So, with Bayern Munich newly crowned as Bundesliga champions, we finally enter the penultimate weekend of the Corona virus affected 2019-20 season with several questions still to be answered.
Is there still hope for Werder Bremen?
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings is the saying. In Werder Bremen’s case the overweight dame has already moved up to the microphone and is poised to belt out her tune. In order to stop the overweight crooner from reaching the high note, Florian Kohfeldt’s side are going to have to beat Mainz at the weekend and hope that other results go their way before they go into next week’s final matchday.
The Grün-Weißen’s 1-0 defeat to Bayern on Tuesday strangely felt like a good result until both Fortuna Düsseldorf and Mainz cooked up surprises in their fixtures on Wednesday. The Nullfünfer’s shock win over Borussia Dortmund put a fair amount of distance between them and the bottom three, while Fortuna’s late fightback at Leipzig gave them a little leeway ahead of Werder.
Leonardo Bittencourt, scorer of recent vital goals against both Freiburg and Schalke is not giving up hope just yet saying, “We need to win both games, regardless of what the other teams do. We’ve already done what nobody believed we could. We beat Freiburg and Schalke, picked up a point in Gladbach and improved our goal difference in Paderborn. We’re on a bit of a roll, which has given us wind in our sails. We can look at the remaining two games as two cup finals.”
Werder fans will be hoping the fat lady stays silent for another week at least.
Can Lewandowski and Müller make it a record-breaking season?
The eighth successive Bundesliga title may already be in the bag, but the season is not over for Bayern Munich. The Bavarians are looking to break the 100 goals barrier for the season while Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller are looking to improve their own personal record best seasons.
The Polish striker has hit 31 goals in the league so far and will be seeking to add to his tally against Freiburg this weekend. Müller has already broken Kevin de Bruyne’s record of assists in a single Bundesliga season having provided 20 thus far. The record number of goals scored in a single season is held by the 1971-72 Bayern team who hit 101. With two games left the current vintage have 93. Freiburg be warned.
Could RB Leipzig grab the runners-up spot?
Some say that anything other than first is not worth bothering with, but that won’t be the philosophy at RB Leipzig as they seek to overhaul Borussia Dortmund and claim the runners-up spot behind Bayern.
Die Roten Bullen have a three-point deficit over the Schwarzgelben with two games to play, but BVB’s unexpected defeat in midweek to Mainz has shown that at this stage of the season anything is possible.
And as fate would have it, the two sides face each other this weekend at the Red Bull Arena in what could prove a pivotal clash in the race for second. Timo Werner’s confirmed move to Chelsea has grabbed all the recent headlines, but the German international will want to go out on a high with the Sachsen club before he departs for London. Helping fire them to second, would be a nice leaving present.
The two sides played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in the reverse fixture back in December, so anything could happen on Saturday. BVB’s final fixture is against Europa League chasing Hoffenheim, while RB face Augsburg.
Will Union emerge as the capital’s top dogs?
At the start of the season Bundesliga survival would have been the target for Union Berlin after their fairy tale promotion to the topflight for the first time. Few would have envisioned die Eisernen finishing above their city rivals Hertha, but that is a distinct prospect as we enter the final two weeks of the season.
The two clubs are currently level on points (38) although Hertha have a better goal difference by four. Urs Fischer’s side travel to Hoffenheim this weekend with Bruno Labbadia hosting Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympiastadion looking to arrest a run of three consecutive defeats. On the final weekend Union take on Düsseldorf, while Hertha face a trip to Mönchengladbach.
Just to be in the Bundesliga was a dream, to potentially finish above Hertha (and Schalke!) would be more than amazing for the team from Köpenick.
With €20 million at stake, can Leverkusen hold on to fourth?
If you want to know what the difference between fourth and fifth means aside from positioning, it comes down to a minimum Champions League windfall of €20 million. Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach can both see the end of the line, but now it’s the Werkself with their noses slightly in front.
With two games left (Hertha and Mainz) Peter Bosz’s side have a one-point advantage over die Fohlen who must play Paderborn and Hertha. If Leverkusen are going to have any hope of holding onto Kai Havertz for next season, you’d think Champions League participation would be a must, so Bayer have more than the €20 million as the carrot dangling in front of their nose.
