As it so often does, Der Klassiker lived up to the billing as Borussia Dortmund and Bayern München played out a thrilling 1-1 draw in Westphalia.
Goals from Jamie Gittens and Jamal Musiala saw the encounter end in a draw, handing Eintracht Frankfurt a chance to cut the gap between themselves and league leaders Bayern to four points.
Jamie Gittens shines in the spotlight
Netting for the fourth time in the Bundesliga this season, Jamie Gittens sees his stocks continue to rise for die Schwarzgelben.
Showcasing a stunning turn of pace to leave Konrad Laimer stuck in the mud on the flank, before unleashing a fantastic strike to beat Manuel Neuer sent BVB's home support into raptures in the 27th minute.
Gittens has now registered seven goal contributions in the Bundesliga under Nuri Sahin this campaign. With this alongside his four Champions League goals, the 20-year-old continues to become more and more important for Dortmund.
Bayern struggles without Kane
Both in terms of Saturday's fixture and Bayern's upcoming clashes in the DFB-Pokal and Bundesliga against Bayer Leverkusen and Heidenheim, Harry Kane's injury sustained in the 33rd minute dealt a huge blow to manager Vincent Kompany.
Thomas Müller brought his well-renowned experience to the side, however, the adaptation to life without a recognised centre-forward is a far-from-ideal situation for Kompany.
Whilst Bayern did find the net via Jamal Musiala late on, the question will remain as to how the encounter would have panned out if Bayern's 14-goal man was on the pitch.
Kane has netted 20 times in all competitions this season.
Dortmund counter-attacking brilliance impresses
As they have so often done under Vincent Kompany this season, Bayern dominated possession for large periods at Signal Iduna Park.
However with this in mind, BVB were more than impressive on the counter-attack. The pace of Maximilian Beier and Jamie Gittens caused problems throughout, whilst Serhou Guirassy was a constant nuisance in central zones, as is expected of the Guinean forward.
With the questions surrounding Nuri Sahin beginning to die down in recent weeks, the transitional threat of his side, and resolute defensive showing proved more than enough to cause problems against their Bundesliga nemesis.
Musiala's importance continues to grow
With the visitors dominating proceedings in possession, Bayern continued to poke and prod in the final third, however, it would not be until the 85th minute that the Rekordmeister would find the back of the net via their starlet Jamal Musiala.
With his fifth header of the season, the 21-year-old met a delicious Michael Olise cross to power the ball past a resolute Gregor Kobel before sprinting off to the travelling Bayern contingent in the corner of Westfalenstadion.
Musiala has now netted ten goals across all competitions this season and is four away from matching his Bundesliga tally of ten from last campaign.
