Somehow the top two teams managed to put more distance between them and the rest of the chasing pack in Germany. If the title race and the relegation race remained the same, the middle of the table still provided some drama. Here’s the weekend’s recap:
Bundesliga winners for Matchday 28
Emiliano Buendía
Bayer Leverkusen so did not deserve to win that game at Heidenheim, but the Argentinian playmaker and Aston Villa loanee picked a fantastic time to score his first in the Bundesliga by shooting the ball off the near post and in. His name means “good day,” and he sure gave Leverkusen one.
Borussia Dortmund
They used to have games like that all the time. They comprehensively outplayed Freiburg at the Stade Europa-Park, with different players scoring all the goals in their 4-1 win. In so doing, they pulled themselves within five points of the Champions League spots. Maybe there’s a run for the European places in this team yet.
RB Leipzig’s redemption stories
Péter Gulácsi created Hoffenheim’s opening goal when he gave the ball straight to Bazoumana Touré, who assisted Tom Bischof’s scintillating finish. He came up big, though, during a late breakaway by Hoffenheim, when he saved both Valentin Gendrey’s shot and then Bischof’s follow-up. On the other end, Yussuf Poulsen was on zero goals for Leipzig going into the match. His initial blast staggered Oliver Baumann as he blocked the shot, but the ball came back to the Dane and he swept home to seal a 3-1 win. Oh, and Zsolt Lőw took over for fired head coach Marco Rose and won his first Bundesliga match as a coach.
Robin Zentner
Any time a goalkeeper keeps the ball out while facing a 2-on-0 breakaway, he deserves a mention here. Champions League-chasing Mainz got completely outplayed by last-place Holstein Kiel, but Mainz’ keeper (who played for Holstein back when they were in the German third division) performed heroically to prevent a loss and a total disaster for his team’s Champions League hopes.
Ermedin Demirović
Stuttgart’s striker got his first career hat trick in his team’s win over Bochum. It capped a week when his team booked their place in the German cup final, where they’re looking at a winnable game against Arminia Bielefeld.
Oliver Burke
The Scotsman has been impotent in front of goal whether playing in Germany or the English second division, but he headed home the opening goal in Werder Bremen’s win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Maybe that will give this hard-luck case some much-needed confidence.
Benedict Hollerbach
Scored the only goal in Union Berlin’s win over Wolfsburg, and his name has us singing Gwen Stefani. A few times he’s been around that track, and it can happen just like that, and we’re all just Hollerbach girls, we’re all just Hollerbach girls. Diese Scheiße ist Bananen, B-A-N-E-N-E-N! Diese Scheiße ist Bananen, B-A-N-E-N-E-N!
Bundesliga losers for Matchday 28
Cédric Zesiger
The Augsburg defender was already on a yellow card when he slide-tackled Harry Kane from behind and picked up that second yellow. The ensuing free kick led directly to a goal by Kane, putting Bayern up and contributing to the league leaders’ 3-1 win. Maybe a defeat to Bayern was only to be expected, but the Swiss player sure didn’t help his team’s chase for the European places.
Eintracht Frankfurt
They lost, and lost badly on a foggy day in Bremen, and they are lucky that Mainz only managed a draw in their game, or they would be looking over their shoulder at Leipzig for that last Champions League place.
Felix Brych
He has a reputation as one of Germany’s best referees, not to mention a doctorate in law in that country. Still, how did he not punish anyone when Bochum defender Ivan Ordets body-slammed Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade into the advertising hoardings? Bad stuff there, Herr Doktor.
VfL Bochum
That no-call had no bearing on Bochum being smashed 4-0 by Stuttgart. That’s three straight losses since their win over Bayern. At least their fellow relegation strugglers Heidenheim put up a fight this weekend.