BERLIN, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Borussia Dortmund are running out of chances to land any silverware this season and their Bundesliga match against visitors Bayern Munich on Saturday could be their last opportunity to close the gap to the league leaders and stay in title contention.
Niko Kovac's team suffered a shock Champions League exit on Wednesday as a 4-1 loss at Atalanta resulted in a 4-3 aggregate defeat, with the Italians going through thanks to a stoppage-time penalty.
Dortmund are also out of the German Cup but in the league there is still some hope they could close the gap to Bayern. Dortmund are in second place on 52 points, eight behind the Bavarians with 11 matches remaining.
The Ruhr Valley club is still undefeated this year in the league, with their only loss so far coming against Bayern in October.
They are enjoying their most productive Bundesliga season since their last title win in 2012under Juergen Klopp where they also had 52 points from 23 league games.
They have also all but secured a top-four finish that leads to automatic Champions League qualification next season, with an 11-point lead overfifth-placed RB Leipzig.
A win on Saturday in front of a sold-out 80,000 home crowd could inject some late drama into the title race and help Dortmund bounce back from their bitter midweek European exit.
"Of course, now wedon't have much time (until the Bayern game)," said Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel, who made several fine saves against Atalanta to keep them in the game until the very end.
"Now it's about dusting ourselves off, moving on and being there for the team," he said. "Everything that's happened has happened. Now it's about us quickly regrouping as a team, being ready for the weekend and delivering an awesome fight against Bayern at home."
But the visitors will be more rested thanDortmund, having avoided the Champions League playoffs after earning direct qualification as a top-eight finisher in the league phase.
They also seem to have rediscovered their dominant form after a brief wobble early in the year, and have won their last three Bundesliga matches, scoring 11 goals in the process.
Forward Harry Kane, who netted twice in last week's win over Eintracht Frankfurt, is in stellar form and has already bagged 28 league goals, putting him firmly on track to challenge Robert Lewandowski's all-time 41-goal Bundesliga record for one season.
(Reporting by Karolos GrohmannEditing by Toby Davis)
