Bundesliga final spurt: Excitement in the title, CL and relegation battles

Exciting Bundesliga final spurt

The Bundesliga is entering the home stretch – there are still five match days left. While FC Bayern could celebrate its 35th championship next weekend, the relegation battle in the bottom of the table is heating up. There is still a lot of excitement in the race for the European Cup places. Transfermarkt provides an overview of the remaining programs of the Bundesliga clubs.

Above all, the hunt for the Champions League places behind Munich and Borussia Dortmund promises drama until the end. After the 29th matchday, VfB Stuttgart in third place and TSG Hoffenheim in sixth place are only five points apart. In between there are RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen. Everyone still has to compete against at least one direct competitor.

VfB has the most difficult program. The average rank of the Swabians’ opponents is 6.80. Among other things, Bayern are waiting away next Sunday, and depending on how BVB plays in Sinsheim beforehand, they could successfully defend their title. Stuttgart also still has to play against TSG (A) and Bayer 04 (H). RB, the Werkself and 1899 also have some tough duels against clubs with average rankings of 9.40, 8.40 and 9.20.

But the coming weeks will be the hardest for Eintracht Frankfurt if you just look at the clubs that are waiting for the Hessians until the end of the season. The SGE still has to compete against the currently 2nd (BVB), 3rd (Stuttgart) and 4th (Leipzig) in the league – that gives an average ranking of the opponents of 6.20. In any case, Eintracht can’t move forward in the table. The gap to Hoffenheim is nine points. However, the Eagle Bearers could still fall behind SC Freiburg (opponent average: 10.60), who are two points behind them.

Werder Bremen in the relegation battle with a tough remaining program

Werder Bremen has the second most demanding remaining program with opponents who have an average ranking of 6.60 and are therefore far ahead of the Green-Whites, who slipped from 14th to 15th place last matchday. The coming weekend in particular is likely to be crucial for Bremen’s final sprint. The 157th northern derby awaits against Hamburger SV (ø 8.20), who are also still fighting to stay in the league. In the first leg, the promoted team won 3-2 at home. “For us it has to be: knife between our teeth and onto the pitch,” said Leonardo Bittencourt, announcing the heated duel.

If Werder loses and FC St. Pauli wins against 1. FC Köln, both clubs would have 28 points. The SVW is still ahead of the Kiezkickers in the relegation spot and is also ahead in terms of goal difference with -20 to -25. However, the FCSP has the presumably much easier remaining program with opponents at an average rank of 12.20. After the Effzeh, the Kiezkickers will play against 1. FC Heidenheim (A), 1. FSV Mainz 05 (H), RB Leipzig (A) and VfL Wolfsburg (H). After HSV, Werder will face VfB Stuttgart (A), FC Augsburg (H), TSG Hoffenheim (A) and BVB (H).

Wolfsburg (ø 10.00) and Heidenheimer (ø 9.40), which are behind St. Pauli, also have supposedly easier remaining programs than Bremen. However, with 21 and 19 points respectively, both clubs are a bit behind. However, FCH has regained some hope in the last few weeks and has been unbeaten in three games. “For me there are still 15 points,” said Frank Schmidt after the 3-1 win against 1. FC Union Berlin with a view to the remaining games. “And if we sit here after the 34th matchday and are happy about something great, incredible, then the five games before that were extremely successful.”

There have been hardly any bright spots for Wolfsburg in the past few weeks; Lower Saxony is the weakest team in the top 5 leagues in Europe and only got two points from the last ten games. Even after moving to Dieter Hecking, the desired coaching effect has not yet been achieved – after four games he is still waiting for a win. The Wolves still have duels, including on the penultimate matchday against FC Bayern (H) and on the last against St. Pauli (A).

But even Cologne and Borussia Mönchengladbach cannot yet feel safe with a five-point lead in 16th place. Based on their ranking in the table, the foals (ø 8.80) have even tougher opponents than the billy goats (ø 10.20). HSV is also not through yet with 31 points and still has challenging tasks (opponent average rating: 8.20) with Hoffenheim (H), Frankfurt (A), Freiburg (H) and Leverkusen (A) after the northern derby.