Bayern present on Saturday, BVB must follow suit. Half of Berlin is anxiously awaiting the start on Friday evening. Everything you need to know about the 32nd Bundesliga matchday.
1. FC Cologne – Hertha BSC (Friday, 8.30 p.m.)
Hope and trembling in Berlin: Hertha BSC is threatened with relegation. Coach Pal Dardai’s team will probably need three wins in the final stretch of the league to maintain a realistic chance of staying up.
The task at 1. FC Köln is difficult – the FC has enormous fighting power and does not give up (from 8.30 p.m., live in the radio report on sportschau.de). But maybe the Cologne team already had their season highlight last week – in the 2-1 win in a neighborhood duel with Bayer Leverkusen – and are now taking it a little easier.
But what good are all the sporting attributes for the Berliners if they don’t get the license to play in the Bundesliga for financial reasons? This question is also being asked massively in the capital at the moment.
In purely sporting and statistical terms, not much speaks for the Berliners: with only five points from 15 games, the capital city are in last place in the away table – since the only away win in Augsburg (2-0) at the beginning of September, twelve guest games have gone by without a win (draw in Mainz and Freiburg plus ten defeats).
VfL Bochum – FC Augsburg (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
It’s also a relegation battle on Saturday afternoon – at least in the Ruhr area. VfL Bochum is still in the middle of the Bundesliga struggle for existence. The performances of Bochum are a real grab bag. Sometimes they pull themselves together and crack top teams (Frankfurt, Leipzig, Dortmund, etc.) with their fighting virtues, then again they deliver bloodless performances in the middle of the most important phase of the season, such as 0:2 against Schalke or 2:3 against VfB Stuttgart in front of a home crowd.
Where has it gone, the strength in front of its own followers? Bochum had won the first five home games under the direction of Thomas Letsch, and then only one win in the following six Bundesliga home games. Now the last two home games of this season should decide about relegation or relegation – on the last day of the game Leverkusen are guests in Bochum.
The FCA is currently ranked comfortably in front of a relegation zone, is as good as secured. The team is six points ahead of Bochum and can extend this to an unassailable nine points with a win in a direct duel (from 3.30 p.m., live in the radio report on sportschau.de). Hertha could then no longer catch up with Augsburg, direct relegation would be averted. In short: If Augsburg wins in Bochum, that would practically mean staying up.
VfL Wolfsburg – TSG Hoffenheim (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
After a small dip in the result – with only one point from three games – Hoffenheim celebrated a very important victory in the relegation battle with the 3-1 home win against Frankfurt on matchday 31 and extended the gap to the relegation zone to four points. On Matchday 32, TSG can make it clear that they will stay up early: the prerequisite is a win in Wolfsburg (from 3.30 p.m., live on the radio report on sportschau.de).
The situation in Lower Saxony is completely different: VfL is still dreaming of international business. Despite the clear 6-0 defeat in Dortmund, Wolfsburg could return to a European Cup in 2023 after a disappointing twelfth place last season. In all likelihood, sixth place will be enough for the Europa League if Leipzig wins the DFB Cup. In this case, the seventh, currently Wolfsburg, would move into the play-offs for the Conference League.
Strong comeback: In Leipzig, Grischa Prömel celebrated his comeback as a joker after an injury break of almost six months. On the 31st match day against Frankfurt, the strong midfielder was in the starting line-up and had to help over the full 90 minutes to bring the victory over time with a man down. Under the eyes of Hansi Flick, Prömel was the player with the strongest run (12.1 km) and the most keen tackle (33 duels) on the field.
Eintracht Frankfurt – FSV Mainz 05 (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
1. FSV Mainz 05 is undoubtedly an interesting club – and the way up in the last few weeks in the table spheres, which give coach Bo Svensson’s team real European chances, is worthy of every honor. But Eintracht Frankfurt is of course one of the teams of the hour at the moment in terms of the headlines.
Where is Eintracht going, which has shown catastrophic performances in the league in recent weeks – at least in terms of the attitude of the players? In the league, the team – despite all the bankruptcies in recent weeks – still has the chance to jump into one of the coveted places in Europe. And Eintracht is still in the cup final. And all that with a coach whose farewell at the end of the season is now official.
From the facts and figures it is clear: Mainz are currently two points ahead of Eintracht and could leave their neighbors behind with a win. If Frankfurt wins, the Hessians will have passed the opponent again (from 3.30 p.m., live in the radio report on sportschau.de).
Bayern Munich – Schalke 04 (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Showdown in the Allianz Arena. Can Bayern present again in the long-distance duel with BVB? Can they – despite their problems in the game up front – defeat the opponents from the Ruhr area, who were so strong last time? (From 3.30 p.m., live in the radio report at sportschau.de)
It is of course indisputable that FC Bayern has much more talent and wealth than Schalke in terms of individual players. But in the season finale, a lot is about the mentality factor. And since Schalke seem to be quite a bit ahead of their opponent.
Despite all the problems, what Bayern are currently showing could be enough. In the six Bundesliga games under Thomas Tuchel, they still scored 13 points (four wins, one draw, one defeat). After the two most recent (trembling) victories against Hertha (2-0) and Bremen (2-1), the new Bayern coach now has a better point average (2.2) than Julian Nagelsmann this season (2.1) – on average, there were significantly fewer goals and a little more goals conceded under Tuchel.
Schalke have won three of their last four games and, thanks to the ultra-late 3-2 win on the most recent matchday in Mainz (converted penalty in the twelfth minute of stoppage time), are not standing for the first time since matchday eight, i.e. for the first time in over seven months in one of the last three places. The Royal Blues have relegation in their own hands again, but the rest of the program is tough: Bayern and Leipzig and at home against Frankfurt.
Union Berlin – SC Freiburg (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
1. FC Union Berlin and SC Freiburg are having a fantastic season, with both teams taking part in the Champions League for the first time. The Berliners are currently fourth thanks to the better goal difference in pole position compared to Freiburg, who have the same number of points.
Both benefit from their extremely disciplined style of play – the coaches Urs Fischer and Christian Streich manage week after week to mentally adapt their players to the next task.
The facts back that up: Union Berlin has the best defense this Bundesliga season with 32 goals conceded, Freiburg’s 38 goals mean fourth place. Both clubs have kept twelve clean sheets this season – together with VfL Wolfsburg, that is the best. Both teams also have their keepers to thank for this good record: Frederik Rönnow and Mark Flekken have the best goalkeeper efficiency in 2022/23: Freiburg has a value of +8.1, Unioner even +9.3.
Borussia Dortmund – Bor. Moenchengladbach (Saturday, 6.30 p.m.)
Depending on how FC Bayern did against Schalke a few hours earlier, the task for BVB is: would you have to reduce the gap to Munich again with a win against the namesake or could you maybe even win again with a three-pointer jump to the top of the table? (From 6.30 p.m., live in the radio report at sportschau.de).
Most recently, BVB was extremely convincing in their own stadium, Eintracht Frankfurt (4:0) and VfL Wolfsburg (6:0) were each practically shot out of the stadium. The attack machinery is running: Malen, Haller, Brandt and Adeyemi play themselves into a frenzy. It was all the more annoying that Dortmund lost their feathers at VfL Bochum (1-1) and carelessly gave up their great starting position as leaders at the time.
The opponents from Mönchengladbach will be very happy when the mixed season is finally over. Nothing works for the Gladbacher – neither up nor down. And some of the performances by coach Daniel Farke’s team were just as irrelevant. He still talks about what is happening on the Lower Rhine in a nice way – which hardly an outsider can understand. But the Gladbacher always score their points when you hardly expect it from them – also now again in Dortmund?
VfB Stuttgart – Bayer Leverkusen (Sunday, 3.30 p.m.)
Deja vu for VfB Stuttgart: Just like last year, the perceived giant from the Swabian metropolis has 28 points after 31 match days. Just like back then, the team coached by Sebastian Heoneß is on the relegation zone. The only difference: Back then they were two points ahead of 17th. Today they are level on points with VfL Bochum, who are in that position.
VfB has stabilized under the new coach, point by point they are crawling to safety. On Sunday, however, the team will have to deal with an extremely dangerous opponent: Bayer Leverkusen is swimming – despite the recent 2-1 defeat in the derby against 1. FC Köln – on a wave of success (from 3.30 p.m., live on the radio report at sportschau.de).
The statistics speak for Bayer: Leverkusen are unbeaten in six away games in the Bundesliga (three wins, three draws); more than three months ago there was the last defeat on a foreign pitch in Augsburg (0:1 on February 3rd). The Werkself lost less often away from home this Bundesliga season (five times) than at home in the BayArena (six times). In the last three Bundesliga away games, the Rhinelanders have not conceded a single goal.
RB Leipzig – Werder Bremen (Sunday, 5.30 p.m.)
Can RB Leipzig turn the corner just in time for the end of the season? RB have won four of their last five Bundesliga games and climbed from fifth to third thanks to a 1-0 win in Freiburg on the final day and a simultaneous defeat by Union Berlin. The Saxons are back on course for the Champions League and are also in the DFB Cup final. A season that has long been considered messed up could still be saved at the last minute.
Opponent Bremen (from 5.30 p.m., live in the radio report on sportschau.de) seems to be a little out of breath from the season. Werder have only won one of their last nine Bundesliga games (4-2 in round 29 at bottom Hertha BSC), but given their seven-point lead over places 16 and 17, they shouldn’t be in danger of relegation, which by the way hasn’t been the case all season was.
Interesting: Niclas Füllkrug is still the top scorer in the Bundesliga with 16 goals, although he missed the last four games through injury.
His strike partner Marvin Ducksch not only leads the list of goalscorers in the second half of the season with nine goals, but is also the most successful away goalscorer in the current Bundesliga season: he scored eight of his twelve goals abroad.