Omar Marmoush is a permanent guest in the matchday team. And why? Because he deserves it. Also nominated: Leroy Sané, two Kielers and a world champion. The eleven of the match day.
Goal – Kamil Grabara (VfL Wolfsburg): Especially in the first half against Mönchengladbach, the Pole held strong twice, once against a lob from Thomas Cvancara and once against a shot from Robin Hack. Without his two saves, Gladbach might have taken the lead and the game would have taken a different turn. He was hardly busy at his field colleagues’ goal festival in the second part of the game.
Defense – Nnamdi Collins (Eintracht Frankfurt): Collins, who has just turned 21, seems to be another talent that is maturing into high quality in Frankfurt. The right-back won 75% of his duels and was played the second most times against Freiburg (88 ball touches, 90 for his left counterpart Theate). But what is convincing about Collins is his offensive drive. He assertively joined the Hessians’ attack and was rewarded with his first Bundesliga goal.
Defense – Raphael Guerreiro (Bayern Munich): Guerreiro hasn’t lost any of his skills over the years. The Portuguese shone against Hoffenheim, showing stability in his core business of defensive work, but always providing offensive impulses. But it wasn’t just impulses: the 31-year-old made it 2-0 with a precision low shot after a fine one-two with Harry Kane, and Guerreiro made it 5-0. A strong performance.
Defense – Joakim Maehle (VfL Wolfsburg): In principle, the same applies to the Dane as to Collins – with the difference that Maehle is six years older and therefore has significantly more professional experience. But the 27-year-old’s defensive stability also opened up significantly more space for him to move forward. And he took full advantage of it: with his own goal and an assist.
Midfield – Leroy Sané (Bayern Munich): Once again it flashed extremely brightly, the great talent of Leroy Sané! Two goals, strong actions with and against the ball and little stubbornness. It’s exactly what people appreciate about Sané in Munich. But also missed too often. Perhaps the gala performance against an admittedly hopelessly overwhelmed Hoffenheim team was the starting signal for a consistently strong half of the season for the highly talented team.
Midfield – Mario Götze (Eintracht Frankfurt): Götze’s dream pass, which Hugo Ekitiké used to make it 3-1 against Freiburg, crowned the 2014 World Cup goalscorer’s performance. Götze’s understanding of the game, his ball handling and his eye for his colleagues are still of a high quality. Consistently showed a great performance at a high level against Freiburg.
Midfield – Finn Porath (Holstein Kiel): The 27-year-old was the linchpin of Kiel’s game in the first half against Borussia Dortmund. Porath impressed with his good duel strength and was the fastest Kieler on the pitch at 33.6 km/h. His eye is always open to his teammates – and if there is free space, the midfield engine sends his colleagues there or simply penetrates there himself. Twice narrowly failed at completions.
Finn Porath (r.) in action.
Attack – Alexander Bernhardsson (Holstein Kiel): The Swede made a significant contribution to the win against BVB. The offensive player was involved in all three goals, one he scored himself, and Bernhardsson also collected another assist with an assist.
Alexander Bernhardsson celebrates.
Attack – Marco Grüll (Werder Bremen): What a wonderful day for Marco Grüll! And a very confident place in the team for the match day. The Austrian scored two goals against Heidenheim himself, and the versatile player was involved in the third, scored by Marvin Ducksch. Fun fact: With only 38 ball contacts, Grüll was the Bremen player with the fewest ball actions that evening.
Marco Grüll (l.) cheers with his teammate.
Attack – Omar Marmoush (Eintracht Frankfurt): And once again: The Egyptian is in the team for the match day. And why? Because he deserves it. One goal, one preparation, always keeping an eye on the free teammate – the 25-year-old is completely unimpressed by the transfer speculation surrounding him and delivers. Strong, stronger, Marmoush!
Attack – Alexis Claude-Maurice (FC Augsburg): The fact that Baumgart’s home debut for Union Berlin went badly wrong was primarily due to the lively Frenchman. The 26-year-old almost single-handedly secured Augsburg’s 2-0 win at the Alte Försterei with a double strike in the first half. Powerful with the opening goal, ice-cold with the second goal – after three defeats in a row, Claude-Maurice ensured that FCA moved past the Köpenickers in the table. It was his second brace this season. On matchday 8 he also scored twice in a 2-1 win against Borussia Dortmund.
Alexis Claude-Maurice in action.
The eleven from the 17th Bundesliga matchday from sportschau.de: