Leipzig advanced to 4th place in the table on Friday with a 5:1 win over hosts 1. FC Köln. Leipzig’s goals came from Xavi Simons in the 15th minute, Loïs Openda in the 63rd and 67th minutes, Amadou Haidara in the 70th minute, and Yussuf Poulsen in the 82nd minute. Köln’s only goal came in the 18th minute, from Sargis Adamyan, and it was his first league goal in a year and a half. The fight for the league title continues on Saturday when FC Bayern München visit SV Darmstadt 98. The hosts are facing relegation to the 2. Bundesliga, as they are 6 points behind the relegation play-off spot and 12 points out of safety, thanks to a run of 18 games without a win. That winless streak includes a 6:0 loss to Augsburg in Darmstadt’s last home game and an 8:0 loss in the reverse fixture at Bayern. Darmstadt have conceded a league-leading 60 goals this season. Bayern are coming off an 8:1 victory over Mainz last weekend, which allowed them to briefly close the gap on first-place Leverkusen to 7 points. Although Darmstadt drew their first league meeting with Bayern 1:1 way back in 1978, but have lost the next 7, and can at least hope to extend Bayern’s current streak of 4 away matches without a win in all competitions. The late game on Saturday is a derby between hosts TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and nearby VfB Stuttgart. Stuttgart continue to enjoy an unexpectedly successful season, and are closing in on a UEFA Champions League qualification. Stuttgart have long been the leading football club of Baden-Württemberg, including before the Bundesliga’s inaugural season, of which they were a part. Although the club has experienced the highs of 2 German championships and 2 DFB Pokals, they have also experienced the low of relegation. The current campaign began with a 5:0 win over Bochum, and the club went on to win 7 matches by Matchday 9 and at the time were in 2nd place behind Leverkusen. The hosts are also enjoying a respectable season, including a 7th-place berth going into Saturday’s match, and were the winners in the reverse fixture earlier this season. Several of the other clubs in the top half of the table will sort out the table when they compete on Sunday. Eighth-place Freiburg will host first-place Leverkusen, while fifth-place Dortmund will host sixth-place Frankfurt. Leverkusen need to collect 18 points from their final 9 games to take the title, regardless of Bayern’s results, and the Werkself have collected 23 points from the last 9 matches of the Hinrunde. Dortmund are winless in their last 5 league fixtures and have yet to beat a top-6 club this season.
By Rich M.
Leipzig advanced to 4th place in the table on Friday with a 5:1 win over hosts 1. FC Köln. Leipzig’s goals came from Xavi Simons in the 15th minute, Loïs Openda in the 63rd and 67th minutes, Amadou Haidara in the 70th minute, and Yussuf Poulsen in the 82nd minute. Köln’s only goal came in the 18th minute, from Sargis Adamyan, and it was his first league goal in a year and a half. The fight for the league title continues on Saturday when FC Bayern München visit SV Darmstadt 98. The hosts are facing relegation to the 2. Bundesliga, as they are 6 points behind the relegation play-off spot and 12 points out of safety, thanks to a run of 18 games without a win. That winless streak includes a 6:0 loss to Augsburg in Darmstadt’s last home game and an 8:0 loss in the reverse fixture at Bayern. Darmstadt have conceded a league-leading 60 goals this season. Bayern are coming off an 8:1 victory over Mainz last weekend, which allowed them to briefly close the gap on first-place Leverkusen to 7 points. Although Darmstadt drew their first league meeting with Bayern 1:1 way back in 1978, but have lost the next 7, and can at least hope to extend Bayern’s current streak of 4 away matches without a win in all competitions. The late game on Saturday is a derby between hosts TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and nearby VfB Stuttgart. Stuttgart continue to enjoy an unexpectedly successful season, and are closing in on a UEFA Champions League qualification. Stuttgart have long been the leading football club of Baden-Württemberg, including before the Bundesliga’s inaugural season, of which they were a part. Although the club has experienced the highs of 2 German championships and 2 DFB Pokals, they have also experienced the low of relegation. The current campaign began with a 5:0 win over Bochum, and the club went on to win 7 matches by Matchday 9 and at the time were in 2nd place behind Leverkusen. The hosts are also enjoying a respectable season, including a 7th-place berth going into Saturday’s match, and were the winners in the reverse fixture earlier this season. Several of the other clubs in the top half of the table will sort out the table when they compete on Sunday. Eighth-place Freiburg will host first-place Leverkusen, while fifth-place Dortmund will host sixth-place Frankfurt. Leverkusen need to collect 18 points from their final 9 games to take the title, regardless of Bayern’s results, and the Werkself have collected 23 points from the last 9 matches of the Hinrunde. Dortmund are winless in their last 5 league fixtures and have yet to beat a top-6 club this season.
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By Rich M.
Bayern’s title hopes suffered another blow on Friday with a 2:2 away draw against hosts Sport-Club Freiburg. Freiburg’s Christian Günter scored first, in the 12th minute, and Bayern’s Mathys Tel equaled in the 35th minute. Bayern then pulled ahead in the 75th minute, thanks to a goal from Jamal Musiala, but Freiburg’s Lucas Höler scored the final goal in the 87th minute. The match was Bayern’s 2000th in the division. The draw means that Leverkusen could pull a full 10 points ahead of Bayern in the table should Leverkusen win on Sunday in the derby against hosts 1. FC Köln. Fourth-place Dortmund will travel to take on Union Berlin on Saturday, a contest that will occur between 2 clubs that have each picked up 3 wins and just 1 defeat in the last 6. A win could move Union Berlin further into safety, while Dortmund continue to covet a 4th-place division finish. In the reverse fixture back in early October, Dortmund came from a 2:1 deficit to win the match 4:2. At the other end of the table, Darmstadt is still fighting for survival and will host Augsburg on Saturday. Darmstadt have gone 16 matches without a win, but that last win did occur against Augsburg in October. The club is, however, just 4 points behind Köln’s relegation play-off spot. Augsburg currently occupy 11th place and a win over Darmstadt could propel them into the top half of the table. The big match on Saturday is that between hosts VfL Wolfsburg and visitors VfB Stuttgart. The visitors are now just 7 points behind 2nd-place Bayern in the table, and could cut that spread to just 4 points with a win. Stuttgart trainer Sebastian Hoeneß is coming off a stomach bug and therefore canceled his pre-match press conference, saying he would limit his pre-match preparations to overseeing the final training session on Friday and traveling with the team. Wolfsburg have drawn 6 of their past 7 Bundesliga fixtures, while Stuttgart had won 4 games in a row before drawing with Köln last weekend. In this season’s reverse fixture between the 2 clubs, Serhou Guirassy picked up a hat-trick in a 3:1 victory. Looking ahead to Sunday, the derby between hosts 1. FC Köln and visitors Bayer 04 Leverkusen might appear to be a game between 2 mismatched sides, as 44 points separate them in the table: the largest gap between the 2 prior to a league encounter. Nevertheless, Leverkusen trainer Xabi Alonso said he’s expecting a “hard game with intense duels”. The weekend ends later Sunday when Hoffenheim host Bremen. Hoffenheim’s win in Dortmund was their first win in 9, while Bremen have lost just 1 of their past 10. By Rich M.
Bayer Leverkusen extended its commanding lead in the table on Friday with a 2:1 victory over visitors 1. FSV Mainz 05. The match’s opening goal came just 3 minutes in, when Granit Xhaka whipped a long-range finish past Robin Zentner. Mainz equaled 3 minutes later, when Dominik Kohr sent a flying header past Lukas Hradecky. The winning goal came in the 68th minute, when Robert Andrich sent a strike toward Zentner, who then fumbled the ball over the line. Leverkusen are now unbeaten in 33 games in all competitions this season, surpassing Bayern’s runs in 2020 and 2021. Leverkusen are also the only team in the division who have yet to lose at home this season, while Mainz remain the only side without an away win. You won’t want to miss Saturday’s derby between hosts Borussia Mönchengladbach and visitors VfL Bochum 1848. There has not been a goalless draw in this fixture since Matchday 3 of the 1979/80 season, so expect some goals. Gladbach picked up their first win of the season in the reverse fixture back on Matchday 6, in a 3:1 result The big match on Saturday, though, is the late game between hosts FC Bayern München and visitors RB Leipzig. The hosts are coming off losses to Leverkusen and Bochum, and have already announced the departure of coach Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season. Tuchel will need the services of star striker Harry Kane, given the absences of Kingsley Coman and Bouna Sarr, who both have long-term injuries, and Serge Gnabry, Noussair Mazraoui, and Sacha Boey. Dayot Upemecano will also sit out Saturday’s match, after picking up a red card in last weekend’s defeat. Thanks to a win over Gladbach and a Dortmund-Wolfsburg draw, Leipzig are now just 1 point behind Dortmund in the table, and are traveling to Bayern with almost a full roster. Leipzig haven’t lost any of their last 4 competitive meetings with Bayern, and if Bayern should lose on Saturday, they will have had their worst run in 32 years. Dortmund will host Hoffenheim on Sunday, and a win could put them just 3 points behind third-place Stuttgart, depending on the outcome of not only the Bayern-Leipzig contest, but also Saturday’s contest between Stuttgart and Köln. Hoffenheim’s slide in the table continued last weekend, thanks to a defeat at the hands of Union Berlin, bringing the team’s tally of games without a victory to 8. A loss to Dortmund could slip Hoffenheim into the bottom half of the table, further endangering their chances of European competition. The matchday ends with Sunday’s final game between hosts Augsburg and visitors Freiburg, who are separated by 6 points in the table. by Rich M.
SV Werder Bremen advanced in the table on Friday with a 1:0 away win against 1. FC Köln. The game’s lone goal came in the 70th minute, when Justin Njinmah touched in a cross from Mitchell Weiser. The goal was Njinmah’s 5th in the Bundesliga, and moves his club 13 points clear of the relegation zone. The loss ends Köln’s 3-game unbeaten streak and leaves the club in the relegation play-off spot, just 4 points ahead of Mainz and Darmstadt. Mainz will host Augsburg on Saturday, and history clearly has been on Augsburg’s side. Augsburg have defeated Mainz more times (12) than they have any other Bundesliga side. The reverse fixture had Augsburg come from behind to win 2:1, thanks to 2 goals from Ermin Demirovic. Darmstadt will host Stuttgart on Saturday, and are currently on a club record of 14 straight winless league matches. Darmstadt’s last league win was back on October 7, when they beat Augsburg 2:1. Stuttgart won the reverse fixture 3:1, thanks in part to Serhou Guirassy, whose 17 goals so far this season make him the league’s second-most proficient scorer, behind only Bayern’s Harry Kane. Saturday’s late game between hosts RB Leipzig and visitors Borussia Mönchengladbach could be a tightly-fought contest. Leipzig are coming off a Champions League loss to Real Madrid earlier in the week, and have only won 1 of their last 6 Bundesliga contests. Gladbach are still without a win in the second half of the current campaign, having drawn with Darmstadt last weekend and lost to Bayern the weekend before that. Gladbach have also never won in Leipzig in 7 attempts, including losses in the last 3. A win for Leipzig could bring them even on points with Dortmund, depending on the outcome of the game earlier in the day between Wolfsburg and Dortmund. The big match on Sunday will be that between hosts Sport-Club Freiburg and visitors Eintracht Frankfurt, who are separated by 4 points in the upper half of the table. The reverse fixture this season ended in a 0:0 draw, and Frankfurt are unbeaten in their last 3 meetings with Freiburg, and only lost 1 of the previous 8. Matchday 22 will end later on Sunday when VfL Bochum 1848 host FC Bayern München, in what could be another lop-sided Bayern victory. The visitors have claimed a 7:0 win in this fixture in each of the last 3 seasons, while winning their last 3 games against Bochum by an aggregate score of 17:0. The reverse fixture on Matchday 5 featured Harry Kane’s first Bundesliga hat-trick, and Kane also assisted on 2 other goals. |
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