By Rich
The Rückrunde of the 2017-2018 Bundesliga season began on Friday with a 3:1 victory of visiting Bayern München over hosts Leverkusen. The visitors scored first with a goal from Javi Martinez on a deflection off Lars Bender in the 32nd minute, and extended their lead in the 59th minute on a goal from Franck Ribery. Leverkusen finally got on the board just over 10 minutes later with a deflected Kevin Volland strike, but finally conceded when James Rodriguez drove in a stunning goal off a free kick in added time. Bayern was playing without an injured Robert Lewandowski, but the win puts them 14 points ahead of their nearest challenger going into the rest of the weekend’s matches. A key match to watch on Saturday will be the contest between 2nd-place Schalke and 5th-place Leipzig, who are separated by only 2 points in the table. Leipzig and Schalke field 2 of the Bundesliga’s most exciting attacking sides, and Saturday’s duels will include Leipzig’s Naby Keita and Schalke’s Max Meyer, and Leipzig’s Timo Werner and Schalke’s Naldo - Naldo in particular has won 75% of his individual duels, which is the best return in the Bundesliga. Leipzig will be without 2 key players on Saturday: Marcel Halstenberg and Emil Forsberg, but Timo Werner has recovered from an illness he had over the holidays. Schalke, for its part, could field new signing Marko Pjaca for his competitive debut, and are unbeaten in 11 Bundesliga matches: their longest streak in 11 years. Looking ahead to Sunday, the weekend’s big derby takes place in Cologne, and Cologne will be desperate to kick off the 2nd half of the season with a victory. Several Cologne players will be making their returns from injuries and other absences, including Jonas Hector, Simon Terodde, Christian Clemens, and Yuya Osako. Gladbach are still contending with injuries to attacking midfielders Fabian Johnson and Ibrahima Traore. Both teams have 2 of the worst defenses in the Bundesliga: Cologne is dead last with 32 goals conceded so far this season, and Gladbach is close behind with 28. In the end, history is on Gladbach’s side on Sunday: they have more than twice as many derby wins (48) than do Cologne (23).
The Rückrunde of the 2017-2018 Bundesliga season began on Friday with a 3:1 victory of visiting Bayern München over hosts Leverkusen. The visitors scored first with a goal from Javi Martinez on a deflection off Lars Bender in the 32nd minute, and extended their lead in the 59th minute on a goal from Franck Ribery. Leverkusen finally got on the board just over 10 minutes later with a deflected Kevin Volland strike, but finally conceded when James Rodriguez drove in a stunning goal off a free kick in added time. Bayern was playing without an injured Robert Lewandowski, but the win puts them 14 points ahead of their nearest challenger going into the rest of the weekend’s matches. A key match to watch on Saturday will be the contest between 2nd-place Schalke and 5th-place Leipzig, who are separated by only 2 points in the table. Leipzig and Schalke field 2 of the Bundesliga’s most exciting attacking sides, and Saturday’s duels will include Leipzig’s Naby Keita and Schalke’s Max Meyer, and Leipzig’s Timo Werner and Schalke’s Naldo - Naldo in particular has won 75% of his individual duels, which is the best return in the Bundesliga. Leipzig will be without 2 key players on Saturday: Marcel Halstenberg and Emil Forsberg, but Timo Werner has recovered from an illness he had over the holidays. Schalke, for its part, could field new signing Marko Pjaca for his competitive debut, and are unbeaten in 11 Bundesliga matches: their longest streak in 11 years. Looking ahead to Sunday, the weekend’s big derby takes place in Cologne, and Cologne will be desperate to kick off the 2nd half of the season with a victory. Several Cologne players will be making their returns from injuries and other absences, including Jonas Hector, Simon Terodde, Christian Clemens, and Yuya Osako. Gladbach are still contending with injuries to attacking midfielders Fabian Johnson and Ibrahima Traore. Both teams have 2 of the worst defenses in the Bundesliga: Cologne is dead last with 32 goals conceded so far this season, and Gladbach is close behind with 28. In the end, history is on Gladbach’s side on Sunday: they have more than twice as many derby wins (48) than do Cologne (23).
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