The pressure had been building over the last few months, but now we have a fully-fledged title race in Germany. Dropped points, extraordinary runs and top gears. Strap in, the Achterbahn is mid-loop.
By Chris Williams, our Bundesliga expert
Three-way fight
That’s right, we’ve gone from a two-way scrap to a three, the end of Matchday 21 saw Bayern lead the way at the top of the table, but only by virtue of their better goal difference.
Borussia Dortmund and Union Berlin are keeping tabs on the record champions as the three clubs are locked on 43 points each. Freiburg are fourth on 40 and don’t rule out RB Leipzig just yet – Marco Rose’s side sits fifth on 39.
Out of the five sides which make up the breakaway bunch at the summit, it is Dortmund who raised eyebrows the most with a stunning set of results – the Schwarzgelben are now on an eight-game winning streak, which includes a robust performance in the UEFA Champions League against Chelsea as the Round of 16 got underway.
Beautiful Borussia
Dortmund’s ascendancy over the last few weeks has been down to their versatility and goals from all areas on the pitch. Sébastian Haller continued his tremendous recovery by bagging his first Bundesliga goal in front of the Yellow Wall on World Cancer Day.
Karim Adeyemi did his best Roadrunner impression, leaving Chelsea with a European headache, but these are areas in which you’d expect Dortmund to be scoring from. However, it is their spread of goals which has seen them bring a challenge to Bayern München more seriously this season.
The departure of Erling Haaland has meant Edin Terzić has had to adapt, and that is just what the head coach has done, with 33 goals from eight different players and from all three outfield areas, they are no longer relying on one pair of boots to deliver their wins.
Gladbach might be a little further down the table, they might have lost their number one goalkeeper to Bayern, but Daniel Farke’s men are still the Bavarain’s bogey-team.
A 3-2 win at home against Julian Nagelsmann’s side means The Foals are unbeaten in their last five matches against their old foes, but this particular iteration left the Bayern head coach apoplectic, for reasons explained later.
But as it is, Borussia Mönchengladbach created the storm that now sees the title race well and truly on!
The Midfield
Starting slightly below the midfield of the table, well rock bottom, are Schalke. The Gelsenkirchen side are without a doubt the most boring club to watch. In their last 360 minutes of football they have neither scored or conceded a goal, a run of four 0-0 draws continues to mark them out as German dishwater, favourites for the drop to 2.Bundesliga, they need a miracle once again to stop their all-but-certain descent down.
Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen are locked in the mid-table positions and continue to flatter to deceive.
Xabi Alonso’s pharmaceutical-backed Werkself played out a nailbiter of a fixture in their Europa League knockout first leg against AS Monaco, but were left deflated by Axel Disasi’s 90+2 minute 3-2 winner. They then fell by the same score – in almost the exact same way – to Mainz, Marcus Ingvartsen with a late penalty to heap on the misery.
Werder find themselves 11th but oddly enough have the Bundesliga’s top scorer in their ranks, Niclas Füllkrug tops the charts with 13 goals. However, the 30-year-old hasn’t found the net in his last three matches, and his nearest rival Christopher Nkunku came back from an injury lay-off to assist a goal in Leipzig’s 3-0 win in Wolfsburg.
Refereeing Spotlight
It’s not something we’re that used to in the Bundesliga, controversial decisions – certainly not to the frequency seen in other leagues across Europe, but we have seen a few the last two weeks.
Firstly there was a small uproar in Bochum as Jamie Bynoe-Gittens was adjudged to have deliberately handled the ball in the box during the Bochum Dortmund DFB Pokal match. The penalty was converted but Dortmund won so the afters were quickly forgotten, but Matchday 21 saw a cracker – or not, depending on your viewpoint.
Bayern felt harshly treated in their defeat to Gladbach after Dayot Upamecano was dismissed just eight minutes into the match, denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity for Alassane Pléa.
The touch from Upamecano on Pléa was so slight that many, including the Bayern head coach, thought it was not at the threshold considered a foul, namely normal football contact. One man didn’t and that was Tobias Welz who defended his decision on German TV the day after.
“Of course, it was a very close call. There are arguments for both sides. The contact on the shoulder was the decisive argument for me” Weltz said, Naggelsman didn’t agree and now faces a charge from the DFB after storming the officials’ changing room after the match, for which he later apologised.
As we say goodbye for another few weeks, what awaits us next? Will Union continue their heroics in both the Bundesliga and Europa League, will Dortmund go a bit Dortmundy after all, and can Bayern be toppled? We’ll just have to wait and see.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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