Monchengladbach continued their five-game unbeaten run in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 victory over Mainz, and this afternoon it’s the turn of the other 10 teams.
The most exciting games are Stuttgart vs Bayern Munich, Augsburg vs Bayer Leverkusen, Cologne vs St Pauli, Heidenheim vs Freiburg, Union Berlin vs Wolfsburg
advertise
Here’s what we learned from the Bundesliga meeting:
Managerless team wins:
While it looks like Mainz will have a new head coach next weekend, Wolfsburg and Augsburg still have interim managers and both recorded wins today.
Augsburg’s victory under Manuel Baum was perhaps the most surprising, beating Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 thanks to an unfortunate own goal from Ernest Poku and a first-half strike from Anton Kade. Fugstadt did hit their luck at times, with Leverkusen hitting the woodwork four times.
Despite the win, there’s little breathing room in the Bundesliga relegation spots (we’ll get to that).
advertise
Wolfsburg also won their first game since late October, when they beat Union Berlin 3-1. It was a clinical performance in the Motor City as Wolfsburg had four shots on goal throughout the game, scoring three of them. Christian Eriksen also provided the second assist of Wolfsburg’s career.
However, as mentioned earlier, there was another move at the bottom.
Heidenheim and St. Pauli arrive late – shaking up the bottom of the Bundesliga:
Heidenheim scored twice in stoppage time to beat Union Berlin last week to give them hope of survival, and then they did the same thing again this week. He scored in the 94th minute and reversed Freiburg 2-1.
advertise
The win means Frank Schmidt’s side move up to 16th in the table, just one point away from relegation.
St. Pauli also scored in the 94th minute, ending a nine-game losing streak in the Bundesliga. The contest looked set to stretch to 10 when Said El Mala scored on the counterattack, but substitute Ricky Jade-Jones saved a point for the club by scoring on his debut.
The 23-year-old joined Germany on a free transfer from Peterborough in the summer, but a shoulder injury has kept him out until now.
Bayern Munich beat Stuttgart:
A common theme in recent Bundesliga games is that Bayern look in trouble, things are going well, and then their opponents collapse. That’s what’s happening here.
advertise
Bayern took the lead thanks to good movement and a fine finish from Konrad Laimer, but it looked like Stuttgart had equalized before half-time through Nicolas Nault (who has an interesting story of his own), but was ruled out for offside.
Then, in the 60th minute, Harry Kane came on.
In the 66th minute, the British led 2-0, which was the beginning of Stuttgart’s collapse. In the 78th minute, after Alexander Nubel missed a goal, Stanisic’s shot scored, 3-0. In the 82nd minute, Kane took a penalty kick, 4-0. In the end, the 32-year-old made it 5-0 in the 88th minute.
Bayern leads Leipzig by 11 points, who face Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday night.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
