FC Augsburg opens the 19th matchday of the Bundesliga – and can actually only win. FC Bayern is like VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Köln. And Borussia Dortmund likes that. Everything you need to know about the 19th matchday of the Bundesliga.
FC Augsburg – Bayer Leverkusen (Friday, 8.30 p.m.)
FC Augsburg is fourteenth in the Bundesliga, and that’s actually a miracle. No team has the ball less often than FCA, no one wins fewer duels, makes fewer passes to teammates, shoots less on goal and creates fewer chances. And yet Augsburg has a two-point lead over relegation rank 16.
It’s a curious statistic – and it’s not the only one about FC Augsburg. The people of Augsburg love the Bundesliga on Fridays. Augsburg won all of the last four games on Friday evening. And now the next opponent is Bayer Leverkusen (Friday, February 3rd, 2023, from 8:20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de), Leverkusen of all places.
In Leverkusen they don’t like to play that much on Friday evening, the last three games have been lost. The last time, after a defeat against Bayern, Bayer then parted ways with Gerardo Seoane. Such a fate does not threaten his successor Xabi Alonso. He stabilized Leverkusen and scored 19 points from ten league games.
1. FC Cologne – RB Leipzig (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
RB Leipzig just played like a top team again, that was in the cup, they’re in the quarter-finals there now. It wasn’t a surprise. Because opponents Hoffenheim are in crisis and because Leipzig is playing like a top team with some regularity. Since the name of the coach at RB Marco Rose, the club has picked up 30 points from 13 league games and lost only once. That was 140 days ago. It’s a masterly record.
And it shouldn’t get any worse at the weekend, according to the statistics, because the opponent comes from Cologne (Saturday, February 4th, 2023, from 3:20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de). The two teams have played each other eleven times in the Bundesliga, RB has only lost twice. Leipzig is a feared opponent of Cologne: FC even have a better record against Bayern.
Eintracht Frankfurt – Hertha BSC (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
The trend is no friend of Hertha. The club started the year with three defeats and 1:10 goals, from the last seven games it has lost six. The table says: only 14 points, 17th place. And the statistics say: not good at all, dear Hertha. Since the introduction of the three-point rule in 1995, 30 of the 46 teams that had 14 points or fewer after 18 matchdays have been relegated.
That doesn’t make hope for the Berliners. And the opponent somehow not either: Frankfurt has 32 points after 18 games, they have never been better (Saturday, February 4th, 2023, from 3.20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de). Eintracht has lost none of their last six Bundesliga games. They are sixth in the table, but only two points behind a place in the Champions League.
Frankfurt also have Randal Kolo Muani, who has scored in four of the past five games and is the league’s top scorer with seven goals and ten assists.
Borussia Dortmund – SC Freiburg (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Three games, three wins and six points well done to Bayern – in Dortmund they can be satisfied with the start of 2023. BVB went into the long winter break nine points behind FC Bayern, now there are only three. “We fought to get into this situation”said coach Edin Terzic. “But three wins and a good week won’t be enough.”
Especially since the next opponent, SC Freiburg, is tied with BVB (Saturday, February 4th, 2023, from 3:20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de). 18 games, 34 points – for Freiburg this is the best record in 28 years. Speaking of which, Freiburg’s balance sheet – that of coach Christian Streich isn’t wrong either. Most recently, he was on the bench for the 341st time in the Bundesliga, always with SC. He has overtaken Volker Finke and is Freiburg’s record coach.
VfL Bochum – TSG Hoffenheim (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Most recently, Bochum lost twice in a row in the Bundesliga, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Were away games. In their own stadium, however, VfL was last invincible: since the coach was called Thomas Letsch, since the end of September, Bochum has won every home game.
The fifth home win in a row is now expected against Hoffenheim (Saturday, February 4th, 2023, from 3:20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de). VfL Bochum last managed to do that in 1997 when the coach was Klaus Toppmöller.
The mood is different for the opponent Hoffenheim. After ten matchdays, TSG was on a Champions League place, but now they have been waiting for a win there for eight games. But they have good memories of Bochum at TSG Hoffenheim. In the first half of the season, the club won 3-2, it was the end of a negative series. Hoffenheim had previously gone ten games without a win across the seasons.
1. FC Union Berlin – 1. FSV Mainz 05 (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
On Saturday afternoon around twenty past five, 1. FC Union could take the lead in the table, they would have to win against Mainz (Saturday, February 4th, 2023, from 3.20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de). It would be the twelfth win of the season for Union, no team has more, not even Bayern. The Berliners would then pass them at least for one night.
The coach of 1. FC Union Berlin is Urs Fischer, who is not easily fazed by anything – not even the table. Fischer is a stoic. He wasn’t upset when Union faltered in November, nor when a fine big-name footballer was in Koepenick on the last day of the transfer window and then didn’t sign after all.
And now, when asked about a possible return to number one, Fischer said: “I’m only interested in the table after the 34th matchday.”
Borussia Mönchengladbach – FC Schalke 04 (Saturday, 6.30 p.m.)
You don’t want to change places with Thomas Reis. He started the season as coach of VfL Bochum, a false start was followed by separation and a short period without a job.
Then Reis went to Schalke. He’s been on the bench in 13 league games this season – and he’s lost 11 times, 85 percent of the games. And then Schalke’s next opponent is Gladbach (Saturday, February 4th, 2023, from 6:20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de).
Schalke have only won one of the last 13 Bundesliga games against Gladbach, that was in May 2013 and Julian Draxler scored the only goal. There is currently not much to suggest that Schalke will celebrate their third win in their 19th league game.
VfB Stuttgart – Werder Bremen (Sunday, 3.30 p.m.)
The statistics say it could be a difficult story for Werder Bremen. Bremen haven’t won any of their last six games in Stuttgart, their last win there was in early February 2013, Werder’s coach was Thomas Schaaf and Kevin De Bruyne scored a goal. It is a long time ago.
And Bremen is struggling away from home anyway. Werder have lost the last three games in foreign stadiums, before Christmas there was a 1: 6 in Munich, recently a 1: 7 in Cologne. Bremen will have to do without Mitchell Weiser (suspended) in Stuttgart, he is their best preparer. It doesn’t get any easier in Stuttgart (Sunday, February 5th, 2023, from 3.20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de).
VfL Wolfsburg – Bayern Munich (Sunday, 5.30 p.m.)
Three Bundesliga games, three draws – Bayern hasn’t won a league game in 2023, no joke. But that’s not all that surprising, at least that’s what the statistics claim. Seven of FC Bayern’s 18 league games ended in a point, no team in the league is more tied. Only Stuttgart and Cologne also come to seven draws.
At the game in Wolfsburg (Sunday, February 5th, 2023, from 5:20 p.m. live in the audio stream at sportschau.de), the ideas of Thomas Müller, who was last twice in the starting XI and prepared a goal each, could help. Müller could play his 427th Bundesliga game for Bayern against Lower Saxony, and he would then draw level with Gerd Müller. In general, no outfield player would ever have played more Bundesliga games for FC Bayern.