Guten Abend und willkommen in der wunderbaren Welt des deutschen Fußballs! I’ve expanded to covering German soccer, so pour yourself a pint of lager and some pretzels and get ready for this past weekend’s action in the Bundesliga.
Of the nine games on this matchday, eight teams won on the road, with SC Freiburg marring things by drawing at Augsburg. (See the losers section for more details.) Had they won their match, it would have set a Bundesliga record.
As it is, this shares the record for the best round visiting teams have ever enjoyed in the German top flight. Besides the visitors, who else won the week?
Bundesliga winners from Matchday 24
Armin Gigović
The Bosnian midfielder bagged a goal and a precious win for Holstein Kiel over Union Berlin that lifts the Storks off the bottom of the table and gives the Schleswig-Holstein club hope of avoiding relegation. It was the first road win in Holstein’s history in the Bundi.
Nadiem Amiri
Mainz’s playmaker was the star of their win over RB Leipzig, scoring one goal and assisting on Jonathan Burkhardt’s match-winner. The valuable road victory keeps the ’05ers in the hunt for the Champions League places.
Patrick Wimmer and Marius Müller
For a team struggling to win recently (especially on the road), Wolfsburg’s 2-1 victory at Werder Bremen was a team effort, with the Austrian striker Wimmer getting both goals (one a corner kick that spilled off his back) and the goalkeeper stopping a number of point-blank chances. A magnificent strike by Mitchell Weiser in the dying minutes denied him a clean sheet, but he deserved credit for the three points as much as anyone.
Karim Adeyemi
His goal was Route One football at its best, as the Borussia Dortmund winger picked up a long clearance, muscled past one defender, faked out the other one, and finished past Nikola Vasilj to seal Dortmund’s win over St. Pauli. Road wins have been scarce this season for Borussia Dortmund, so Adeyemi’s efforts will be much appreciated.
Borussia Mönchengladbach
A routine win over relegation-threatened Heidenheim included Kevin Stöger’s defense-splitting pass to give Robin Hack a breakaway goal, a tricky outside-of-the-boot goal from Nathan Ngoumou, and a couple of great stops and a clean sheet from fourth-choice goalkeeper Tiago Pereira.
Bundesliga losers from Matchday 24
Eintracht Frankfurt
They seem to be struggling after the departure of Omar Marmoush, and successive losses to the top two teams in the Bundesliga have left them 19 points behind first place. They have five points out of their last five matches, and they’ve got Freiburg and Mainz creeping up on them.
SC Freiburg
Eintracht’s loss gave them a chance to grab a share of third place, but their hosts at FC Augsburg outplayed them, and Freiburg can thank their goalkeeper Noah Atubolu for the goalless draw, with the goalpost denying Steve Mounié a last-gasp winner for the home side.
VfL Bochum
A lifeless display against TSG Hoffenheim leaves them in the relegation playoff place with Holstein Kiel one point behind them in the standings. They’ve won relegation playoffs before, but they’d rather not face that again.
Stuttgart’s defense
Bayern Munich’s comeback win was less about the Bavarians’ brilliance and more about the hideous defensive errors that the Swabians made in all three of Bayern’s goals. Just before halftime, Leroy Sané’s simple through ball gave Michael Olise a breakaway for the equalizer. Then in the second half, Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, who’s on loan from Bayern, gifted his parent club a goal with a bad pass to Angelo Stiller, even though Leon Goretzka was standing immediately behind the midfielder and nicked the pass for an easy goal. Josha Vagnoman then put the game away by putting the ball past Nübel and giving Kingsley Coman an empty net to shoot at. It was schoolyard-worthy defending from a Champions League team.
Nordi Mukiele
This may be harsh on the Bayer Leverkusen defender when it was Eintracht Frankfurt’s backline that got carved open so effortlessly during Leverkusen’s 4-1 win, but the Frenchman on loan from Paris St.-Germain cruelly exposed his goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky on a backpass that his compatriot Hugo Ekitiké latched onto for Eintracht’s only goal. His error was the only blemish on an emphatic win over the team in third place.