Bundesliga Match Day 26: Weekend Wrap-Up
Like he has many times before this season, Marco Reus saved Borussia Dortmund.
Reus, who was the Bundesliga's MVP of the Hinrunde (at least in my estimation), captured three points for BVB with a goal two minutes into extra time against Hertha Berlin to seal a needed victory for Dortmund.
Salomon Kalou (4' and 35' - PK) sandwiched goals around a tally from Thomas Delaney to give Die Alte Dame a 2-1 lead entering the break, but Dan-Axel Zagadou's goal in the 47th minute knotted the game at 2-2. It looked like the game was headed for a draw, which would have been excellent for Hertha Berlin, but Jordan Torunarigha picked up two yellow cards in a nine-minute span, which left Hertha down a man for the game's final five minutes, plus extra time.
That was all that Reus would need to take advantage of a bad situation for Die Alte Dame. The three points would turn out to be huge considering that Bayern destroyed Mainz on Sunday. If BVB can pull out the league title, it can look back to this game as a key reason why.
Also, Jadon Sancho continued his productive play and had two assists.
Prediction: Hertha Berlin 2, Borussia Dortmund 2 (L)
Borussia Monchengladbach 1, SC Freiburg 1: M'Gladbach's awful slide continued against Freiburg and while the Foals didn't lose the game, it was another lost opportunity to help solidify a top four position. With Eintracht Frankfurt charging hard up the table, M'Gladbach could be in serious danger of dropping to a Europa League spot, if not out of European play altogether.
Breisgau-Brasilianer's Vincenzo Grifo scored just 10 minutes into the game before Alassane Plea (assisted by Thorgan Hazard) answered back to tie the game just six minutes later. From there, however, Christian Streich's men battled hard to pull out a hard-fought draw, which helped push Breisgau-Brasilianer into 11th place.
Prediction: Borussia Monchengladbach 3, SC Freiburg 2 (L)
Wolfsburg 5, Fortuna Dusseldorf 2: Wout Weghorst was overpowering as he had a hat trick and an assist to continue his solid play, while Admir Mehmedi and Robin Knoche also scored. This performance showed that the Wolves were not going to let a horrid outcome last week against Bayern linger. It was a great showing for Wolfsburg in displaying the tenacity and firepower that is carrying it into contention for a top six position.
For F95, Kaan Ayhan (30') and Benito Raman (65') score to at least show Dusseldorf had some fight.
Prediction: Wolfsburg 3, Fortuna Dusseldorf 1 (W)
VfB Stuttgart 1, Hoffenheim 1: Stuttgart picked up a needed point in its effort to escape the RELEGATION DANGER ZONE, but could not secure the victory. Hoffenheim's Andrej Kramaric continued his excellent play and scored in the 42nd minute to give TSG1899 a temporary lead, but Steven Zuber's 65th minute tally tied the game for good.
For Hoffenheim, a chance a European slot is looking harder to achieve, but not impossible, while Stuttgart is undoubtedly happy to take any point it can get as the season starts to wind down.
Prediction: Hoffenheim 2, VfB Stuttgart 1 (L)
RB Leipzig 1, Schalke 04 0: Timo Werner finally got his first goal of 2019 in the 14th minute and that is all that Die Roten Bullen would need to turn away a hapless Schalke side.
Prediction: RB Leipzig 3, Schalke 04 1 (W)
Eintracht Frankfurt 1, FC Nurnberg 0: Martin Hinteregger's 31st minute goal was the difference in this game as Eintracht Frankfurt is one of the teams that could use a bit of a rest at this stage. Die Adler is rolling and looking like a complete and utter force at this stage of the season.
Prediction: Eintracht Frankfurt 3, FC Nurnberg 1
FC Augsburg 3, Hannover 96 1: Hendrik Weydandt's goal in the eighth minute gave Hannover 96 a temporary lead, but Die Fuggerstädter was not going to be denied. Sergio Cordova (65'), Jonathan Schmid (78'), and Andre Hahn (86') all scored in the second half to ease Augsburg to the victory.
Prediction: FC Augsburg 2, Hannover 96 1 (W)
Werder Bremen 3, Bayer Leverkusen 1: While Leverkusen has improved greatly under Peter Bosz, it is still wildly inconsistent as shown this weekend against Werder Bremen. Die Werderaner used a brace from Max Kruse ( 13'and 90+5'), along with another goal from Milot Rashica (37') to dispatch Die Werkself.
Leverkusen did receive a 75th minute goal from Leon Bailey, but just could not mount enough of an effort to offset Werder Bremen. This is a phenomenal win for Bremen, however, which is showing the signs of growth needed for this season. With any luck, Die Werderaner could find itself in a top six position by the season's end.
Prediction: Bayer Leverkusen 3, Werder Bremen 2 (L)
Bayern Munich 6, Mainz 05 0: If the loss to Liverpool in the Champions League had any last effect, it wore off by Sunday as the Bavarians throttled Mainz. Robert Lewandowski opened up scoring in the third minute, James Rodriguez had a hat trick, Kingsley Coman cut-in for a tremendous goal, and Canadian Alphonso Davies scored his first Bundesliga goal.
Amazingly, of Bayern's six goals, five were assisted on and each helper was from a different player. It was truly a dominant effort by Die Roten.
Prediction: Bayern Munich 4, Mainz 05 1 (W)
Last match day record: 5-4
Season record: 117-117
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.
