No holds barred attacking football is to be the name of the game when the race for this season’s Bundesliga title resumes this afternoon. With only one point separating leaders Bayern Munich from perennial rivals Borussia Dortmund with just three matches to the end of the campaign, the possibility of goal difference settling the title’s destination is not lost on coaches Thomas Tuchel and Edin Terzic.
Germany’s top flight registered it’s highest scoring numbers in the 2022/23 campaign on match day 31, with 41 goals bludgeoned at an average of almost 5 goals per game. Defending champions Bayern Munich underlined their determination to hold onto the title they’ve won in each of the last ten years by blasting Schalke to smithereens 6-0, only for Dortmund to respond with a 5-2 whitewash of Borussia Moenchengladbach.
They will need to replicate identical form in the pick of the matches this weekend when Marco Rose’s talented RB Leipzig side visit the Allianz Arena aiming to hold onto third place in the standings. The gliterati of Bundesliga strikers are to lock horns as Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane, Kingsley Koman, Leroy Sane, Serge Gnarby and Thomas Muller pit their wits against Leipzig’s Timo Werner, Emil Forsberg, Dani Olmo and Christopher Nkunku.
The pulsating race for the two remaining Champions League positions gained added impetus when Christian Steich’s Freiburg outlasted Wolfsburg 2-0 on Friday night to draw level on 59 points with Union Berlin who face a tricky trip to a Hoffenheim side that is yet to secure it’s top flight status.
Wolfsburg’s defeat was music to the ears of Bayer Leverkusen who can take charge of their own race for Europa League qualification if they overcome Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday. Bayer Arena boss Xabi Alonso is certain to demand a response from his young side after they were unlucky to only draw 0-0 with AS Roma in Thursday’s Europa League semifinal despite registering 28 shots on goal compared to the Italian side’s solitary strike.
SATURDAY
Hertha Berlin v Bochum,
Schalke v Frankfurt,
Hoffenheim v Union Berlin,
Werder Bremen v Koln,
Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig
SUNDAY
Mainz v Stuttgart,
Augsburg v Borussia Dortmund,
Bayer Leverkusen v Gladbach
