Borussia Dortmund playmaker Mario Goetze and Borussia Moenchengladbach midfielder Marco Reus will meet in a showdown of Germany’s most promising future stars when the two leading Bundesliga teams play today.

Dortmund and Moenchengladbach are a point above third-place Bayern Munich, who play fourth-place Werder Bremen today after coming off two consecutive losses. Werder is three points off the lead.

Dortmund, the defending champions, have won eight times and drawn once in the past nine Bundesliga games. Moenchengladbach have won four straight.

When Moenchengladbach dominated the Bundesliga in the 1970s, the team won the title every time it was on top of the standings from the 15th round onward.

“If we win against Dortmund, we’ll want to be at the top when we go into the winter break,” Moenchengladbach forward Mike Hanke said. “But we are clearly the outsiders today. Dortmund have been playing top football over a long period.”

“But we are clearly the outsiders on Saturday. Dortmund has been playing top football over a long period,” said Hanke, who at 28 is one of Moenchengladbach’s more experienced players who once played a dozen games for Germany.

The 28-year-old Hanke has played 12 times for Germany in the past and is one of Moenchengladbach’s more experienced players. He is enjoying somewhat of a resurgence, but all eyes will be on teammate Reus and Goetze.

“Both are extremely important for their teams,” Dortmund president Hans-Joachim Watzke said.

Reus is the older player at 22 and has scored 10 goals this season. The 19-year-old Goetze is more of a creator and provider but the goals he scores are often decisive, such as the one that beat Bayern 1-0.

Reus, however, has a broken little toe on his left foot and has not trained with the team through to Thursday.

Both Reus and Goetze play for Germany, although so far they have had mostly backup roles. Bayern have highly praised both players and are reportedly interested in eventually signing them.

Moenchengladbach have already beaten two of the top four – Bayern and Werder – and a win today at home over Dortmund would give them sole possession of first place.

Bayern, who have lost three of their last five, has squandered a five-point lead and looked ordinary since Bastian Schweinsteiger was ruled out with a collarbone fracture.

Mario Gomez, who tops the Bundesliga with 13 goals, hasn’t scored in the last two defeats. Bayern hasn’t won once after falling behind this season.

“Good teams continue to play their game even when they fall behind. We should not lose our confidence just because we concede a goal,” midfielder Toni Kroos said.

Bayern president Uli Hoeness believes he knows why.

“We are not aggressive enough,” Hoeness said. “There can’t be any more excuses.”

With three games remaining, Bayern are still hoping to spend the winter break at the top.

“It’s not in our own hands anymore but I think we’ll win our three games. But we are not going to give up if we are one point behind at the break,” Kroos said.

Bundesliga teams consider it psychologically important to lead into the break as the club that spend the winter at the top frequently also ends up being the champion at the end of the season.

Werder midfielder Aaron Hunt said his team could use the same method employed by Mainz to beat Munich. Mainz won 3-2 last week.

“Win the ball and then quickly go forward, harass their midfield,” Hunt said.

Werder has not lost in its last five trips to Munich but it will be without goalkeeper Tim Wiese, who is missing the game for family reasons. Striker Claudio Pizarro is doubtful because of a knee injury.

Also today, it’s Freiburg vs. Hannover, Kaiserslautern vs. Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg vs. Mainz and Stuttgart vs. Cologne.

Tomorrow, Nuremberg visit Hamburger SV and Schalke host Augsburg.