Bundesliga’s rising stars on collision course in Ruhr derby

>> BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund’s teenage stars Ousmane Dembele and Christian Pulisic will be in the spotlight in today’s 150th Ruhr Valley at bitter Bundesliga rivals Schalke 04 in Germany’s top derby.

Both Dortmund and Schalke will be heavily stacked with the German league’s top young talent at Gelsenkirchen’s Veltins Arena.

“In the category of 18-22 year olds, we are at the front in Europe,” boasted Borussia’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Under coach Thomas Tuchel, Dortmund are nurturing the likes of Germany’s 21-year-old defensive midfielder Julian Weigl.

Teenage forwards Dembele, 19, and Pulisic, still just 18, have attracted interest from Europe’s top clubs.

Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the league’s top scorer with 23 goals this season, loves scoring in the derby and has netted in four of the five games he has started against Schalke.

Aubameyang is locked in a battle with Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Cologne’s Anthony Modeste to be the league’s top scorer, and has scored nine goals in his last six games for Dortmund.

Likewise, Schalke will rely on their talented youngsters defender Sead Kolasinac (23), playmaker Max Meyer (21) and defender Thilo Kehrer (20).

In the last ten years, Schalke’s academy has produced current Germany stars Hoewedes, Manuel Neuer, Mesut Oezil and Julian Draxler.

Schalke, who are up to tenth last beat Dortmund in September 2014, but are desperate to cap a third straight league win by beating their old rivals.

Dortmund are third, a huge 16 points behind leaders Bayern Munich, and face Schalke at the start of a busy period with nine games to play in April including Champions League quarterfinals against Monaco.