By Rich

​Borussia Dortmund picked up 3 points on Friday with a decisive 4:0 win over visiting Eintracht Frankfurt. The game’s first goal did not come, however, until the 33rd minute, when Lukasz Piszczek collected a pass from Achraf Hakimi and fired it into the goal’s bottom corner. The second goal came from Jadon Sancho in the 50th minute, who in turn was followed by Erling Håland in the 54th minute, and finally by Raphael Guerreiro in the 74th minute. Each of the match’s 4 goalscorers also figured in other statistics: Håland is now averaging 1 goal every 38 minutes of play, Sancho made his Bundesliga debut against Frankfurt in 2017 and Dortmund are unbeaten in the 18 Bundesliga matches in which Sancho has scored, Piszczek ended a run of 28 Bundesliga matches without a goal, and Guerreiro has scored 3 of his 5 Bundesliga goals this season in just his last 4 appearances. The win means that Dortmund are the only Bundesliga team yet to lose at home anytime this season in any competition, and Frankfurt have not won away in Dortmund since February 2010. A key competition on Saturday will occur between 2 clubs who are struggling at the bottom of the table, when Paderborn hosts Hertha Berlin. Paderborn’s squad, fighting to avoid an immediate return to the second division, has managed to take 5 points from the last 5 matches, including a 1:1 draw against Schalke, and could climb into the relegation play-off spot with a win against Hertha. Following the controversial and abrupt departure of Jürgen Klinsmann from Hertha earlier this week, the club is now training under former assistant Alexander Nouri. Hertha have not won any of their last 3 competitions, and are without the services of Marius Wolf, who received a red card in the match against Mainz. The clubs have played each other 3 time in the Bundesliga so far, and all 3 matches resulted in a win each for the team playing at home. The battle at the other end of the table remains fierce. Timo Werner and RB Leipzig could regain the top spot with a win over visiting Werder Bremen, who have managed just 1 win in their last 8 Bundesliga matches. Bayern München will travel to Köln on Sunday, and the hosts have been enjoying a strong run thanks to 5 wins in their last 6 matches, driven in part by the scoring of Jhon Cordoba, who has found the net in 6 successive matches at home. Bayern’s Lewandowski, however, will look to avoid going scoreless for a 2nd consecutive match for only the 2nd time this season.

By Rich

Filip Kostic and US international Timothy Chandler each scored 2 goals as Eintracht Frankfurt defeated visiting FC Augsburg on Friday, 5:0. Chandler scored the match’s first 2 goals, in the 37th and 48th minutes, before Andre Silva headed in a cross from Kostic in the 55th minute. Kostic then scored the final 2 goals himself, in the 89th and 90th minutes, to bring Frankfurt to 10 points in the table in its last 4 matches. Chandler has now scored 4 goals in his last 4 matches, second only to Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland in goals scored so far in 2020. Augsburg have now lost 3 away matches in a row, with their last away win coming on Matchday 15 in Hoffenheim. Going into Saturday’s matches, many eyes will be on the league’s 2 clubs from Berlin, who are currently tied in points on the table, with 23 each. Union Berlin will travel to Bremen, who have been stuck in the relegation zone for almost 2 months, and who may have to forego the services of Davie Selke, who sustained a minor hip injury in the mid-week DFB Pokal win over Borussia Dortmund. Union Berlin are 1 of only 4 teams to have lost to Bremen this season, and have lost 4 of their last 5 Bundesliga matches, but are still 4 places and 6 points ahead of their hosts in the table. Hertha Berlin will welcome Mainz to the German capital on Saturday, and the match is likely to see the Bundesliga debut of Krzysztof Piatek, Hertha’s winter acquisition from AC Milan. A win at home would be the 2nd home win under Jürgen Klinsmann, and their first since Matchday 15. Mainz are coming off a streak of 4 straight losses, leaving them 5 points behind Hertha in the table and only 1 above the relegation play-off spot, and have given up 47 goals this season. The big match of the weekend comes on Sunday, when league leaders Bayern host 2nd-place Leipzig, and the 2 clubs are only separated by 1 point in the table. The match will also be a competition between the league’s top goal-scorers, Robert Lewandowski and Timo Werner. Lewandowski has scored 5 goals in 4 matches so far in 2020, but Werner hasn’t found the net in his last 2 Bundesliga starts. Lewandowski and Werner are the first 2 Bundesliga players since Franz Brungs and Johannes Lohr in the 1967/8 season to each have at least 20 goals after 20 matches. The match will also be a reunion of sorts for Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich: he made his professional debut for Leipzig when the club was in the third division.

By Rich

​Recent Dortmund signing Erling Haaland became on Friday the first Bundesliga player to score 5 goals in his first 2 matches, helping to drive Borussia Dortmund to a 5:1 victory over visiting 1. FC Köln. Dortmund took the lead early in the match with a goal from Raphael Guerreiro just over 1 minute in, and he was followed by Marco Reus in the 29th minute and Jadon Sancho in the 48th minute. Köln narrowed the lead to 3:1 at the 64th minute, when Schalke loanee Mark Uth finally found the net, but 2 final goals from Haaland, in the 77th and 87th minute, sealed the victory for Dortmund. Haaland has only played 59 minutes for Dortmund, giving him an average of 1 goal every 12 minutes. Reus’ goal means he is now 26th in all-time Bundesliga scoring, with 126 goals, tying him with Martin Max, the father of Augsburg defender Philipp Max. The win momentarily moves Dortmund into 3rd place in the table, tied with Bayern at 36 points. The key match to watch on Saturday will be that between Bayern and visiting Schalke, who are separated by just 3 points in the table. Bayern will welcome the return of Joshua Kimmich from suspension, but may not field Spain international Alvaro Odriozola, who is a recent loan from Real Madrid and has only trained with the team for a few days. Schalke are now doing far better than last season, already having accumulated the same number of points from the entirety of last season, but have only beaten Bayern 1 time at the Allianz Arena. Schalke expect the return of Amine Harit, who had a thigh problem last week, but Benito Raman is fighting the flu and goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, who will join Bayern this summer, remains suspended. If Robert Lewandowski manages to score a goal in this match, he would tie Gerd Müller’s all-time record of 21 goals after 19 matchdays. Leipzig’s Timo Werner, however, could also tie that record if he scores against Eintracht Frankfurt, and it was against Frankfurt that Werner scored his 1st Bundesliga goal, for VfB Stuttgart in September 2013. If Leipzig should win against Eintracht, it would be their first victory in the Commerzbank-Arena: to date, they have drawn 2 matches and lost 1 match there. Looking ahead to Sunday, SV Werder Bremen and Fortuna Düsseldorf will both look to escape the relegation zone, when they play against Hoffenheim and Leverkusen respectively.

By Rich

​​The 1. Bundesliga’s Rückrunde opened on Friday with a 2:0 win for hosts FC Schalke 04 over visiting Borussia Mönchengladbach. Schalke’s Suat Serdar became the club’s leading goalscorer when he scored the match’s 1st goal in the 48th minute, and was followed by Michael Gregoritsch, who just signed with the club this month, who scored his 1st Schalke goal in the 58th minute. Schalke are now unbeaten in their last 9 matches on home soil, and the win ties them in points with Bayern München going into the rest of the weekend’s matches - and the 2 clubs will face off directly next weekend. Saturday’s key contest may likely be that between Düsseldorf and Bremen, who have both struggled this season and who both sit in the relegation zone, separated by just 1 point. Düsseldorf had been on a run of 6 matches without a win at the end of 2019, but managed to defeat Union Berlin 2:1 on Matchday 17, moving them a point ahead of Bremen. The club signed Steven Skrzybski on loan from Schalke in the January transfer window, who is likely to make his debut on Saturday. Werder lost to Cologne on the final matchday of 2019, their 4th consecutive defeat. Werder signed ex-Hoffenheim captain Kevin Vogt, who will remain until the end of the season, and will need him to reinforce a defense that has conceded 12 goals in the last 3 matches. Bremen is without the services of Niclas Füllkrug, Kevin Möhwald, Theodor Gebre Selassie, Philipp Bargfrede, and Michael Lang, who are all injured. Another concern for Bremen is their record against Düsseldorf: Fortuna have won both of the last 2 contests between the 2 clubs, and Fortuna has won more often against Bremen than against any other club. Looking ahead to Sunday, Bayern expect to start striker Robert Lewandowski, who underwent minor groin surgery soon after the club’s 2:0 win over Wolfsburg on Matchday 17, but will be without the suspended Joshua Kimmich. Hertha Berlin are unbeaten so far under interim coach Jürgen Klinsmann, and have picked up Argentina international Santiago Ascacibar from VfB Stuttgart. Ascacibar is likely to start in the midfield, replacing Per Skjelbred. While Hertha have only lost 1 of their last 5 matches against Bayern, they have only won 1 of their last 8 home matches against Bayern.

The 2. Bundesliga remain on winter break, and will not resume play until Tuesday, January 28.