By Rich

​Wolfsburg extended their unbeaten start to the season to 9 matches with a goal-laden victory at the Volkswagen Arena over Bremen, with a final score of 5:3. Wolfsburg’s goals came from Ridle Baku in the 22nd minute, John Brooks in the 25th minute, Wout Weghorst in the 37th and 76th minutes, and Bartosz Bialek in the 4th minute of extra time, while Bremen’s goals came from Leonardo Bittencourt in the 13th minute, Kevin Möhwald in the 36th minute, and Wolfsburg’s John Brooks who committed an own goal in the 47th minute. Although the 5 goals scored in the first half is a league high during the current season, Wolfsburg have scored 11 of their 12 league goals before the end of each first half, and Weghorst has now scored 6 goals in his last 6 Bundesliga contests. The victory over Bremen now puts Wolfsburg momentarily in 5th place going into Saturday’s matches, tied on points with Leipzig, 1 point behind Leverkusen and Dortmund, and 2 points behind Bayern. Each of those clubs has a good chance of picking up another 3 points later in the weekend, as each will host a club that is struggling in the lower half of the table. Dortmund will host Köln on Saturday, and while Dortmund’s Erling Haaland is on a scoring streak, with goals in 7 consecutive matches, Köln are without a win this season and will be without captain Jonas Hector. Hector has not appeared for the club since Matchday 2 while recovering from whiplash, and his club have now gone 17 Bundesliga matches without a win. Also on Saturday, Leipzig will host Bielefeld, and while Leipzig have alternated between wins and losses recently, Bielefeld have lost 6 matches since a draw with Frankfurt and a win over Cologne at the beginning of the season. Bayern will travel to Stuttgart on Saturday, where the hosts will be without the services of striker Nicolas Gonzalez, who suffered a knee injury. Stuttgart have only lost once so far this season, but have had a run of 4 straight draws, while Bayern continue to benefit from the scoring prowess of Robert Lewandowski, who has scored 14 goals this season in all competitions. On Sunday, Leverkusen will host Hertha in the early match, and Leverkusen is currently the most in-form club in the league. Striker Lucas Alario scored 3 successive braces and 7 in his last 5 matches. Hertha have been inconsistent this season, losing most recently to Dortmund while defeating Augsburg. Hertha’s best hopes lie perhaps with Matheus Cunha, who has found the net 4 times in his last 3 Bundesliga outings.

By Rich

Marius Bülter is a 27-year-old winger for 1. FC Union Berlin. Bülter was born on March 29, 1993 in Ibbenbüren, Germany, and spent his youth career playing for Brukteria Dreierwalde, Preußen Münster, and Eintracht Rheine. His senior career continued at Eintracht Rheine from 2012 to 2013 and SuS Neuenkirchen from 2013 to 2014 before he signed for 1. FC Magdeburg in the summer of 2018. Over the 2018-19 season, Bülter made 32 appearances and scored 4 goals, but Magdeburg was relegated to the 3. Liga at the end of the season. On July 4, 2019, Bülter joined his current club on a season-long loan, with the club having the option to make the transfer permanent at the end of the season. He made his debut for Union Berlin in their first Bundesliga season in a 4:0 defeat at home against RB Leipzig, and scored his first goals for the club in a 3:1 victory at home over Borussia Dortmund.