The Bundesliga continued: Week 4

           Just four rounds of fixtures remain in the Bundesliga with still plenty left to play for. Bayern Munich can clinch a 30^th league title in their illustrious history next week if they can see off Monchengladbach at home and Dortmund lose on the road to relegation battling Fortuna Dusseldorf. A Dusseldorf win, although heavily unanticipated, could not only set up Bayern to seal the title in the late kick-off but also finally condemn Paderborn to relegation. Werder Bremen failed to capitalise on Dusseldorf’s 2-2 stalemate at home to 10-men Hoffenheim, losing a close game at home to Wolfsburg 1-0 on Sunday afternoon. The visitors Wolfsburg augmenting their Europa League chances. Mainz departed Frankfurt with a precious 2-0 victory as the home side’s Europa League hopes all but disintegrated.

            The weekends action kicked off on Friday evening as Champions League hopefuls Monchengladbach headed South to take on Europa League chasing Freiburg. Friday’s display would be far from the goal fest reverse fixture back in December which saw Gladbach prevail 4-2 winners. This affair was far more tense with much to lose for either side at this late stage in the season. In the end it was as ‘a game of two halves’ as you may ever see. Gladbach comfortably controlled possession in the opening 45 minutes but couldn’t find a way past the impressive Alexander Schwolow in goal. Captain Lars Stindl put in his finest shift since the league’s resumption. Creating one-on-one openings for Plea and Neuhaus either side of a curling effort of his own. Marco Rose’s side enjoyed 60% of the possession across the 90 minutes but to no avail. Gladbach squandered their chance to take three crucial points, missing fifteen of their nineteen shots at goal. Freiburg had let Gladbach run riot and run out of ideas. Just before the hour mark, Nils Peterson, on the field for just a matter of seconds, headed home what was to be the game’s only goal. A terrific cross from Vincenzo Grifo met Freiburg’s top scorer who nodded in. Just ten minutes after the opener, Gladbach gave themselves a mountain to climb. A sloppy outstretched foot by Alassane Plea caught Robin Koch and the foul was deemed worthy of a second yellow card. Gladbach introduced Raffael and Traore late on but neither conjured up a way back into the game. Freiburg’s win keeps them in the hunt for Europa League football, just four points off Wolfsburg in that final spot. With their 4^th place competitors Leverkusen away at Bayern Munich this weekend and themselves facing a gruelling trip to the champions next week, this was an opportunity passed over by Gladbach.

	Champions League race:
Pos	Team	P	GD	Pts
3rd	R.B. Leipzig	30	43	59
4th	Borussia Monchengladbach	30	21	56
5th	Bayer Leverkusen	30	16	56

           

          Leverkusen trail Gladbach by goal difference only. With a more appealing run-in compared to their rivals, the five-goal deficit shouldn’t phase Leverkusen fans too much. Bayer Leverkusen travel to Schalke and Hertha Berlin along with home games against Cologne and Mainz. Gladbach go to Bayern Munich this week who can smell blood with the title almost in touching distance, home arrangements with Europa League chasing Wolfsburg and Hertha Berlin, as well as a road game at Paderborn. Marco Rose’s men will be hoping that Leverkusen’s involvement in the DFB Pokal (German Cup) could prove a distraction to their league form.

RB Leipzig are seldom discussed in missing out on Champions League football but any neutral without prior knowledge of the league could be excused for their confusion. The league table shows Leipzig just three-points above the deadlocked 4^th and 5^th placed sides. When watching Julian Nagelsmann’s Leipzig team however, it becomes evident that ‘Die Roten Bullen’ are closer in quality to Bayern and Dortmund than those below them. Despite the accusations of Leipzig buying success, the club tends to sign players no older than 24-years of age. This policy keeps Leipzig an energetic, quick, entertaining side to watch. Yet their lack of experience contributes to the club’s separation from the top boys. Eleven draws in the Bundesliga this season, joint worst with Schalke, is why this side find themselves closer to the Europa League than league leaders Bayern. This weekend saw Leipzig drop even more points, a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to basement club Paderborn. An early red card factored into the draw but once more experience factored in.

            Winless since the Bundesliga continued, Schalke relied on a wonder-strike from on-loan full-back Jonjoe Kenny to earn them a draw at struggling Union Berlin on Sunday afternoon. David Wagner’s Schalke have the league’s worst record since the turn of the year with just one win in thirteen and a negative twenty goal difference. With just six goals in 2020, Schalke’s main problem lies upfront, with the lack of a prolific forward. To rub salt in Schalke’s wounds, they allowed striker Mark Uth to join fellow Bundesliga side Cologne on-loan in January. Since the switch Uth has bagged five goals, just one fewer than the entire Schalke squad in that time. Mathematically Schalke could still slip into that relegation play-off spot, but with a ten-point advantage on Dusseldorf in 16^th and with four rounds of fixtures remaining, relegation is out of the question. Even for this shoddy Schalke side.

Sunday’s draw was a significant step in the right direction for Union Berlin who are desperate to maintain their Bundesliga status in their first season. Union, Mainz and Augsburg are all dicing with relegation with just six hours of football left to play. This Sunday Augsburg make the 222-mile trip to Mainz in a game with huge stakes. Journeys to Dortmund and Leverkusen remain on the Mainz calendar as well as relegation threatened Werder Bremen at home. With such a tough run-in on the horizon, this upcoming duel with Augsburg could be Mainz’s best shot at survival. Three-points on Sunday along with a Dusseldorf loss against Dortmund could offer some tranquillity for at least another week. Augsburg missed a golden opportunity to stretch the gap between them and 16^th place to six-points in the Sunday evening kick-off with FC Cologne. Florian Niederlechner’s barren spell in front of goal continued after his first-half penalty was expertly saved by goalkeeper Timo Horn. Niederlechner, Augsburg’s target-man up-front, has now gone nine matches without finding the net. The forward’s frustrating form has come at the worst possible time for a side battling the drop. Anthony Modeste replaced striker partner Jhon Cordoba with ten minutes remaining and within minutes had hammered in the opener for Cologne with a clutch half volley. With time expiring, full-back Philipp Max popped up unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box to steer in an equaliser.

	Relegation battle:
Pos	Team	P	GD	Pts
13th	Augsburg	30	-16	32
14th	FC Union Berlin	30	-18	32
15th	Mainz 05	30	-23	31
16th	Fortuna Dusseldorf	30	-27	28
17th	Werder Bremen	30	-33	25

           

            Time is running out for Werder Bremen who hope to maintain their record 39-year stay in German football’s premier division. In the space of three days Bremen travel to bottom club Paderborn (whom they could relegate pending results elsewhere) before hosting top of the table Bayern Munich. Fellow strugglers Mainz and Cologne see out the season for Bremen who currently find themselves three-points adrift the relegation play-off. Neutrals are hoping for a Bremen revival that could set up a two-legged relegation play-off with their bitter rivals Hamburg, currently sat 3^rd in the Bundesliga Zwei (the second tier). Bremen were ten minutes from a valuable point at home to Wolfsburg on Sunday afternoon before an agonising Wout Weghorst glancing header stole all three. A brutal blow to Bremen’s safety but a vital win in Wolfsburg chase for European football.

	Europa League push
Pos	Team	P	GD	Pts
6th	Wolfsburg	30	6	45
7th	Hoffenheim	30	-8	43
8th	Freiburg	30	-2	41
9th	Hertha Berlin	30	-8	38
10th	Schalke 04	30	-12	38

            Schalke’s form should see them closer to lower league’s than Europa League but nonetheless they are mathematically still in the hunt for European football. Hertha Berlin were undefeated since returning to league action and have found unwavering stability at the back with ball playing centre-backs Dedryck Boyata and Jordan Torunarigha impressing lately. Saturday evening’s opponents proved just too tough for Bruno Labbadia’s side however. Dortmund ruled possession with 59% and pieced together over 300 more passes (743>411) but with the absence of Erling Haaland up top, struggled to see off the game as early as they would have liked. Hakimi and Hazard each stroked the side netting from close range before Sancho blasted a great chance wide inside six yards. Emre Can finally broke the deadlock just before the hour mark to give Dortmund faint hope in the ‘title race’, whilst Berlin’s remaining European dream may have diminished there and then. Elsewhere, Hoffenheim crawled out of Dusseldorf with a point after enduring eighty minutes with ten men and watching the home side suffer a disallowed goal. This point keeps Hoffenheim within two-points of 6^th place. As the walls close in on this campaign, the margin for error also narrows.

            Ending on a high, Leverkusen’s 4-2 defeat at home to Bayern Munich was not all doom and gloom. A late consolation goal from Florian Wirtz made the Leverkusen midfielder the Bundesliga’s youngest ever goal scorer at 17 years and 34 days. Pundits continue to cast doubt over Kai Havertz’s future at the BayArena, is Peter Bosz be readying Wirtz to be Kai’s successor?