There will be a welter of top players on show at the Red Bull Arena on Matchday 18 when two of the Bundesliga's most exciting attacking sides, RB Leipzig and Schalke, go head to head.
While Ralph Hasenhüttl and Domenico Tedesco pit their tactical wits on the touchline, Naby Keita and Leon Goretzka will face off (perhaps literally) in midfield, Naldo will tussle with Timo Werner for supremacy and Amine Harit will attempt to pinch Emil Forsberg's creative crown.
bundesliga.com presents the duels that will decide the mouthwatering opening to the second half of the season...
The midfield dynamos: Naby Keita vs. Leon Goretzka
While Leipzig's Keita has so far not managed to reprise his sensational form from last season – much like his team – the Guinean talisman is still enjoying a fine campaign in the heart of the Easterners' midfield.
Keita is pivotal to Hasenhüttl's style, his quick recovery of possession and direct running enabling the lightning transitions that so often lead to goals. Indeed, Leipzig have never lost when the 22-year-old has found the net, and a cursory glance at his numbers in midfield – an average of 75 touches per game and a pass completion rate of almost 84 per cent – points to his influence.
When he has the ball, Keita can be lethal from anywhere: his two goals this season have both come from outside the box – including one stunner against Hamburg on Matchday 3 – with both putting his side 1-0 up.
Watch: Check out Keita's long-distance stunner against Hamburg on Matchday 3!
Another of Europe's most sought-after midfielders will be Keita's direct opponent on Saturday night. Handed the club vice-captaincy at the start of the season, Leon Goretzka has thrived on the responsibility and has in fact netted twice as many goals (four) as Keita, in two fewer games.
The 22-year-old's goalscoring return makes him Schalke's second-most potent attacker this season (Guido Burgstaller boasts seven goals), in spite of a succession of niggling injuries that have caused Goretzka to miss six Bundesliga games.
Although rumours continue to swirl about where the midfielder will ply his trade next season, Goretzka has put his head down and turned in one dominant display after another. Theirs is a quite literal head-to-head that will have a key bearing on the outcome: if the ball is in the air, Schalke will dominate (Goretzka's aerial duel success rate is significantly better than Keita's); if the ball is on the ground, Keita's preternatural gifts will come to the fore.
Watch: Check out Goretzka's top five Bundesliga goals!
The tacticians: Ralph Hasenhüttl vs. Domenico Tedesco
Although Hasenhüttl's side made a splash in Europe this term – finishing third in their group – things have not gone quite as smoothly domestically as last season's record-breaking maiden Bundesliga campaign. Leipzig sit two points and three places behind second-placed Schalke coming into this one, although the Easterners have been hit by a number of injuries.
One resounding success in an altogether tougher sophomore year has been Hasenhüttl's development of a variety of methods for his side to damage their opponents. Last season so reliant on a 4-2-2-2 system and being underestimated, Leipzig have shifted to a 4-4-2 shape this year, sitting slightly deeper, requiring the wide players to do more defensive work and relying on the pace of Werner in transition.
This subtle tactical alteration has proved a successful way of outwitting sides who attempt to beat Leipzig's infamous press by playing the long ball, as Schalke did to devastating effect during the Royal Blues' 2-0 win on Matchday 1.
Watch: Leipzig's performances this term continue to show that last season was no flash in the pan!
The architect of that triumph? Tedesco, who, with that tactical masterstroke, turned Gelsenkirchen doubters into believers.
Given that Tedesco's age, 32, makes him the youngest ever Schalke coach and second youngest coach in the top flight (after Hoffenheim's Julian Nagelsmann), there were sceptics aplenty upon the Italy-born tactician's appointment. While victory against Leipzig won them over, Tedesco has turned even the hardest of hearts by inspiring the Royal Blues to second in the standings at the halfway mark.
Tedesco's masterplan relies less on a specific tactical line-up – although he does prefer his sides to play with a three-man defence – but rather, in the modern German fashion, envisages players winning the ball high up the field, attacking directly, all the while retaining a solid defensive shape. "I like to compare it to a boxer, who should never let his guard down," Tedesco told bundesliga.com of his style in October.
As the away coach in Leipzig, whether Tedesco adopts a rope-a-dope strategy to soak up Leipzig's pressing, or comes out swinging in an attempt to score an early knockout is likely to prove decisive on Matchday 18.
Watch: Go behind the scenes of Tedesco's tactical revolution at Schalke!
The talismanic figures: Timo Werner vs. Naldo
If Goretzka is Schalke's heartbeat, then Naldo is both the brains and the brawn. The centre-back has featured in every minute of the Bundesliga campaign so far – no mean feat for a 36-year-old.
Three years older than his coach, the Brazil-born veteran has been inspirational both in the centre of the Royal-Blues' defence and in the opposition box.
Defensively, Naldo has won 75 per cent of his individual duels – the best return in the Bundesliga; offensively, he is enjoying an Indian summer and has netted three times already this term, two of those goals late equalisers against Borussia Dortmund and then Eintracht Frankfurt.
Watch: Naldo headed in a last-gasp equaliser in a dramatic Revierderby against Dortmund!
Also his side's talisman, Werner has hit a purple patch this campaign. Or, rather, the striker has continued where he left off from last season. Leipzig's top scorer with eight goals, the 21-year-old has found the net twice as often as the club's next top scorers (Yussuf Poulsen and Jean-Kevin Augustin both have three).
Establishing himself as Germany's first-choice striker ahead of this summer's World Cup has also brought improvements in Werner's all-round game; only Marcel Sabitzer (three) has picked up more assists than the youngster (two) among the RB squad.
Although there is a 14-year age difference, both Naldo (334 outings) and Werner (141) are the most experienced Bundesliga players in their respective ensembles: Naldo has come out on top in six of the pair's eight meetings, but this one is tantalisingly poised.
Watch: Check out Werner's top five Bundesliga goals!
The creators-in-chief: Emil Forsberg vs. Amine Harit
Europe's leading assist provider last season in Leipzig's dream maiden campaign, Forsberg needs no introduction.
Although he helped his nation to reach the FIFA World Cup, the Swede has found it tougher going this term, only scoring once and returning two assists, his previously prodigious output checked by a combination of injuries and domestic opponents getting wise to Leipzig's style. The latter explanation would also point to why Forsberg has impressed more in Europe, scoring twice and picking up an assist in only five continental outings.
Yet despite missing eight Bundesliga games with injury, the 26-year-old has still managed to create more chances (36) than any other RB player this season.
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