There has been plenty of entertainment but it has been an unusual and not always satisfying season in GermanyThe clock, since you asked, kept on ticking. As the curtain fell on Hamburger SV’s unbroken presence in top flight since the Bundesliga’s formation in 1963, it was alone in maintaining steady hands (give or take it being digital). With the home side’s winning position futile, as Wolfsburg completed an eventually emphatic victory over Köln 170km to the south, any façade of holding it together began to crack.Pyrotechnics rained down from the ultras in the Nordtribüne and a heavy police presence took over the pitch in lines, with horses and dogs for company. Some of those waiting to see if the famous...
A 2-1 home victory against Mönchengladbach was in vain for the Bundesliga’s only ever-present club thanks to Wolfsburg’s win, and fireworks and flares rained down at the endThe city of Hamburg has seen significant regeneration in the past decade. In an effort to rid the city of its faintly sleazy reputation, as home of the Reeperbahn and the stag do delights it contains, a whole new district – HafenCity – was established with plans for modern shops, homes and entertainment venues. The most prominent of the latter was the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, an extraordinary structure that cost €789m, more than three times its initial budget.But as new buildings rise around town, the solid old pillars of their football club crumble....
The 32-year-old coach has transformed Schalke with a defender three years his senior and victory over Dortmund in the Revierderby left them on the verge of the Champions LeagueIt began with a 31-year-old rookie boss, with just months of head coaching experience, no European football to look forward to, and a public needing to be won over. On Sunday afternoon, it reached an apparent denouement, gloriously, with sweet victory over their fierce local rivals Borussia Dortmund, with Champions League football within touching distance and with that coach, Domenico Tedesco, wildly celebrating with the fans as Schalke enjoyed their best day in recent memory.Fittingly, as the jubilant players approached the hardcore on the Nordkurve, Tedesco – now a seasoned 32 –...
Bayern Munich have one hand on the title but Borussia Dortmund’s display against them called into question their right to be part of Der Klassiker“Die Bundesliga ist für uns vorbei.” Pep Guardiola’s infamous declaration in a 2014 press conference, with the title in the bag, that Bayern Munich’s league campaign was over might have been off the cuff, but he spent a long time afterwards trying to live it down. The drop in intensity that followed his words prefaced a pair of sluggish performances in the Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid, and Guardiola would later openly admit his error. It was probably the biggest mistake of his enthralling three-year spell at the Allianz Arena. Jupp Heynckes is not about...
Wolfsburg’s continued plummet down the league has led to genuine fears they could finish bottom this seasonWhen Bruno Labbadia arrives in a new post, it’s with a certain label attached– that of relegation battle specialist, and it’s one well-earned in successful fights against the drop at Stuttgart and Hamburg. If there’s a bright side to be looked upon after a tough couple of opening weeks at Wolfsburg, with one point taken from his opening four games in charge, it’s that he has the perfect situation in which to fulfil that reputation.Saturday’s heartbreaking late defeat to high-flying Schalke, sealed by Robin Knoche’s unfortunate 86th-minute own goal, was hardly deserved but the result is very much the bottom line in Wolfsburg’s current...