By Rich
​Fabrice Hartmann is a 17-year-old winger for RB Leipzig.  Hartmann was born on March 2, 2001 in Germany and spent his youth career playing for SG Rot-Weiß Thalheim until 2012 and RB Leipzig since 2012.  Hartmann made his professional debut for RB Leipzig on July 26th, 2018, when he came on in the 89th minute  as a substitute for Matheus Cunha in the UEFA qualifying match against Swedish club BK Häcken.  Hartmann has also made 22 appearances for the German U15, U16, and U17 squads in 2016 and 2017, scoring 8 goals.

By Rich & Otto

​Borussia Dortmund continued its reign atop the table with a 2:1 win on Friday over visiting Borussia Mönchengladbach.  All 3 of the match’s goals came just before and just after the halftime break:  Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho scored first, in the 42nd minute, when Mario Götze found him in the box and Sancho shot across the goal and inside the far post to beat Oscar Wendt.  Gladbach’s Christoph Kramer, however, managed to even the tally in extra time before the first half ended: in his first appearance since October, Kramer was first to get to a loose ball and poke it in the goal past Roman Bürki.  Dortmund pulled in the lead again in the 54th minute when Götze, in his 2nd assist of the match, sent the ball to the back post, which Marco Reus then slid into the goal.  Dortmund is now on a 7-match win streak against Gladbach, and the victory puts them 9 points ahead of both Gladbach and Bayern going into the rest of the weekend’s contests.  Among the key contests on Saturday is that between more of the league’s top clubs and top scorers, when Bayern travels to Frankfurt.  Frankfurt had been enjoying an 11-match unbeaten streak before losing to Wolfsburg and Hertha, but have since won over Lazio and Leverkusen and drawn against Mainz in their derby on Wednesday.  Luka Jovic is tied with Dortmund’s Paco Alcácer at the top of the table and, with Sebastien Haller and Ante Rebic, is part of one of Europe’s best attacking trios.  Frankfurt, however, have not beaten Bayern within the Bundesliga in 14 attempts - but did stun them in last season’s DFB Cup final.  Also on Saturday, 2 of the league’s bottom-dwellers will both play at home against clubs who themselves are struggling, although wins for both clubs may not be enough to lift them out of the relegation zone:  a win for Hannover against Düsseldorf would only pull them out of the relegation zone if Stuttgart lose to Schalke.  Nürnberg will face off against a slightly more comfortable Freiburg, who have drawn numerous clubs this season, including Bayern and Bremen, and won against Leipzig.  Nürnberg have not won a match against Freiburg since March 2005.  The Bundesliga will resume on Friday, January 18th, 2019, when Hoffenheim hosts FC Bayern München. Friday’s night opening MD18 game saw Leon Goretzka was outstanding with two first-half goals as Bayern Munich halved Borussia Dortmund's lead at the top of the Bundesliga on Friday with a 3-1 win at Hoffenheim.