In the opening matchday 7, Cologne beat bottom-placed Fürth 3:1. On Saturday, FC Bayern face Frankfurt, who have great longings for Munich. Wolfsburg against Gladbach will see the only penalty misses this season on the pitch.

Dudziak’s double post shot will be costly

SpVgg Greuther Fürth missed out on their first win of the season on Friday night, despite Meyerhöfer giving the cloverleaf an early lead in Cologne (7.). The visitors had the goal scream on their lips again after half an hour, but Dudziak failed twice within seconds at the inside post. And so it was that Cologne were allowed to exploit their superiority after the changeover – Andersson and Skhiri turned the tables (50th, 55th), before Skhiri again put the lid on the 3:1 home victory seconds before the end after a counterattack. While the Rhinelanders move up to sixth place, Fürth remain at one point.

Dortmund – Augsburg: Where the hype about Haaland began

Erling Haaland – almost every text currently being written about Borussia Dortmund deals with this name. Since Friday it has been clear that he will not be able to play against Augsburg on Saturday afternoon. Good news for the Augsburgers, in whose stadium the whole (justified) hype about the exceptional striker once began. There, the Norwegian was substituted for the first time in the Bundesliga, FCA led 3:1, 20 minutes later it was 5:3 for BVB thanks to Haaland. Now Weinzierl’s team has to face Borussia in Dortmund, who are strong at home (they have won seven home games in a row), and the Fuggerstädtern are threatened with two negative records: FCA have gone nine away games without a win (only two draws, the last victory dates back to the 23rd matchday of the pre-season under Heiko Herrlich), and Augsburg have also failed to score a goal of their own three times away from home. One more game without a goal and the negative club record would be perfect.

Wolfsburg – Mönchengladbach: What Weghorst and Stindl have in common

Gladbach are a welcome guest in Wolfsburg – you have to go back to 2003 to find a Borussia win at the Lower Saxons. At 3:1 under coach Holger Fach, the Foals got their first away win back then on matchday 13. Away weakness is once again the theme for Gladbach, with only defeats so far this season, while Wolfsburg experienced the feeling of defeat for the first time on matchday 6 at TSG Hoffenheim. What both clubs have in common this season is that only they have missed a penalty so far – Wolfsburg’s Wout Weghorst missed on matchday 1 against Bochum, Gladbach’s Lars Stindl on matchday 2 against Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Stuttgart – Hoffenheim: First top, then dry spell

Baumgartner, Larsen, Adamyan, Akpoguma, Dabbur, Kaderabek, Rudy, Rutter – and even Kramaric. Those are TSG Hoffenheim’s nine goal scorers so far. What’s special about them? No other Bundesliga club currently has more different goal scorers. Not even VfB Stuttgart can match that, although with seven different goal scorers they are also difficult to calculate. The Kraichgauer went through a similar phase in 2020/21 as VfB is currently going through. Matarazzo’s team got off to a furious start (5:1 against Fürth) and finished first, but since then they have not won another match. Last season, Hoffenheim were at the top of the table after two rounds, but then experienced a dry spell of seven games.

Hertha – Freiburg: Frustration meets emotion – and a top score

Frustration meets emotion, that’s the motto for the clash between Hertha BSC and SC Freiburg. The Berliners were given a good drubbing in their last match, a 6-0 defeat in Leipzig, and have been struggling to come to terms with the debacle ever since. The Breisgauers, on the other hand, celebrated a huge party (3:0) against Augsburg in the “old” Dreisamstadion before moving to the new arena. The different emotional worlds are also reflected in the statistics – Hertha have already conceded 18 goals, more than ever before after six matchdays, and keeper Schwolow also has the weakest record in the league with only 41.9 per cent of shots saved. SC goalkeeper Flekken, on the other hand, is currently the best keeper in the league in this category with 83.3 per cent. He has only had to make four saves – also the best figure for SC at this stage of the season.

Leipzig – Bochum: RB ride rollercoaster – Bochum as welcome as Auerbach

Leipzig only know extremes – “either we play very well or very badly,” says RB coach Jesse Marsch. 6-0 against Hertha, 1-2 against Club Brugge – welcome to Leipzig’s rollercoaster ride in the late summer of 2021. The RB coach has virtually inherited the inconsistency from his predecessor Julian  Nagelsmann, as the Saxons did not win twice in a row after the 24th matchday of pre-season. That is not enough for a team that has the CL places as its goal. However, Bochum is a team against whom Leipzig have won each of their five competitive matches. The only other team in RB’s history with such a flawless record is VfB Auerbach, a team from the northeast regional league. It is quite likely that Leipzig can record their second league win in a row against Bochum, as coach Thomas Reis’s team travels with zero away points and 1:10 goals.

Mainz – Union: Will the Mainz bulwark prevent Berlin’s 100th goal?

Mainz and Union – there was something: In Klopp’s day, FSV dramatically scraped past the Bundesliga in May 2002 as they lost 3-1 in Berlin. The Nullfünfer have now been in the Bundesliga since 2009 and have made a strong start to the current season, for example, the Svensson team is the only team still without conceding a goal at home. Union is only in its third season in the top flight, celebrated its 100th point in the recent home win against Bielefeld, and could now score its 100th Bundesliga goal in its 75th game in Mainz (99 so far).

Bayern – Frankfurt: Eintracht’s longing – No Lewandowski record in sight

Fc Bayern are playing and for once in weeks there is no record to be broken by Robert Lewandowski. After the goal-scorer’s last empty-netter at Fürth left a Gerd Müller record unbroken for the time being (16 games in a row with one goal), the Munich team is once again in demand in this respect: in the past 53 Bundesliga games, the record champions have always scored. This is still a long way from the previous record (2012-2014, 65 games), but the hunt for it is on the home stretch. Opponents Frankfurt come in extremely handy from Bayern’s point of view, as the Hessians have been waiting for a win in Munich for over 20 years. The 2:1 win in 2000 ended a 24-year drought. On matchday 7 of the current season, the team with the most Bundesliga victories will also meet the team with the most defeats: Bayern have cheered 1149 times, while Frankfurt have left the pitch with their heads hanging 667 times.

Bielefeld – Leverkusen: Kramer’s fond memories – Bayer almost never know a deficit

When you take the lead, things go easier. Especially for teams like Bielefeld, that can be a boost, but the East Westphalians have only enjoyed a lead for five minutes so far – only bottom team Fürth is even lower with four minutes. On the other hand, Leverkusen have only known a deficit for 18 minutes so far – and have also only conceded one defeat due to this league record, in the spectacle against BVB. Nevertheless, Frank Kramer has good memories of the Werksklub, because it was in Leverkusen, of all places, that the DSC coach celebrated his first victory with Arminia last season.