Growth of Bayern-Dortmund rivalry has made 'Der Klassiker' must-see TV

The difficulty with quantifying Borussia Dortmund versus Bayern Munich for a worldwide audience lies in the fact that it is a fixture laced with contradictions.

On the one hand, it pits the two best-supported clubs in Germany on a collision course, and 26 of the past 31 Meisterschale lifts have been carried out by either the Schwarz-Gelben from the gritty western Ruhrpott or, more frequently, the sophisticated Bavarian Rekordmeister.

But this is not, for example, at all like in Spain, where that country's two foremost teams take up 99% of the football media oxygen. In Germany, every community in every major conurbation is represented to the tune of large, hopping...