Gladbach could have hauled themselves back into the Champions League race with a win against Leverkusen. Instead they fell to a defeat that effectively ends their seasonThe evening began with a show of respect from the visiting Borussia Mönchengladbach fans. It ended with anything but. As their players emerged on to the BayArena pitch to face Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, Gladbach’s 4,000 travelling fans held aloft black pieces of plastic, creating a tifo in memory of well-known fan Waltraud “Walli” Hamraths, who recently died at the age of 83.In the circumstances, Gladbach’s players shouldn’t have been surprised at what happened at the end. They were, again, hugely disappointing in a match in which they had the opportunity to haul themselves...
The Austrian could not be doing more to remain as manager, with his side now looking as if they have put in a shiftOn other weekends, it would have been a cause for glumness. Yet even in falling a place below bitter rivals Schalke, from second to third, it felt as if it had been a fairly successful day for Borussia Dortmund. They emerged from Saturday evening’s Topspiel at RB Leipzig not only with a point – and having maintained a three-point lead over their hosts in the race for Champions League qualification – but with the satisfying feeling of having put in a shift.They can be few things that their coach, Peter Stöger, cherishes as much as this. Many...
The midfielder has added simplicity to Effzeh’s squad since arriving from Nice and has a nickname that might stickOne start and two substitute appearances in, and he is already being lauded as Der Zauberzwerg – the magic dwarf – for FC Köln. Vincent Koziello was one of the most wrong-footing signings of the Bundesliga’s winter window, a player heavily linked with Arsenal and even Barcelona in the past, a mini-Xavi cutting a swathe on the Côte d’Azur before arriving at the bottom club. He has, however, had to bide his time. “Vincent arrived just after we won against Gladbach,” coach Stefan Ruthenbeck recalled last week. “He hadn’t been playing much in Nice. We didn’t have any friendlies to integrate him....
Less than a month after what seemed a deeply underwhelming appointment, it has begun to seem a brighter future is possibleThe fabled ‘new manager bounce’ is one thing. Stuttgart winning away, though? That’s something else entirely and after a first victory on the road since winning promotion back to the top flight, Tayfun Korkut is earning the right to be taken seriously.As the final whistle went on Sunday’s victory at overachieving Augsburg, there was a genuine sense of achievement. Stuttgart’s players celebrated not so much, it seemed, for getting one over near neighbours in Swabia but for the sensation that maybe a corner really has been turned. It has long been received wisdom that only maintaining their strong home form...
Schalke midfielder will join Bayern in the summer and his display against them will have pleased home fans in MunichAt least he ended up with an assist from it. It was a whisker from being one of the goals of the season, as Leon Goretzka threw a bicycle kick at Breel Embolo’s cross, and Sven Ulreich looked beaten. Unfortunately, the ball didn’t connect with his laces but flicked off the outside of his boot – falling to Franco Di Santo at the back post, who applied a measured finish. No matter. It was, Goretzka told Sky afterwards without the smallest hint of bashfulness, something he’d managed before. “It wasn’t as it should have been today,” he shrugged, “but it ended...