The weekend Bundesliga action is neatly upon us and another round of exciting fixtures awaits. Leverkusen maintained their unbeaten run last weekend with Bayern finally ending their losing run. There are so many talking points ahead of matchday 24 , so here we bring you five questions ahead of the weekend’s entertainment……
1- Can Köln cause a Rheinderby upset?
Just 13km separates Köln and Leverkusen geographically, but in terms of Bundesliga fortunes this season, the gulf between the Rhein neighbours is much bigger. The Geißböcke are very much in a relegation dogfight whereas the Werkself are riding high at the top of the table, unbeaten and widely tipped to succeed Bayern Munich as champions. Everything would point towards a win for Bayer Leverkusen this weekend as first plays sixteenth, but in Rheinderby nothing can be certain.
The corresponding fixture in the first half of the season was easily won 3-0 by Xabi Alonso’s side and there seems little reason to suspect that their unbeaten run will be under threat when they make the short journey to the Domstadt on Sunday. Köln’s did win at the Bay Arena last season on matchday 31, and with the fear of relegation rearing its ugly head, the motivation is certainly there to spring another surprise.
2- Is the Bayern mini-crisis over?
When Harry Kane fired in his 27th goal of the season during injury time last week at home to RB Leipzig to win the game, there was a palpable sigh of collective relief amongst the Bayern fans, players and management. After three successive defeats the word ‘crisis’ was very much in vogue at the Rekordmeister and the pressure on coach Thomas Tuchel got to the point where it was decided he wouldn’t be continuing in his post next season.
The performance against Leipzig was an improvement, but the Saxony side probably deserved a point for their endeavours. Bayern still have an eight-point gap to make up on Bayer Leverkusen and the question is whether the crisis is over, or whether the Bavarians are just one more poor result away from another internal meltdown.
Friday sees them away at an out-of-form Freiburg. The gap to Leverkusen could be cut to just five, but then again……
3- How much pressure is Edin Terzic under?
It would be safe to assume that Edin Terzic steers well clear of social media after Dortmund suffer disappointing results. Last week’s 3-2 home defeat to Hoffenheim (their third at the Signal Iduna Park this season) unleashed a torrent of negativity towards the BVB trainer and looking for a positive was like looking for a non-existent needle in a haystack.
The hope was that last season’s huge disappointment would serve as a springboard for another genuine title challenge, but instead the Schwarzgelben are in a fight to make it into the top four. With every dropped point, the ‘Terzic Out’ crowd grows in number and the speculation as to who could/ should succeed him increases. An away trip to Union Berlin is not the easiest of tasks and it could well be that the Dortmund coach is once again giving the social media a swerve.
4- Does the bottom half of the table beckon for Freiburg?
Every season Freiburg trainer Christian Streich says the season target is to reach 40 points and Bundesliga safety, while the club then spends the season competing for the European places. The Breisgauer currently sit on 29 points (9th place) and find themselves in a bit of a rut following a run of five winless games in the league (four defeats).
They had already reached 42 points by this stage last season, which just goes to show the difficulties the club are having this time around. They entertain Bayern Munich on Friday and with the Bavarians determined to put their own woes behind them, the 40-point mark might have to wait for a little while yet.
5- Have Borussia Mönchengladbach turned a corner?
Like Freiburg, the Foals have found this season to be a struggle and looked in danger of potentially being sucked into the relegation fight. A run of five winless games saw them drop to 15th just six points above historic rivals Köln.
However, a 5-2 win last weekend at home to Bochum saw them finally give their fans something to smile about with Nathan Ngoumou and Franck Honorat in fine form. The hope will be that they can build on that win and start to push up the table. The previous two seasons have seen the coach fired for finishing tenth.
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