund are four points adrift of Bayern in the Bundesliga table, with Lucien Favre’s side hosting the leaders on May 26.