By Rich

​The talk of Bundesliga Matchday 23 was Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 win in the Revierderby against FC Schalke. The first goal of the encounter was noteworthy because Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus decided to reveal their true identities as Batman and Robin. The pictures of the Dynamic Duo caused quite a social media storm after the match. In the first match of the weekend, FC Bayern München continued their winning ways by scoring four goals against Doug’s favorite club, 1. FC Köln. The final match of the weekend was the most entertaining as Werder Bremen and VfL Wolfsburg combined to score 8 goals in Wolfsburg’s 5-3 win. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the DFB-Pokal round of 16 took place. The only real surprise was Werder Bremen’s loss to Arminia Bielefeld. Bayer Leverkusen, 1899 Hoffenheim, Borussia Dortmund, SC Freiburg, VfL Wolfsburg, FC Bayern München, and Borussia Mönchengladbach also advanced to the quarterfinal round. The draw will take place on Sunday, March 8. Reminder: Bundesliga Saturday matches will begin at 10:30 AM the rest of March because we set our clocks ahead this Sunday. 9:30 AM matches start again on April 4.

By Rich

​Bayern München striker Robert Lewandowski scored his 24th and 25th goals of the Bundesliga season on Friday to enable his club to edge visiting Paderborn by a 3:2 score and to secure the club’s top spot in the table, 4 points ahead of Leipzig. Bayern’s Serge Gnabry scored the match’s first goal, however, at the 25th minute, but the visitors were able to tie the match in the 44th minute when Dennis Srbeny slipped the ball past Manuel Neuer. Bayern regained the lead in the 70th minute with Lewandowski’s first goal, but Paderborn’s Sven Michel evened the score again in the 75th minute. The match’s final goal, and Lewandowski’s second, in the 87th minute. Friday’s match was, by the way, Bayern’s 250th in the Bundesliga at the Allianz Arena. RB Leipzig and Timo Werner will look to cut Bayern’s lead in the table when they travel to Schalke on Saturday, and are coming off a disappointing recent streak that includes a loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga and a 2:2 draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach in DFB Pokal competition. Worse for Leipzig, Werner had been in a 5-game goal drought, which finally ended earlier this week with a win against Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League. Schalke, however, managed to beat Leipzig 3:1 when the 2 clubs met earlier this season, and a key part of that win was Amine Harit, who scored 1 goal and assisted on another. Harit has, however, gone 9 Bundesliga matches without a goal, but will be joined on the pitch by top scorer Suat Serdar, who is returning from an ankle problem. Schalke are unbeaten in their last 10 matches at the Veltins-Areana, a dramatic turnaround from their league-worst record at home last season. Another match to watch on Saturday will be that between Hertha Berlin and 1. FC Köln, who are separated by just 3 points in the table. Hertha have won 7 of the last 9 Bundesliga matches against Köln, including the match earlier this season. Until last week’s 1:4 home loss against Bayern, however, Köln had won 4 home matches in succession, but the club has nevertheless struggled on the road this season, having lost 7 of 10. One further key match comes on Monday, when Eintracht Frankfurt host 1. FC Union Berlin. The 2 clubs are separated by just 2 points, and Eintracht could collect their 5th consecutive home win.

By Rich

​Oliver Baumann is a 29-year-old goalkeeper for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Baumann was born on June 2, 1990 in Breisach, West Germany and spent his youth career playing for FC Bad Krozingen and SC Freiburg. Baumann’s senior career continued at Freiburg, where he made 22 appearances for SC Freiburg II from 2009 to 2010, and 131 appearances for SC Freiburg from 2010 to 2014. On May 14, 2014, he joined Hoffenheim on a 4-year contract, where he has since made 168 appearances. Baumann also appeared for Germany’s U18, U19, U20, and U21 squads between 2008 and 2013. .