Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has extended an olive branch to Borussia Dortmund ahead of the clubs' Bundesliga meeting at the Westfalenstadion on Saturday.
Dortmund and Bayern have shared the last five Bundesliga titles, and have met in a final of a major competition in the last three seasons.
While BVB won back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012 and also beat their rivals 5-2 in the DFB-Pokal final that year, Bayern won the league in 2010 as well as in 2013 and 2014.
Bayern beat Dortmund 2-1 in the 2013 Champions League final and 2-0 in the DFB-Pokal final the following year. They also signed BVB stars Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski in consecutive summer transfer windows.
BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke believes Bayern "retaliated" to Dortmund's success and popularity and accused the league leaders of wanting to "destroy" the 2012 title-winning team, suggesting last month that Rummenigge's club "ripped out two heartbeats" of BVB.
Meanwhile, the long-running feud over Marco Reus' future amid BVB's loss of form has only begun to fade following the Germany international's contract extension in February.
Over the last couple of meetings, representatives between the two clubs limited their encounters to brief exchanges in the stands, and cancelled their traditional pregame dinners.
Rummenigge has now made a step towards making peace with their struggling rivals, saying of Watzke: "I rate him as a colleague with a lot of quality. I believe that he has contributed a great deal to where Borussia are now. You shouldn't only have an isolated look at this season.
"Should we receive an invitation [for dinner], we would accept it for sure. I don't have a problem with Hans-Joachim Watzke."
Bayern are 31 points and nine positions ahead of Dortmund going into Saturday's match, with BVB likely to miss out on next season's Champions League after a disastrous first half of the season.
"We had times with great battles on the field, with the highlight being the 2013 Champions League final in London," Rummenigge added.
Former Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes -- who has been honoured with a DFB Lifetime Achievement Award -- told reporters on Monday that he is expecting a "dicey match."
The 69-year-old warned his former club not to underestimate Dortmund, saying they "will not have forgotten how to play football" and on a good day "are able to put in a top performance against Bayern."
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