By Rich

​FC Bayern München came within striking distance of Borussia Dortmund in the 1. Bundesliga table with a closely-contested 3:2 win over derby rivals Augsburg on Friday.  The first goal came just seconds into the match, when Leon Goretzka turned a cross from Philipp Max into his own net, putting Augsburg in the lead.  The score became equal in the 17th minute when Kingsley Coman scored off a pass from Joshua Kimmich, but Augsburg went into the leas again in the 24th minute when Dong-Won Ji shot the ball past Manuel Neuer.  Bayern equalized just before halftime when Kingsley Coman scored a second goal off a pass from Goretzka.  The final goal came in the 53rd minute when David Alaba scored off a pass from Coman.  The mistake at the beginning of the match was the fastest goal so far this season, at just 15 seconds, and was Goretzka’s first own goal at Bayern, and his second overall:  the first came while he was still at Schalke, and came against Bayern in 2015.  League rivals Borussia Dortmund will not play until Monday, when they travel to Nürnberg, who are struggling this season and who parted on Tuesday with coach Michael Köllner and sporting director Andreas Bornemann.  The club has not won in their last 15 matches.  Dortmund, conversely, only managed a draw against Hoffenheim last week and are without the services of Marco Reus, who is out with a groin injury.  A key match to watch on Saturday will be the contest between Hertha and Bremen, who are separated in the middle of the table by just 1 point.  Both clubs are in contention for Europa League spots and both are coming off wins last weekend:  Hertha gave Gladbach a stinging 3:0 defeat, while Bremen shut out Augsburg 4:0.  Bremen have a couple things going for them this weekend:  Hertha lost to Bremen back on Matchday 5, and Hertha are winless in their last 10 Bundesliga meetings with Bremen.  Looking ahead to Sunday, Frankfurt will be looking to get back into scoring mode when they host Gladbach.  Frankfurt failed to score in last week’s draw in Leipzig, despite fielding 2 of the league’s most prolific scorers.  Gladbach, for their part, are looking to get back into European competition, and currently hold a comfortable 3rd-place position in the table, just 6 points behind Bayern and 4 points ahead of Leipzig.  Gladbach’s loss to Hertha last weekend was just their first loss at home all season.

By Otto

​RB Leipzig consolidated their position in the 1. Bundesliga’s top 4 squads with a 3:0 win over hosts Hannover on Friday.  The first goal came at the very end of the first half, when Marcel Halstenberg converted a penalty after Matheus Cunha was fouled by Kevin Akpoguma.  The next 2 goals came from defender Willi Orban, who nodded in a corner from Halstenberg in the 64th minute, followed by yet another header in the 85th minute from yet another corner from Emil Forsberg.  Leipzig standout Timo Werner missed his first match of the season due to a head cold, and the loss came in Thomas Doll’s first match as coach at Hannover.  On Saturday, the league’s 2nd-place club will travel to Leverkusen without goaltender Manuel Neuer, who hurt his right hand in training on Friday.  He will be replaced by Sven Ulreich as the club starts the 2nd half of the season 6 points behind Borussia Dortmund.  Dortmund, for their part, will try to keep the league’s top scorer, Luka Jovic, from adding to his goal total.  Hosts Frankfurt are currently in 5th place and looking for a spot in European competition, and have defeated Dortmund in 3 of their last 4 encounters in Frankfurt.  On the other hand, Frankfurt have lost all of their matches against the league’s top clubs this season, while Dortmund have won 9 of their last 10 contests.  Frankfurt may have to play without captain David Abraham, who injured his calf in last week’s 2:2 draw against Bremen, while Dortmund is only missing center-back Manuel Akanji.  Another match to watch on Saturday will be that between Hertha and Wolfsburg, who are tied in the table at 28 points each.  Hertha’s draw against Schalke last week extended their at-home unbeaten streak to 4 matches, while Wolfsburg, who narrowly avoided relegation at the end of last season, have suffered back-to-back losses to Schalke and Leverkusen.  Wolfsburg may have to play without Swiss forward Admir Mehmedi (injury), but hope to benefit from the services of USA international and former Hertha player John Brooks.  Later on Saturday, struggling FC Schalke 04 will host 3rd-place Borussia Mönchengladbach.  Schalke have scored just 24 goals so far this season, ahead of only Mainz, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Nürnberg, and Stuttgart, and their record to this point is their worst in 20 years.  Gladbach, conversely, are unbeaten in their last 6 contests against Schalke, and are anticipating the return of Thorgan Hazard, who sat out Matchday 19 with an injury.  Sunday’s early game, host Augsburg score a 3-0 win over Mainz with Finnbogason getting a hat trick. The late game host Stuttgart was tied 2-2 with SC Freiburg. This friday night Leverkusen went to Mainz and won 5-1.

By Rich

RB Leipzig consolidated their position in the 1. Bundesliga’s top 4 squads with a 3:0 win over hosts Hannover on Friday.  The first goal came at the very end of the first half, when Marcel Halstenberg converted a penalty after Matheus Cunha was fouled by Kevin Akpoguma.  The next 2 goals came from defender Willi Orban, who nodded in a corner from Halstenberg in the 64th minute, followed by yet another header in the 85th minute from yet another corner from Emil Forsberg.  Leipzig standout Timo Werner missed his first match of the season due to a head cold, and the loss came in Thomas Doll’s first match as coach at Hannover.  On Saturday, the league’s 2nd-place club will travel to Leverkusen without goaltender Manuel Neuer, who hurt his right hand in training on Friday.  He will be replaced by Sven Ulreich as the club starts the 2nd half of the season 6 points behind Borussia Dortmund.  Dortmund, for their part, will try to keep the league’s top scorer, Luka Jovic, from adding to his goal total.  Hosts Frankfurt are currently in 5th place and looking for a spot in European competition, and have defeated Dortmund in 3 of their last 4 encounters in Frankfurt.  On the other hand, Frankfurt have lost all of their matches against the league’s top clubs this season, while Dortmund have won 9 of their last 10 contests.  Frankfurt may have to play without captain David Abraham, who injured his calf in last week’s 2:2 draw against Bremen, while Dortmund is only missing center-back Manuel Akanji.  Another match to watch on Saturday will be that between Hertha and Wolfsburg, who are tied in the table at 28 points each.  Hertha’s draw against Schalke last week extended their at-home unbeaten streak to 4 matches, while Wolfsburg, who narrowly avoided relegation at the end of last season, have suffered back-to-back losses to Schalke and Leverkusen.  Wolfsburg may have to play without Swiss forward Admir Mehmedi (injury), but hope to benefit from the services of USA international and former Hertha player John Brooks.  Later on Saturday, struggling FC Schalke 04 will host 3rd-place Borussia Mönchengladbach.  Schalke have scored just 24 goals so far this season, ahead of only Mainz, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Nürnberg, and Stuttgart, and their record to this point is their worst in 20 years.  Gladbach, conversely, are unbeaten in their last 6 contests against Schalke, and are anticipating the return of Thorgan Hazard, who sat out Matchday 19 with an injury.  Looking ahead to Sunday, Augsburg will try to avoid falling further into relegation territory when they host Mainz.  Augsburg have collected just 3 points in their last 10 matches, and standout Alfred Finnbogason has not scored a goal in 465 minutes of play.