Existential angst over competitiveness shouldn’t overshadow the fact we are looking at possibly the best team in EuropeWe’ve seen it before, but it’s still difficult to know exactly how it should be characterised. It was brilliant, beautiful, ugly, deflating, awe-inspiring and a huge letdown all at the same time. Bayern Munich’s hegemony shows no sign of letting up and neither does it show any potential for being less of a source of conflicting feelings and views.Normally the Bundesliga’s Top-Spiel is on a Saturday at 6.30pm local time, situated perfectly between going to a game in the afternoon and stepping out for the night. Yet Bayern’s visit to Leverkusen – enterprising and entertaining thus far under new coach Gerardo Seoane –...
The future looks bright after Kai Havertz became the youngest Bundesliga player to reach 30 goals in win over FrankfurtAll things come to those who wait, and they certainly did for Bayer Leverkusen this weekend. They made it back into the top four. They did it by sweeping aside Eintracht Frankfurt who – after beating them 6-1 in the corresponding fixture last spring on their way to pipping Adi Hütter’s side to a Champions League spot – Peter Bosz’s side must have been desperately eager to face again here.Perhaps most importantly they did it with a fresh, vital young lineup that they have been waiting some time to unleash. At long last the teenage Brazilian Paulinho made his first Bundesliga...
A stylish victory over Bayer Leverkusen has confirmed that Florian Kohfeldt has given Werder’s fans reason to dreamIt was the sort of result that, when it happened, appeared to be a curio but as time has gone past, it looks more and more like a season turning point. When Bayer Leverkusen visited Werder Bremen in late October they were on little more than a hiding-to-nothing. Mired in lower-mid-table and led by an unpopular coach, they were facing a side on the crest of a wave – and one who could, with a victory, have finished the weekend in second place in the Bundesliga.It didn’t turn out like that. In a rarity amid an uninspired first half of the season under...
Even if the result irked against Mönchengladbach, there was a feeling of optimism for the new man at Bayer LeverkusenIt was a victory that was “somewhat flattering,” as Kicker put it, and even Borussia Mönchengladbach’s coach Dieter Hecking admitted his side were “a bit lucky”. Yet all it ultimately meant was that Peter Bosz returned to coaching in the Bundesliga as he had left it just over 13 months ago – with defeat, as he took the reins at Bayer Leverkusen.It was rarely dull when the Dutchman was in charge at Borussia Dortmund, a short spell so out of kilter with current events that it’s almost as surreal as the extended period in which the leaders were glued to the...
The 6-2 win was a fine display that deserved to be celebrated, but it also drove home how far short they have fallenThe Bundesliga loves a left turn, and this weekend it saved its best one for the programme’s final fixture. This was supposed to be resurgent Werder Bremen’s day, when victory would have taken them into second place behind Borussia Dortmund, confirming a return to relevance in the extraordinary debut year at the helm of coach Florian Kohfeldt, who celebrates a year in charge on Tuesday.With just over an hour gone it looked like it still could be, even though they had gone into the break 3-0 down to visiting Bayer Leverkusen. Yuya Osako’s goal, eventually awarded after VAR...