The next German championship for FC Bayern is drawing ever closer as the Munich side won clearly in Freiburg on Saturday and BVB lost to Leipzig in the evening. In the basement, Bielefeld passed Hertha
BVB lose 1:4 in sold-out stadium
Borussia Dortmund lost the highly anticipated top match 1:4 against RB Leipzig in front of 81,365 spectators. BVB missed their chances in the early stages of the match and were punished by Laimer after 21 minutes. A little later, the Austrian even made it 2:0 (30.). After the break, Dortmund was too harmless offensively, which is why RB was allowed to increase the lead to 3:0 through a brilliant combination by Nkunku (58.). Malen’s 1:3 only brought hope for 120 seconds (84th), because Dani Olmo made the final score 4:1 (86th). With the Westphalians now nine points behind, they can probably forget about the title.
Five goals after the break: Bayern beats Freiburg
Also because Bayern took the next step towards defending their title on Saturday afternoon: The Munich side won 4-1 in Freiburg, passing their dress rehearsal for the approaching Champions League quarter-final against Villarreal. After a tired first half, Kimmich’s free-kick provided the decisive impetus. Goretzka, making his comeback in the starting eleven, headed into the empty net after Flekken had missed the ball (58th). Joker Petersen had the quick answer ready, who made it 1-1 just 17 seconds after coming on as a substitute (63rd). Bayern joker Gnabry made it 2-1 before the start of the final quarter of an hour (73rd), Coman and Sabitzer finally put the lid on it (82nd, 90th +6th). There was also some confusion about changes in a turbulent second half – read all about Munich’s substitution error in Freiburg here.
Magath’s return to the bench fails
Felix Magath is back in the Bundesliga, but on his comeback to the bench Hertha BSC conceded their 16th league defeat: In the 1:2 in Leverkusen, it was especially the last ten of the first 45 minutes that had it all. Bayer 04 took the lead through a double strike by Alario and Bellarabi (35th, 40th), to which Darida found a quick answer (42nd). After the change of ends, the Werkself had more chances, but it would remain a narrow victory. While Leverkusen consolidated their third place, Hertha were pushed down to 17th place by Bielefeld.
VfB’s lack of chances costs victory in Bielefeld
Despite trailing at the break, Arminia came away with a thoroughly fortunate 1-1 draw against VfB Stuttgart. The Swabians started in swinging fashion and took the lead after 25 minutes through a handball penalty converted by Kalajdzic. Before the break, Marmoush ran alone towards the Arminia goal, but carelessly missed the 2:0 (40th). A little out of nowhere, Bielefeld equalised through Krüger (59th), before Stuttgart’s proliferation of chances continued. An example of this was in the 78th minute, when VfB missed a promising triple chance within seconds.
SpVgg keeper Linde unnerves Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt failed their dress rehearsal for the much-awaited Europa League home match against Barcelona on Thursday: The Hessians could not get beyond a 0-0 draw at home against bottom side Fürth, who collected only their second away point. Frankfurt developed too little penetrating power – and what came on goal was defused by the well-performing Fürth keeper Linde. With 39 points, the SGE remains in no-man’s land in the table.
Meanwhile, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim suffered their next setback after the 3-0 defeat in Berlin before the international break: The Kraichgau side lost 2-1 at home to promoted Bochum. The match-winner for VfL was Asano (28th, 59th). For Hoffenheim, only national player Raum scored under the eyes of national coach Hansi Flick. Nevertheless, 1899 is still only one point behind fourth-placed Leipzig before the evening match.
