At the bottom of the table there is a direct duel on matchday 28, and Bayern also have to put up with the defeat against ManCity. At Dortmund, goalkeeper Gregor Kobel faces a double anniversary against ex-club Stuttgart.
Dortmund is a guest in Stuttgart, Bremen meets Freiburg and Schalke hosts Hoffenheim.
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Cellar duel in Gelsenkirchen
Bottom of the table against the penultimate: The 28th matchday starts on Friday evening (8.30 p.m.) directly with a game of enormous importance. Not only do the two weakest teams in the league meet in the Veltins Arena in terms of points, Schalke and Hertha are also at the bottom of the rankings when looking at the offensive departments – in the current calendar year. While the Berliners have scored twelve goals in 2023 to date, the Royal Blues are in last place with eight goals scored and thus also one place behind Hertha. The last three duels between the two teams all ended in favor of the Berliners.
Bayern in the balancing act between Hoffenheim and ManCity
While the term of office of the new Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel could hardly have started better with the 4-2 win over BVB, the coach and his team suffered when they lost the DFB Cup quarterfinals against SC Freiburg (1: 2). first decent damper. The most recent defeat of the record champions – the 0: 3 in the quarterfinals of the premier class at Manchester City – aggravated the situation and puts Tuchel in a bit of trouble. Against a strong Hoffenheim, which recently won three times in a row in the relegation battle, the coach has to Saturday afternoon (3.30 p.m.) before the Champions League second leg find the perfect mix of rotation and sovereignty, as FCB, in contrast to previous years, also lack dominance in the Bundesliga. The lead over BVB at the top is only two points.
“Men against children” will not be enough for FCA in Leipzig either
The Fuggerstadt team lost 3-1 to Cologne last weekend. After just two points from the last four games, Augsburg are still six points behind the relegation zone and the alarm bells are ringing at FCA. For example, after the defeat against Effzeh, captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw described the duel behavior of Augsburg, who have been waiting for a win abroad for nine games, as a kind of “men against children”. Leipzig, on the other hand, confirmed the upward trend with the win at Hertha BSC (1-0) and can look forward to the comeback of top scorer Christopher Nkunku before the duel with Augsburg.
Alaaf against Helau: Does the Mainz series last in Cologne?
Mainz 05 has been unbeaten in eight games – the current record in the Bundesliga. Coach Bo Svensson’s team conceded the 2-2 win against Bremen in a turbulent stoppage time and had to settle for a point. The constancy of results over the past few weeks and months is bearing fruit, because Mainz are slowly but surely approaching the international places. The hosts from Cologne, on the other hand, ended their six-game winless streak with a 3-1 win in Augsburg, but have not scored in the last three home games. The first leg in Mainz won’t bring back fond memories for Effzeh: the 05ers clearly won 5-0.
Kobel before double anniversary against ex-club
After losing to Bayern Munich and dropping out of the cup in the quarter-finals in Leipzig, BVB scored a three-pointer against Union Berlin last Saturday (2-1). During the week, Borussia announced the extension of Julian Brandt’s contract, who has been a top performer in coach Edin Terzic’s team this season. A double anniversary is also imminent against VfB Stuttgart, where new coach Sebastian Hoeneß celebrated both on his debut in the DFB Cup quarter-finals against the club (1-0) and recently in Bochum (3-2). : BVB keeper Gregor Kobel would not only play his 100th Bundesliga game (33 of them for VfB) in his almost certain appearance against the former club, but also be in goal for the black and yellow for the 50th time in the league.
SBU without Götze against away weak foals
Mario Götze has played 231 Bundesliga games to date – a yellow card suspension has never slowed the 30-year-old down during this time. This will now change next weekend, because his warning in Leverkusen (1: 3) forces Götze to play Saturday night (6.30 p.m.) against Gladbach for a break. While Frankfurt remained undefeated in the last six home games (4 wins, 2 draws), the Foals were only able to win one of their last 15 away games with a 4-1 win in Hoffenheim at the end of January. In the first leg, Eintracht won 3-1 due to a weak Gladbach defense.
Duel of the top scorers in Bremen
Am Sunday there will be three games, starting with Werder Bremen and SC Freiburg at 3.30 p.m. With Niclas Füllkrug, the green-whites are the current top scorer (16 goals), while Vincenzo Grifo leads the club’s internal rankings for the Breisgauers. With his 13 goals, the Italian international also shares second place in the Bundesliga with Gladbach’s Marcus Thuram behind Füllkrug. Bremen have been waiting for a win for five games, the sports club could jump to a place in the Champions League with three points, but has not won in the Bundesliga for three games.
Champions League aspirant against Kellerkind
The 2-0 defeat in Frankfurt was followed by a 2-1 loss for Union Berlin in the top game at BVB last matchday. Nevertheless, the Irons are still in the middle of the Champions League race and could keep Leipzig and Freiburg at a distance with three points. VfL Bochum, who recently lost 2:3 to VfB Stuttgart, would like to put a spanner in the works. However, Bochum will have to do without their suspended captain Anthony Losilla in Köpenick, as the veteran received his 5th yellow card of the season in the turbulent final phase against VfB.
Will Wolves end Leverkusen’s impressive streak?
At the end of the 28th match day, the Wolves meet Bayer Leverkusen in the Volkswagen Arena. After nine games without defeat in all competitions, Xabi Alonso’s team travel to Wolfsburg with a wide burst, which has always been behind in the last three home games, but was still able to bag a point at the end. For VfL coach Niko Kovac and his brother or assistant coach Robert Kovac, there is also a duel with the former club: While Niko Kovac played a total of 77 Bundesliga games for Bayer between 1996 and 1999, his brother even wore the jersey 127 times the Werkself.
