Roy Makaay has brushed aside the idea that Bayern Vs Dortmund is the defining Klassiker, saying he knows only one real one: Ajax Amsterdam against Feyenoord Rotterdam. The former Bayern München striker made the comment in an interview with Sport1 ahead of the latest meeting between Bayern München and the BVB.
That view lands now because the fixture is being sold as one of the biggest games in German football, while Makaay remembers a different pecking order from his own Bundesliga years. He played from 2003 to 2007 and said the Bayern-Dortmund matchup was not nearly as big then as it has become today.
Makaay pointed instead to the rivals Bayern had during that spell. Schalke, the Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen were the names he singled out, and he said they mattered more in his day than Dortmund did. That fits the record of the period: Schalke came close to the championship in 2001 and again in 2005, while Werder Bremen won the title in 2004 under Thomas Schaaf.
The missing piece in Makaay’s comparison is what happened to Dortmund itself. During his active Bundesliga years, Borussia Dortmund was more of a mid-table side than a title challenger, which is why the match now described as a Klassiker carried less weight then. The rivalry that feels central today was still building its meaning while Bayern were fighting a different set of contenders.
That is why Makaay’s remark cuts through the usual pre-match language. He is not saying Bayern München against the BVB is unimportant now. He is saying the label came later, and that in his football memory there is still only one Klassiker that deserves the name. The next chapter will be played on the pitch, but his comment has already shifted the frame around it.
