Its high noon for Borussia Dortmund when they meet Hoffenheim at the bottom of the Bundesliga table instead of dueling with Bayern Munich for the top.
Borussia Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp has declared Friday night's date with Hoffenheim "high noon" as the fallen giants are desperate to move away from the bottom of the Bundesliga standings.
Eight defeats in 13 games played so far have left Dortmund reeling and fighting relegation instead of challenging Bayern Munich for the title.
Klopp briefly toyed with resignation after the latest meltdown Sunday, 2-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt, but is now ready for a fightback against seventh-placed Hoffenheim.
"Friday night is high noon, we have to play football," he said.
Klopp said that everyone on the team - which won the Bundesliga in 2011 and 2012 and came second 2013 and 2014 - is aware of the danger and that Dortmund must not focus on their great skill but rather fight for every inch on the pitch.
"In a relegation battle you don't need seven chances, just the one. It's not about playing the greatest game of all time, but to be successful," he said.
"That requires a solid defensive performance, and in attack we'll get chances anyway. I know what a relegation battle feels like. And I've survived 98 percent of all my relegation battles, so I can pass on my experience," the former Mainz coach added.
The good news for Klopp is that Mats Hummels and Lukasz Piszczek are fit again which could allow him to play his best defensive four - the others being Neven Subotic and Marcel Schmelzer - for the first time in 72 games since the Champions League final in May 2013 against Munich.
"Never has a victory been as important as against Hoffenheim," the captain Hummels said.
Dortmund have 11 points and can move up to 13th for at least one night with a victory. SV Hamburg, VfB Stuttgart and Freiburg have 12 each, Werder Bremen 13 and Hertha Berlin 14 in a table with just five points between Dortmund and 10th-placed Mainz.
Stuttgart host Mainz, Freiburg are in Paderborn, Hertha at faltering Moenchengladbach on Saturday, while on Sunday Hamburg host Mainz and Bremen visit Frankfurt where their former coach Thomas Schaaf is in charge now.
Also on Saturday, Cologne host surprise fourth-placed Augsburg, second-ranked Wolfsburg are at regional rivals Hanover, and Munich host No 3 Leverkusen.
The unbeaten two-time reigning champions Munich have 33 points and are seven ahead of the 2009 champions Wolfsburg, with Leverkusen another three behind.
"Second place would be very good but maybe Bayern will show some weakness," Wolfsburg's Belgian star Kevin de Bruyne said in an interview with Thursday's Kicker sports magazine.
But De Bruyne added this was highly unlikely because "Bayern still play like a top team even if 10 top players are injured."
Bayern almost managed an unbeaten season in the past campaign but lost against Augsburg and Dortmund when already assured of the title.
Munich winger Arjen Robben told the same magazine that it would be "arrogant to aim for an unbeaten season" but that "we want to win every game anyway," with the title being the main goal.
The two 2013-14 defeats ended a record unbeaten run of 53 games since losing 2-1 at home against Leverkusen in October 2012, and Leverkusen winger Son Heung Min said they are ready to challenge Munich again.
"Bayern are perhaps the best team in the world. But we will still believe in our game and aim to produce it on the pitch. That gives us the best chance to create problems for them," Son said.
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