From six-game winning streaks and missed penalties to tooth operations and living corpses, here is the best of the news, statistics and quotes from Matchday 27 in the Bundesliga.
The Lowdown
– RB Leipzig secured their first ever points against Bayern Munich as they came from behind to beat the champions elect 2-1 at the Red Bull Arena. Jupp Heynckes made six changes to the Bayern team which beat Besiktas in Istanbul during the week and it was Sandro Wagner, starting up front in place of Robert Lewandowski, who gave the Bavarians an early lead. But goals either side of halftime from Naby Keita and Timo Werner turned the game around to give Ralph Hasenhüttl’s team a deserved victory.
– Michy Batshuayi was the hero once again for Borussia Dortmund as they bounced back from Thursday’s Europa League disappointment with a 1-0 win over Hannover. The Belgian flicked home brilliantly from Andre Schürrle’s cross and, despite Maximilian Philipp hitting the post for BVB in the second half, it proved to be the winning goal. BVB stay one point behind local rivals Schalke – who are in second.
– Schalke left it late against struggling Wolfsburg but ultimately came away from the Volkswagen Arena with all three points thanks to Robin Knoche’s 86th-minute own-goal. Ten minutes earlier, the Royal Blues had goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann to thank after he saved Paul Verhaegh’s well-struck penalty. It was a third 1-0 win in a row for Domenico Tedesco’s men after identical results against Hertha Berlin and Mainz.
– Borussia Mönchengladbach came from behind three times to draw 3-3 with Hoffenheim in the most entertaining game of the weekend. Struggling Gladbach have still only won one of their last eight Bundesliga matches but coach Dieter Hecking will have been encouraged by the amount of chances his team created – and by the fact that two of his strikers found the net for the first time since January! In terms of the league table however, the draw does neither team much good in the chase for Europe.
– Seemingly doomed Hamburg took the lead against Hertha Berlin in Christian Titz’s first game in charge. Titz, who has led HSV’s U21 team to the top of their regional league this season, fielded Hamburg’s youngest starting XI since January 1974. Despite a promising first half, second-half goals from Valentino Lazaro and Salomon Kalou condemned Hambug to a 14th game without a win – a new negative club record.
– Cologne took advantage of defeats for the rest of the bottom five (Hamburg, Mainz, Wolfsburg and Freiburg) to move off the foot of the table for the first time since Matchday 3. Yuya Osako gave the hosts the lead early on but Cologne took control after Lucas Alario’s first-half red card for an elbow on Dominic Maroh. Simon Zoller capitalized on a sloppy header from Charles Aranguiz to double the lead and restore a tiny flicker of hope for Cologne.
The Stats
– Phillipp Max broke the record for assists for defender in a Bundesliga season after his cross was headed home by Rani Khedira. Max, 24, now has 12 assists on the season – breaking Philipp Lahm’s record of 11.
– Stuttgart are flying under new head coach Tayfun Korkut. Friday’s 2-1 win against Freiburg now means Stuttgart have won six of their last seven and are within touching distance of a European spot. Who said Korkut was a bad appointment?
– Josip Drmic became the first Borussia Mönchengladbach striker to score since the Foals’ 2-0 win over Augsburg on Matchday 19. Captain Lars Stindl also scored his first goal in over 1,400 minutes of football.
– Wolfsburg’s Paul Verhaegh has only missed four penalties in his career – two of them against Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann, who saved his ninth Bundesliga penalty on Saturday. Only Leverkusen’s Bernd Leno has saved as many.
– Michy Batshuayi‘s opening goal for Borussia Dortmund against Hannover was his sixth Bundesliga goal in seven games – all six Batshuayi goals have given BVB the lead.
– When Claudio Pizarro came on for Cologne in their 2-0 derby win over Bayer Leverkusen, it was his 124th substitution appearance – a Bundesliga record.
For more read the full of article at The DW
