By Rich

Borussia Mönchengladbach made a dramatic comeback from behind on Friday to defeat visiting FC Bayern München 3:2. The match’s first 2 goals came early in the match, from Robert Lewandowski on a penalty in the 20th minute, and from Leon Goretzka in the 26th minute, leaving Gladbach in a hole less than a third of the way through the match. Things turned around, however, for Gladbach just 10 minutes after Goretzka’s goal, when Jonas Hofmann put the ball past Manuel Neuer off a pass from Lars Stindl. Then, just as the first half was ending, Hofmann and Stindl combined again to bring the score even. Finally, just 3 minutes into the second half, Florian Neuhaus scored on a curling shot past Neuer. Gladbach have now accounted for half of Bayern’s 4 losses under coach Hansi Flick, and Bayern’s loss ends what had been the longest unbeaten streak of any team in the Bundesliga. Saturday’s competition in the league will include a match between 2 clubs that are neck and neck in the standings, when Union Berlin host Wolfsburg. Union fans were concerned when Max Kruse suffered a torn thigh back in December, but his absence has been well filled by Liverpool loanee Taiwo Awoniyi, who has scored in each of his last 3 games, including the win over Bremen that temporarily moved the club into 4th place. Union are now beaten in 4 matches, including victories in the last 2. Wolfsburg have accumulated the same number of points so far this season, and had an 11-match unbeaten run before losing to Bayern at the close of 2020. That loss was followed by a 1:0 win over Stuttgart and a loss to Dortmund. Wolfsburg remain without the services of Maximilian Philipp and Jerome Rousillon, and will likely start with Marin Pongracic and John Brooks. One question mark for Saturday will be Wolfsburg’s star striker Wout Weghorst: he has failed to find the net in each of his last 3 league games, despite having scored at least once in each of the 5 outings before. Later on Saturday, Leipzig will host Dortmund in what will likely be a competition between a pair of young USA internationals: New Yorkers Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna. Adams rose through the ranks at the New York Red Bulls before moving to Leipzig in January 2019, while Reyna started at rival New York City FC before joining Dortmund. Of course, they will be joined by Leipzig’s Yussuf Poulsen and Dortmund’s Erling Haaland. Poulsen has scored 4 and assisted in 2 this season, while Haaland has scored 33 goals in 33 competitive games for the club. Finally, don’t miss what is likely to be another competitive match on Sunday between hosts FC Augsburg and visitors VfB Stuttgart.

By Rich

Lennart Grill is a 21-year-old goalkeeper for Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Grill was born on January 25, 1999 in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, and spent his youth career playing for SC Idar-Oberstein, SpVgg Nahbollenbach, Mainz 05, and 1. FC Kaiserslautern. His senior career continued at Kaiserslautern, where he played for both 1. FC Kaiserslautern I and II between 2016 and 2020, making 66 appearances. On March 8, 2019, it was announced that Grill would sign for Leverkusen on a 4-year deal, effective with the 2020-2021 season. Grill has also appeared 20 times for Germany’s U16, U17, U18, U19, and U21 squads since 2014.