The timing of Saturday's Klassiker against Bayern Munich could not have been worse for struggling Borussia Dortmund, with their entire season seemingly resting on the result.

Dortmund will have little time to recover from their 4-0 loss at Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday, as their focus swiftly turns to a fixture that is always a highlight of the Bundesliga calendar.

BVB, who reached the Champions League final last season, went down without a fight in Spain, and they would need an incredible turnaround to progress now.

The result piled more pressure on coach Niko Kovac and his players ahead of the Bayern game, with the team at serious risk of missing out on Champions League football next season.

Dortmund, who will be without star defender Nico Schlotterbeck until the end of the season, are in eighth place on 41 points, five behind fourth place with six games left to play.

The concern for club bosses is that Dortmund fail to qualify for any European competition by finishing outside the top six.

"We will be defending much better and much more than we did against Barcelona," Kovac said.

"Because without a defence we will have serious problems in Munich as well."

Dortmund are unbeaten in their last four Bundesliga games against league leaders (W1, D3), currently the longest such run of all top-flight teams and BVB's longest since a five-game stretch from 2009 to 2013, a period which included two Bundesliga titles of their own.

League leaders Bayern have their own motivation going into the game, eager to bounce back from Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final 2-1 home loss to Inter, in order to go into the return leg next week with a shot of confidence.

They also want to protect their six-point Bundesliga advantage over reigning champions Bayern Leverkusen.

While the Bavarians are still in with a chance in the Champions League, any slip-up in the league could prove costly for Vincent Kompany's injury-hit team as they look to re-establish domestic dominance after last season's Leverkusen double.

Kompany could have midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic back in the squad after his absence due to illness. 

Kovac was Bayern head coach from 2018 to 2019. His former club are the only side he is still winless against as a coach in the Bundesliga (D1, L7).

Dortmund have picked up 12 points from their last six Bundesliga games (W4, D2), while Bayern have collected 13 (W4, D1) – only Leverkusen have claimed more points than these two teams during this period (15).

This will be the 137th meeting between Dortmund and Bayern since the Bundesliga was founded – no other fixture has been played as often in German professional football.

Bayern have suffered more defeats to BVB than against any other side (33).