Borussia Dortmund is playing against Hoffenheim to continue the winning streak, Schalke finally want to delete the zero on the wrong side – and 1. FC Union is going to the top game at Bayern as a happy outsider. The preview of the 22nd match day of the Bundesliga.
1. FSV Mainz 05 – Borussia Mönchengladbach (Friday, 8.30 p.m.)
Gladbach can do it against Bayern, as they proved last matchday with a 3-2 win. Can they also do it on a Friday evening in Mainz with their neighbors who have the same number of points?
“We can take a lot of self-confidence with us from the Bayern game. The willingness to run and the intensity will also be important against Mainz.”said coach Daniel Farke, who will have to do without Julian Weigl in the coming weeks due to an ankle injury.
Mainz can do it away from home, as they proved last matchday with a 3-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen. In the meantime, they can do better at home, too, because they won the last two home games against VfL Bochum and FC Augsburg. Coach Bo Svensson celebrated the victory in Leverkusen exuberantly, as did the following carnival days.
“I’ve rarely seen him like this”said sporting director Martin Schmidt, who was impressed by the success at the Werkself and the boisterous hustle and bustle at carnival “a push” for the game against Gladbach (Friday, from 8:20 p.m. live in the radio report on sportschau.de).
1899 Hoffenheim – Borussia Dortmund (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Positive trainer effect? Clear no. Pellegrino Matarazzo has two games with two defeats. Hoffenheim’s downward trend continues with a new coach. TSG have only picked up one point from the last six Bundesliga games, most recently losing 1-0 at FC Augsburg.
Borussia Dortmund, on the other hand, won all eight competitive games in 2023, most recently 4-1 against Hertha BSC, and is level on points with leaders FC Bayern Munich. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel has played a significant role in the upswing. The Swiss moved to Hoffenheim in 2014 at the same time as Oliver Baumann (from SC Freiburg), although Kobel was only 16 at the time. As a professional, he never got past regular goalkeeper Baumann, only played six competitive games for the first team of TSG, one of them in the Bundesliga.
The two goalkeepers will meet again on the field in Sinsheim, whether Hoffenheim’s Thomas Delaney will be there (live on the radio report on sportschau.de from 3:20 p.m. on Saturday) is “unlikely” because of a flu infection, as Matarazzo said. Regarding the opposing trend of the two teams, he added: “Every series comes to an end, in both directions. We want to seize this opportunity. It should be clear to everyone that we can do it and achieve something.”
RB Leipzig – Eintracht Frankfurt (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
A direct duel between two championship candidates is on (Saturday, from 3.20 p.m. live on the radio report at sportschau.de). Both sides have been busy in the Champions League this week. After the 2-0 draw against SSC Napoli, Frankfurt was allowed to recover a day longer than Leipzig, who wrested a 1-1 draw from English champions Manchester City thanks to a strong second half.
With RB four points behind the leading trio and five from SGE, a loser should initially lose touch. Leipzig would then have to end a negative series, because none of the last seven competitive games against Eintracht was won.
1. FC Cologne – VfL Wolfsburg (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
1. FC Köln would certainly have wished for the only defeat so far in 2023 on another match day. The 0:3 at VfB Stuttgart clouded the carnival weekend a bit.
All the better for coach Steffen Baumgart’s team that they are now going back to their own stadium against VfL Wolfsburg (Saturday, from 3.20 p.m. live on the radio report on sportschau.de). FC have taken seven points from their three home games this year.
The Wolfsburg team will be very jealous because they have only taken one point from the last four games, and they were also happy with a 0-0 draw at bottom of the table, FC Schalke 04. Most recently, coach Niko Kovac’s team lost clearly with 0: 3 against RB Leipzig.
Werder Bremen – VfL Bochum (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
Despite the recent dry spell with six defeats from eight Bundesliga games, including the 2-0 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder are still in very good shape with 27 points for a promoted team. Nevertheless, caution is advised: In the 2020/21 season, Werder had 26 points after 21 match days, the advantage over 17th place was twelve points, and in the end they were relegated. Coach Ole Werner’s team is currently ten points ahead of the first direct relegation zone.
VfL Bochum, who have been relegated, are eight points behind Bremen. Judging by the balance, the Ruhr area club should be happy if eleven points don’t result in the Weserstadion (Saturday, from 3.20 p.m. live in the radio report on sportschau.de). Bochum only won one of the 33 Bundesliga games in Bremen, that was in 2008. VfL only picked up seven points from the other 32 games.
Among others, captain Anthony Losilla will miss Bochum after his red card from the game against SC Freiburg (0:2). At Bremen, Niklas Stark is serving a yellow card suspension.
Ole Werner downplayed the importance of the game a bit: “After that there are still twelve games. This is not yet the moment when you always have to look at the table and always have to calculate. Regardless of the outcome of the game, it will be the case for both teams that afterwards all possibilities are still open in all directions.”
Hertha BSC – FC Augsburg (Saturday, 3.30 p.m.)
The 4:1 against Borussia Mönchengladbach was followed by a defeat for Hertha with the same result at the other Borussia. But the performance of the Berliners was appealing and gave courage for the task against FC Augsburg (Saturday, from 3.20 p.m. live in the radio report on sportschau.de), which poses completely different challenges. Hertha is the team in the Bundesliga with the least possession of the ball at 44.7 percent.
The rate at FC Augsburg is only 0.4 percentage points higher, and they feel comfortable with it and will hardly be willing to change their strategy away from a direct relegation competitor. The team of coach Sandro Schwarz should be forced to do so due to the home advantage. FCA has not won any of the previous ten Bundesliga games at the Berlin Olympic Stadium.
FC Schalke 04 – VfB Stuttgart (Saturday, 6.30 p.m.)
It will be the running gag when filling out the Bundesliga tips before the 22nd match day: Schalke – VfB 0:0. Schalke have now had this result four times in a row. That’s quite a record, and it’s savored a bit with sayings and gags.
But the results also show that the bottom of the table managed to stay four games without conceding a goal, and that wasn’t even lucky, but the result of fine defensive work. Goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann and central defender Moritz Jenz, who was committed in winter, deserve special mention.
“I can’t believe we’re last”he said in an interview with the Funke media group, “We work so hard and we keep coming back from zero. It’s really unfortunate that we don’t score goals ourselves.”
However, it is not only “unfortunate”, but also a question of quality. Schalke have only scored 14 goals this season, compared to just three in ten games under coach Thomas Reis.
Truth: If FC Schalke wants to win the all-important duel against VfB (Saturday, from 6.20 p.m. live on the radio report on sportschau.de), which will be followed by the all-important duel at VfL Bochum, they have to score. “These two games give us an opportunity to get back into business,” Reis said.
VfB Stuttgart haven’t had any problems with scoring goals lately. The 3-0 win over 1. FC Köln was the first win under new coach Bruno Labbadia.
SC Freiburg – Bayer Leverkusen (Sunday, 3.30 p.m.)
Bayer Leverkusen would like to go where SC Freiburg is. Coach Christian Streich’s team is fourth in the table, which entitles them to take part in the Champions League. But even if Leverkusen won in Breisgau (Sunday, from 3.20 p.m. live in the radio report on sportschau.de), they would still be ten points behind Freiburg.
However, seventh place, which leads to the Europa Conference League, is only three points away. Overall, the Werkself’s season has been very changeable. After five wins in a row, coach Xabi Alonso’s team seemed to be on the right track, but recently there were setbacks, including the 2-3 win against 1. FSV Mainz 05 on the previous day. Leverkusen have already lost ten defeats, as many as at this point in 2003.
FC Bayern Munich – 1. FC Union Berlin (Sunday, 5.30 p.m.)
Defeat in Gladbach, abusive behavior by coach Julian Nagelsmann, who received a fine for it, two pursuers with the same number of points in the neck: FC Bayern’s season is going very differently than the boardroom on Säbener Straße imagines.
The fact that 1. FC Union is one of the pursuers with the same number of points after 21 match days is even more surprising than the constant small fire at FC Bayern.
Most recently, the Berliners only managed to draw 0-0 against FC Schalke 04, but this game suited the style of coach Urs Fischer’s team much less than that of the champions (Sunday, from 5.20 p.m. live on the radio report at sportschau.de). An outsider will rarely have come to Munich happier.