Florian Kohfeldt’s team might have beaten Bayern. They also might have lost but settled for their now habitual 1-1 scoreline
Werder Bremen arrived in Munich with the possibility of setting a peculiar record. Having drawn 1-1 in their last four Bundesliga meetings, they had equalled a 40-year-old run by Bayer Leverkusen and had, in theory at least, the opportunity to supplant Die Werkself in the most niche of trivia categories. With Bayern to face, nobody thought it would actually happen, of course.
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Hertha Berlin 2-5 Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 RB Leipzig, Arminia Bielefeld 1-2 Leverkusen, Bayern 1-1 Werder Bremen, Hoffenheim 3-3 Stuttgart, M’gladbach 1-1 Augsburg, Schalke 0-2 Wolfsburg, Cologne 1-2 Union Berlin, Freiburg 1-3 Mainz
Meanwhile it was a flat 50th game in charge of Bayern for Hansi Flick, and one couldn’t help but wonder if his selection was made with the aftermath of Germany’s 6-0 loss in Spain in mind, with Leon Goreztka, Gnabry and Sané on the bench, with Niklas Süle left out altogether. Fatigue is stretching even the Bundesliga’s behemoth.
Bayern stay top but now only a point clear after Dortmund’s 5-2 win at Hertha, thanks to four second-half goals from Erling Haaland - though he had to share top billing with Youssoufa Moukoko, now the youngest-ever Bundesliga player, one day after his 16th birthday (and becoming the most snapped man on the touchline at Olympiastadion since Jürgen Klinsmann). Haaland praised his junior teammate as “a crazy talent”.
84 | Welcome to the Bundesliga, Youssoufa Moukoko!
️ Moukoko
⬅️ Haaland#BSCBVB 1-5 pic.twitter.com/bVTzYl5KD7
If only Borussia Mönchengladbach could have shown Dortmund’s sang froid. They took an early lead through Florian Neuhaus against Augsburg, missed a ton of chances, saw the opposition go down to ten men and still conceded a late equaliser, which is becoming a theme of their season.
At what point do Schalke become relegation favourites? They are now 24 without a win after another home defeat to Wolfsburg, almost all over after two visiting goals in the first 24 minutes and after which forward Mark Uth told Sky “I could just go back to the dressing room and cry.”
Leverkusen, like Wolfsburg, remain unbeaten, despite gifting a second-half equaliser to struggling Arminia Bielefeld when Lukas Hradecky, fielding a Daley Sinkgraven backpass, sliced his attempted clearance into his own net. “The team helped me out,” grinned the Finland goalkeeper after Aleksandar Dragović’s late winner saved the blushes of Peter Bosz’s side. “My beer will taste good tonight.”
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