The last time there was two games on a Friday was in 2011. Hertha BSC is doomed to victory in the basement duel against Stuttgart, and a record beckons for Bayern. Everything you need to know about the 31st match day of the Bundesliga.
1. FSV Mainz 05 – Schalke 04 (Friday, 8.30 p.m.)
1. FSV Mainz 05 suffered a 3-0 defeat at VfL Wolfsburg on the last match day, which ended the Rheinhessen team’s successful run of ten unbeaten Bundesliga games. The series is still running at home. Mainz has been undefeated in seven Bundesliga home games.
And the people of Mainz especially like to play on Fridays. The last home defeat on a Friday was more than four years ago – in February 2019 against Bayer Leverkusen. Mainz clearly won the two most recent Friday duels at home, 5-0 against Cologne and 4-0 against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Schalke comes this Friday (from 8:20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de) with a tailwind. After the success against Bremen, S04 is only one point behind on a non-relegation zone. Now the “Knappen” could present themselves and jump to 14th place with another win (at least temporarily). And none of the five most recent duels against the 05ers were lost – the “Royal Blues” have not had such a long streak against any other Bundesliga team at the moment. Coach Thomas Reis’ good record against Rheinhessen could also be a good omen.
Bayer Leverkusen – 1. FC Cologne (Friday, 8.30 p.m.)
So that Leverkusen can go into the Europa League semi-final against AS Roma rested, the game was brought forward from Sunday to Friday (from 8.20 p.m. live in the audio stream on sportschau.de). The people of Cologne got really upset about this. “Will everyone come at some point and say: Come on, we have an important game, let’s move it for overriding reasons?”asked sports director Christian Keller. In any case, the new date gives the Bundesliga its first Friday brace since April 29, 2011. Back then, May 1 fell on a Sunday when no games were played, which is why two games were played on Friday.
The Cologne team should rather think about the good run that the opponent has. Bayer Leverkusen have been unbeaten in 14 competitive games with coach Xabi Alonso. However, FC arrives with two away wins in a row.
The FC fans like to point out that the match against Mönchengladbach is actually the real Rheinderby, but on the pitch the players seem to be more focused on the game against Leverkusen. Only five players were sent off in 96 games between Cologne and Mönchengladbach, and 20 in just 69 games between Cologne and Leverkusen.
SC Freiburg – RB Leipzig (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
After the clear victory in the cup, Leipzig are now also favorites in the league at SC Freiburg – although they are behind the Breisgauers in the table. That’s what you call having the momentum on your side. But maybe Freiburg will fight back and take revenge. “Today’s game doesn’t mean we don’t have a chance again”said SC coach Christian Streich after the cup defeat.
On Saturday (from 3.20 p.m. live in the audio stream on sportschau.de) it is all about qualifying for the Champions League. In the past few weeks, both teams have alternated places 4 and 5 in the table, which makes the current duel all the more important. And above all from a Leipzig perspective. In the event of a defeat, the Saxons would already be five points behind the SC, in the event of a win they would be one point ahead. That’s what you call a classic six-point game.
The Freiburg team should watch out for Dani Olmo. The Spaniard was the outstanding man on the pitch in the cup with one goal and three assists.
TSG Hoffenheim – Eintracht Frankfurt (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
After nine games without a win, Eintracht Frankfurt was a little worried about the future of coach Oliver Glasner. After making it into the DFB Cup final, he is now reasonably firmly in the saddle again. Nevertheless, he is counting on his “cup experts” to deliver again in the Bundesliga on Saturday (from 3.20 p.m. live in the audio stream on sportschau.de).
After an interim high with ten points from four games, Hoffenheim are again dangerously close to a relegation zone. Coach Pellegrino Matarazzo therefore also spoke of it before the game against the Hessians “a little pressure on the boiler.”
It will be a special game for Andrej Kramaric. He has been playing at Hoffenheim for more than seven years and is now facing his 250th competitive game. He’s not only celebrating an anniversary, he’s also becoming the only TSG international with a record: he’s overtaken Sejad Salihovic from Bosnia. Kramaric has been the record goalscorer for a long time: he scored 112 times for TSG, 97 of them in the Bundesliga.
Borussia Moenchengladbach – VfL Bochum (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Most of the games between Borussia Mönchengladbach and VfL Bochum have been tough recently. Assistant referee Christian Gittelmann was hit by a full beer mug in Bochum last season. The game was stopped and scored 2-0 for the guests. They were already leading 2-0. There were dramatic duels at the end of the 2010/11 season when both clubs met in the Bundesliga relegation. At that time, the Gladbacher prevailed and held the class.
The Gladbach fans in particular would appreciate it if there was a lot going on again at a game of their team on Saturday (from 3.20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de). Because the “foals” are wasting away in the no man’s land of the table. There was only one win in the nine most recent Bundesliga games. However, Bochum likes to travel to the Lower Rhine. Mönchengladbach only won one of the eight most recent Bundesliga home games against Bochum.
It is the duel of two corner lovers. Both teams have scored six times from corners this season. The specialists are Jonas Hofmann and Philipp Förster, who each scored four corners – only Joshua Kimmich from Bayern league can beat that, whose corners have already resulted in seven goals.
FC Augsburg – Union Berlin (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Augsburg has not won in seven games and is therefore still threatened with relegation. Luckily for FCA it’s now on Saturday (from 3.20 p.m. live in the audio stream on sportschau.de) against their favorite opponent. And that is, you can hardly believe it, Union Berlin. Augsburg has been unbeaten against the “Iron” for five games and already has the best record against the Berliners.
But Union will be particularly motivated this time. With a win in Augsburg, the Köpenickers could set two new club records in the Bundesliga – the most wins and the best points. In addition, the team would be sixth and thus at least qualify for the Conference League.
FC Augsburg has a goalkeeping problem. With Tomas Koubek between the posts, the club not only won none of their eight competitive games this season, but also none of the last 16 games across the seasons. In these 16 competitive games with Koubek, Augsburg conceded a whopping 42 goals. The last FCA win with the 30-year-old Czech between the posts was in December 2019 against Fortuna Düsseldorf. Augsburg’s regular keeper Rafal Gikiewicz is missing with a shoulder problem.
Hertha BSC – VfB Stuttgart (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
In the basement duel, Hertha is almost condemned to victory. If things go badly, a defeat against Stuttgart could increase the gap to the relegation rank to nine points – with three games left. Coach Pal Dardai, who recently took over the ascension command from Sandro Schwarz, was unable to turn things around at the start of his third term in office with two defeats.
The Stuttgarters want to quickly get the defeat in the DFB Cup semi-final against Eintracht out of their heads. After all, it’s Bundesliga again on Saturday (from 3:20 p.m. live in the audio stream on sportschau.de) and they are still undefeated under new coach Sebastian Hoeneß – two wins, two draws. Incidentally, Hoeneß has a great Hertha past. He played for the capital club for ten years, but never in the Bundesliga. His father Dieter was even with Hertha for almost 13 years.
The Berliners should be wide awake until the final whistle. In the first half of the season, the Swabians won 2-1 with a goal by Konstantinos Mavropanos in the eighth minute of added time – the latest goal of the current season.
Werder Bremen – Bayern Munich (Saturday, 6.30 p.m.)
It is the evergreen in Bundesliga history. FC Bayern and Werder Bremen meet there for the 112th time on Saturday (from 6:20 p.m. live in the audio stream on sportschau.de). And there is a record. The Munich lost none of the last 26 Bundesliga games against the North Germans. SV Werder’s last success so far was in September 2008. Bayern midfielder Jamal Musiala was five years old.
In the history of the Bundesliga, there has only been one match with as many unbeaten games by a team in a row: from 1994 to 2010, Leverkusen remained unbeaten against Mönchengladbach 26 times in a row. This record can now be surpassed by Bayern. The fact that Werder is last in the home table this season speaks for the record champions.
It’s not up to Marvin Ducksch. In the second half of the season, he not only scored the most goals in the league (9), he also fired the most shots on goal (38). Ducksch was born in Dortmund and played for BVB for many years. He would certainly be happy to help the Black and Yellows in the title race, but he hasn’t scored in his two previous Bundesliga games against Munich and lost both games.
Borussia Dortmund – VfL Wolfsburg (Sunday, 5.30 p.m.)
Dortmund’s long-awaited lead in the table didn’t last too long. Now BVB is back in the chasing role in the close championship race and has to do better in the Sunday game (from 6:20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de) – which is always a bit unfavorable psychologically. Maybe a look at home strength will help. Borussia leads the Bundesliga home table with twelve wins from 14 games and recently celebrated nine home wins in a row. And Wolfsburg won in Dortmund in December 2012 for the last time.
But that could very well change. Because Wolfsburg is third in the away table behind Bayern and Freiburg, having won three of their last four guest appearances. There were a total of seven away threes. And the “Wolves” slowly, quietly and secretly climbed to seventh place in the table.
The coaches with the “golden hands” meet: Dortmund coach Edin Terzic has already substituted 13 joker goals, Wolfsburg coach Niko Kovac 12. These are the top values in the league. And: Dortmund (6 goals) and Wolfsburg (5) are also the most dangerous Bundesliga teams when it comes to goals from free-kick situations. Fouls around your own penalty area should therefore be avoided.