Featured Game – Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Arminia Bielefeld

When you are a prestigious German football team with a history of top players and high ambitions for the season, a defeat at home to a newly promoted side struggling at the wrong end of the table would often come as a shock. However, for Champions League-chasing Bayer Leverkusen the loss was one the likes of which have been seen all too regularly this campaign. Their wastefulness in front of goal is the key feature of many of their poor performances which have left them with only four wins from their last seventeen matches in all competitions. This inconsistent run has also seen the Werkself bow out of both the DFB-Pokal to fourth-tier side Rot-Weiss Essen and the Europa League against Swiss outfit Young Boys – a tie in which they lost both legs. Therefore, a run of three games in which they would face three of the bottom four would have been welcomed with open arms by Peter Bosz, however the first of those against Arminia Bielefeld did not go to plan.

Despite Leverkusen having a staggering 75% possession in the game, and an impressive 20 shots on goal, it was Arminia who looked pretty comfortable throughout the contest largely due to them being more clinical when the chances fell to their forwards. This was exemplified a quarter of an hour in, when Ritsu Doan put the away side ahead. After Bayer relinquished the ball in the middle of the park, Christian Gebauer was played in down the right flank for the visitors, after which he crossed low into the box for the young Japanese to sweep home. He stretched to get the ball just before the defender and his effort ricocheted off the crossbar before passing over the line putting Bielefeld into the lead. The fact that this was the only goal of the half, could have painted a very different picture of the first 45, which undoubtedly saw the better play from Leverkusen although they could not take any of the plethora of chances they created. Most notably, Demarai Gray had a well-controlled volley saved by the reliable Stefan Ortega in the Arminia goal. Gray’s side-footed attempt would have headed into the far top corner, if it were not for the German goalkeeper’s athletic ability to push the ball past the post and to safety. He was one of the major reasons that Arminia found themselves surprisingly ahead at the interval, but they did not just try and sit back and defend in the second period.

Bielefeld did see little of the ball again in this half, in truth, but they continued to have chances on the counterattack and ultimately seemed more threatening than Bayer were at the other end. Furthermore, they were greatly assisted by some erratic home defending, which cost them dearly as Arminia doubled their lead on the hour mark and it was another Japanese attacking player who got the goal. On-loan Salzburg player Masaya Okugawa possesses qualities invaluable to a team near the bottom of any league, with his pace a constant scare for opposition back lines, especially on the break. This attribute came to fruition when he joined an attack led solely by Bielefeld left-back Anderson Lucoqui. Okugawa raced through the middle and his teammate was able to slip him though on goal. He was afforded far too much time and space and the scrambling defenders did all they could to block his eventual effort at goal, but to no avail and he stroked the ball through the legs of the inexperienced Leverkusen keeper Lennart Grill for 2-0. Grill has been battling with fellow backup keeper Niklas Lomb with first choice Lukas Hradecky currently out injured and after Lomb, who was initially selected to deputize, made a few costly errors and after a Grill’s clean sheet against Gladbach last time out, it is the youngster who has earned the temporary first team spot. He was also the difference between Leverkusen staying in this clash and a Bielefeld third as he denied Okugawa at the second time of asking, although from a tighter angle this time and subsequently much less of the target to aim at for the Japanese attacking midfielder.

Potentially, it was Grill’s contribution that sparked a late fight back from the home side as they endeavoured to take one of their many opportunities. They eventually did, however it was all too late, with just five minutes remaining of the 90, when Patrik Schick turned the ball home after Lucas Alario prevented it from crossing the by-line and in doing so pulled it back into the path of the Czech striker. The chance was arguably the best of the game, with Ortega out of position and Schick less than ten yards from goal and if Leverkusen are really going to start making a serious challenge for the top four, they are going to have to get their shooting boots on, so that they can convert some of the less presentable situations. The victory, on the other hand, does wonders for Arminia’s survival bid, as they climbed out of the relegation play-off place at the expense of Hertha Berlin. Although they are still very much in jeopardy with still a number of game play, Bielefeld’s position could have been a lot worse altogether at this stage of the campaign. It is not uncommon to see a promoted side find top-flight life all too difficult and face a season not too dissimilar from that of Schalke currently, and ultimately going straight back down to the 2. Bundesliga with a whimper. However, despite a massively limited budget when compared with the likes of Hertha, Arminia have every chance of staying in Germany’s elite tier for another season at least, as this one nears its conclusion.

The Games Keep Coming

Augsburg 3-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach

Much like the Leverkusen-Arminia game, it was the bigger club that dominated proceedings, but was ultimately unable to take their chances. This contest sparked into life after the break, when Ruben Vargas, who had been introduced as a half time substitute, headed home from a corner to put Augsburg into the lead. Florian Neuhaus has probably been Gladbach’s top performer in a drab season, and it was his goal that gave the foals hope of a late resurgence, but their defence did not match the quality shown by the young midfielder and they went on to concede a further two goals. The latter of these two was scored by former Mönchengladbach player André Hahn, who would have enjoyed condemning his old side to a surprise defeat more than most.

Wolfsburg 5-0 Schalke

Both Ridle Baku and Wout Weghorst were at the top of their game as the Wolves absolutely dismantled Schalke, especially in the second 45. It was a strange own goal from Shkodran Mustafi, enforced by a wayward clearance from fellow defender Malick Thiaw, that saw the home side take a first half lead. In truth, the Gelsenkirchen side’s back line did perform better in the opening period than in recent matches, but the second half was where their fate was confirmed. The opening fifteen minutes after the restart saw Baku set up Weghorst for his goal, before the lofty Dutchman returned the favour for Baku to notch one. Strikes from Brekalo and Philipp followed to put a real gloss on the score line that Wolfsburg’s second half display truly merited. This clash really did showcase the disparity between the sides this campaign.

Werder Bremen 1-3 Bayern München

The win for Bayern in this one never seemed in doubt. What was more interesting to ponder was whether Lewandowski would get his customary goal, as he was repeatedly denied by a combination of the Werder back line and his unusually lacklustre finishing. The Pole had to watch teammates Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry both net before the break and his frustration was evidently rising. Nevertheless, anyone betting that he would eventually join them on the score sheet would not have exactly been going out on a whim. What seemed to do it was a half time change of footwear as Lewandowski reverted back to his old boots after trialling a new pair in the first period, and it was not long before he scored with 25 minutes to go. A sigh of relief. Just a mere 32 league goals now. Werder did get a consolation but losing to Bayern is not something to be too disappointed about and Bremen will rally next week.

Rest of the Round-Up

Union Berlin 2-1 Köln

A tale of two penalties either side of half time. Firstly, Ondrej Duda for the visitors in first half stoppage time, before Max Kruse stroked his spot kick home just three minutes into the second period. Both were dispatched coolly to leave the sides level in a relatively even game up to this point. The only question was whether either team could press on for the win and it was Union captain Christopher Trimmel who took the initiative. The Austrian had never previously scored in the Bundesliga, despite assisting an impressive seventeen for others, but any lack of a scoring touch was not apparent as the 34-year-old drove home a fierce half volley to hand the capital club all three points.

Mainz 1-0 Freiburg

Another even contest which saw a solitary goal give the home side the victory, but clear-cut chances were of the premium. Undoubtedly, Mainz are more in need of points than Freiburg as the Black Forest side sit comfortably mid-table after an impressive season. This desperation so often seen with relegation-threatened teams can go either of two ways: either it puts so much pressure on the side to perform that they crumble or, like Mainz have been doing in recent games, the goals and therefore points just seem to come from somewhere. On this occasion it was a late strike from substitute Robin Quaison that won it, and although Mainz still sit in the automatic relegation spots, they have the same number of points as Hertha one place above them in the play-off position, and only one point fewer than both Köln and Arminia in 14th and 15th respectively. With only two safe spots out of the four, these really close teams are going to serve up a brilliant end of season scrap for survival.

Dortmund 2-0 Hertha Berlin

You would expect a team struggling at the bottom of the league to really fight for points, but Hertha never turned up in this one away to Dortmund. Although the home side did not really take advantage of their superior possession, a goalkeeping mistake from Rune Jarstein put the home team ahead when Julian Brandt tried his luck from range. The German has been far from prolific this season and would have eagerly accepted the help from the Norwegian stopper to get only his second Bundesliga goal this season, even more so when a Dortmund win would move them just two points off the Champions League places. After a rash challenge from Vladimir Darida reduced Berlin to ten men, the victory was sealed when 16-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko netted from a tight angle to make it 2-0 in injury time.

RB Leipzig 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

Leipzig needed three points to keep within a win of Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga and a goal from Emil Forsberg just after half time looked to put the home side on course for just that. However, the chances did not flow as per usual for the Red Bulls and they allowed Daichi Kamada to equalize for Frankfurt on the hour mark, after some good wing play and then a cut back from Filip Kostic, who is so often Eintracht’s creator-in-chief. The draw means that Leipzig now trail the Rekordmeister by four points, meaning, importantly, that if the gap remains the same until the two sides face each other in a couple weeks’ time, Leipzig would not be able to leapfrog Bayern with a win.

Stuttgart 2-0 Hoffenheim

An away performance to a Stuttgart side who have been impressive this campaign in which Hoffenheim would edge both possession and shots stats, would normally have pleased their coach Stefan Hoeneß and points would have been expected to go along with the good display. However, the only time that a Hoffenheim player was able to find the net in this one was when Kasim Adams found his own on a quarter of an hour. The own goal was then added to by the in-form Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic, who scored to equal a Stuttgart club record, making it now seven straight games in which he has scored.