Bundesliga Match Day 21: Weekend Wrap-Up
- Chuck Smith
- Feb 11, 2019
- 4 min read
Ladies and gentlemen...we have a RACE!
Just a week after looking like it might be out of the hunt, Bayern Munich smacked Schalke for a 3-1 victory behind goals from Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry, along with an own goal from Schalke. But Bayern's effort was rewarded by an even greater stroke of luck given Hoffenheim's insane three-goal comeback to stun BVB and force a 3-3 draw.
Schalke's effort was extremely disappointing to say the least. Die Königsblauen showed little fight against the Bavarians and made it easy for the home side to pick up three points.
As for Dortmund, BVB let a 3-0 advantage slip away against a Hoffenheim team that just never quit. After Jadon Sancho, Mario Gotze, and Raphael Guerreiro gave the Black and Yellows what looked like a commanding 3-0 lead, Hoffenheim bounced back with three goals in a 12-minute span to force a draw and leave BVB bewildered.
Ishak Belfodil (75') and Pavel Kaderabek (83') started to make Dortmund sweat a bit late in the contest, but it was Belfodil's 87th minute tally that provided the final blow to BVB's hopes for a win. It was an amazing comeback from Julian Nagelsmann's team, which is helping the 31-year-old maintain his mastermind status.
Dortmund is not the same squad without Marco Reus in the lineup (DUH!), but even with Reus, Lucien' Favre's roster is starting to show some signs of weakness. No longer rampaging through all comers, BVB is looking a bit vulnerable.
That slight bit of doubt that appears to be seeping in at Dortmund could be just enough to make this Bundesliga title race a must-see event for the rest of the season.
Prediction: Hoffenheim 2, Borussia Dortmund 2 (W)
Prediction: Bayern Munich 3, Schalke 1 (W)
Hannover 96 2, FC Nurnberg 0: Fighting for its Bundesliga life, Hannover took a "W" in a must win game. Der Club's Simon Rhein was assessed a red card for rough play just 11 minutes into the match and Hannover did well to take advantage of it. Nicolai Muller, who arrived last month from Eintracht Frankfurt (Random note: And who I saw perform really well in Philadelphia last summer!) scored a brace to help H96 get a much needed victory.
With the victory by Hannover, Nurnberg dropped to last place in the table and looks like a sure bet for relegation.
Prediction: FC Nurnberg 1, Hannover 96 1 (L)
RB Leipzig 0, Eintracht Frankfurt 0: Somehow, some way, a game featuring two of the league most potent offenses ended in a scoreless draw. I think it speaks more to the growing quality and depth that is building in each squad than any offensive deficiency. These are two teams to keep an eye on every week and two that are normally much more exciting offensively
Prediction: RB Leipzig 2, Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (W)
Werder Bremen 4, FC Augsburg 0: Milot Rashica had two goals and Johannes Eggestein had one in the game's first 28 minutes to allow Die Werderaner to race away for a dominant victory over a very disappointing Augsburg side.
Kevin Mohwald added a second half tally, but it was just piling on at that point. Die Fuggerstädter is going ti have to do a lot of soul searching after that abysmal effort.
Prediction: Werder Bremen 2, FC Augsburg 2 (L)
Fortuna Dusseldorf 3, VfB Stuttgart 0: F95 did what it had to do to push itself further up the table, while Die Schwaben is just bad...like really bad. Kenan Karaman had a first half goal for Dusseldorf, while 36-year-old Oliver Fink and 24-year-old Benito Raman iced the game with scores in the second half for F95.
Stuttgart is in serious trouble and just looks absolutely hapless.
Prediction: VfB Stuttgart 2, Fortuna Dusseldorf 1 (L)
Wolfsburg 3, SC Freiburg 3: These two traded punches up until the end of the game when Luca Waldschmidt's 88th minute goal knotted the game at 3-3 to secure a draw for Freiburg. In the second most exciting game of the weekend, Freiburg fought-and-clawed its way to a hard-fought tie despite a solid offensive effort from Wolfsburg.
The Wolves stormed out to an early lead behind an 11th minute goal from Jerome Roussillon, before Breisgau-Brasilianer's Vincenzo Grifo knotted the game. From there the offensive free-for-all was on.
Wolfsburg's Wout Weghorst gave his squad a 2-1 lead on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute before Freiburg's Nils Petersen once again evened the game for Breisgau-Brasilianer. Renato Steffen answered 11 minutes later for the Wolves, but no lead was safe in this one.
Waldschmidt continued his impressive season with his aforementioned tally to secure a much-needed point for Freiburg.
Prediction: Wolfsburg 2, SC Freiburg 1 (L)
Bayer Leverkusen 5, Mainz 1: Die Werkself blasted Mainz on Friday behind a brace from Julian Brandt, who has been re-born under Peter Bosz, and a goal each from wunderkind Kai Havertz, Wendell, and Karim Bellarabi.
Robin Quaison's 9th minute goal was the only real highlight from a game that Mainz will likely want to move on from ASAP.
Prediction: Bayer Leverkusen 3, Mainz 1 (W)
Hertha Berlin 3, Borussia Monchengladbach 0: I've been espousing Die Alte Dame's toughness for weeks, but they really showed their mettle this week. After forcing Bayern to extra time in the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday, Hertha Berlin came back to league play and decimated one of the best teams in the Bundesliga like it was nothing.
Salomon Kalou, Ondrej Duda, and Davie Selke took care of the scoring load, but for Hertha to shut out what has been a very formidable offensive side like M'Gladbach is even more impressive. What an effort by Die Alte Dame! Pal Dardai's squad is showing that it is legit more and more.
Prediction: Borussia Monchengladbach 2, Hertha Berlin 1 (L)
Last match day record: 4-5
Season record: 89-100
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.
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