Bundesliga Match Day 32: Preview and Forecast
This match between Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt would possibly mean more if Die Roten had not already:
1. Clinched the Bundesliga title
2. Become solely focused on trying to upset Real Madrid in the UCL semifinals (more on that later this weekend)
3. Endured so many injuries that their training room looks like the Omaha Beach scene from Saving Private Ryan
4. Called up three (so far!) reserve players to take the field against the Eagles
The Niko Kovac Bowl essentially is an afterthought. Bayern will enter the game with as few as two or three - maybe four at most - regular starters in its lineup. The talent on the Bayern roster is still good enough to beat Frankfurt for sure, but it will be decidedly closer when so many regulars will be out.
What Eagles team shows up is an even better question. Are they the team that bested Schalke 04 in the DFB Pokal semifinals or the squad that got boatraced 3-0 by Hertha Berlin last weekend?
Prediction: Bayern Munich 2, Eintracht Frankfurt 1
Hoffenheim 3, Hannover 96 1: Hoffenheim is ROLLING right now and playing as well as it has in the past two seasons under Julian Nagelsmann. With offensive contributions coming from a plethora of players, it is not hard to see why the team has been on fire. Mark Uth (14 goals across all competitions), Serge Gnabry (10), and Andrej Kramaric (9) offer Nagelsmann three great producers. Hannover, meanwhile, is licking its wounds after last week's drubbing at he hands of Bayern Munich. Despite Hannover's relative success with its rugged style, they are just running into an incredibly hot team this week and can't match up offensively.
FC Koln 1, SC Freiburg 1 / Wolfsburg 2, Hamburger SV 1 / RB Leipzig 3, Mainz 1:
As Bundesliga Spotlight (@BundesligaSpot) laid out, this is a HUGE week for Koln, Freiburg, Mainz, and Hamburg.
Koln is playing for pride at this stage. It's borderline unrealistic to think they can climb out of relegation. Similarly, Hamburg's chances aren't much better even if they beat a somewhat better Wolfsburg side this week.
Leipzig has been garbage of late, but it is time to pull itself up off the ground and actually play the game. Mainz is not good, but it is typically not a pushover either.
Hertha Berlin 1, FC Augsburg 1: Hertha is coming off a nice win, but is banged up. Augsburg is in dire need of a win. This one just feels like a draw.
Schalke 04 3, Borussia Monchengladbach 2 / Borussia Dortmund 3, Werder Bremen 1: The Royals Blues had a misstep last week in its draw with the Billy Goats, while the Foals FINALLY broke through and put a 3-0 beating on the Wolves (you LOVE all those nicknames). As much as we've lauded M'Gladbach, it's hard to pick against Schalke this week as @Bundesliga Spotlight (@BundesligaSpot) once again pointed out:
Expect Marco Reus to lead BVB to a win over a game Werder Bremen side. The win won't likely clinch a UCL spot for Dortmund yet, but it will help make it easier in the coming weeks.
Bayer Leverkusen 3, VfB Stuttgart 2: Leverkusen got smashed by Dortmund after dropping its DFB Pokal showdown with Bayern earlier in the week. Stuttgart won't be a pushover, but we would expect Julian Brandt, Leon Bailey, and Kevin Volland to be among Die Werkself's integral players in this match and will Leverkusen to a hard-fought win.
Last week's (horrid) record: 3-6
This season's (terrible) record: 47-52
Note: Predicted ties count as a win if correct and as a loss if there is a winner; conversely if a game is predicted to have a winner but ends in a tie, it will count as a loss.
