FC Augsburg – Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0:1 (0:0), Goal: 0:1 Exequiel Palacios (90.+4)
It was already known that Leverkusen would have to do without top performers Boniface, Tapsoba and Koussounou during the Africa Cup, but the league leaders’ line-up was surprising for two reasons. Coach
No wonder that even the supposedly weightless Leverkusen team found the game a bit sluggish; Ermedin Demirovic could have even put Augsburg in the lead (21st minute) – this chance for the home team woke up the opposing team. Leverkusen continued to dominate clearly, even if not like they were leaders in the table – and whether Boniface and Wirtz had used the chances that Grimaldo (28th, crossbar), Andrich (37th), Xhaka (54th) and Schick (59th) missed, Not even the wise Xabi Alonso will know.
However, FC Augsburg remained the unpleasant opponent that new coach Jess Thorup made them into again; Demirovic in particular remained constantly dangerous. In the 72nd minute, Leverkusen were even lucky when Augsburg’s supposed opening goal (Tietz, 72nd) was disallowed due to offside. FC Bayern, who were not playing on Saturday, were on the verge of reducing the gap to Leverkusen in their absence – until Palacios made it 1-0 in the fourth minute of stoppage time after an assist from Grimaldo. First round champions! Whether this Leverkusen goal would have been scored with Boniface, Tapsoba and Koussounou shouldn’t matter to the wise Xabi Alonso that day.
RB Leipzig – Eintracht Frankfurt 0:1 (0:1), Goal: 0:1 Ansgar Knauff (7th)
The winter break lasted a weak 24 days, but that was enough to almost completely replace Eintracht’s offensive. Omar Marmoush and Fares Chaibi set off for the Africa Cup, but the arrivals Sasa Kalajdzic and Donny van de Beek traveled across the English Channel directly into Dino Toppmöller’s starting line-up. And what must say? It worked – even though neither of the two newcomers was directly involved in Ansgar Knauff’s early lead. Niels Nkounkou opened the scoring with a wonderful arcing pass across half the field.
Leipzig then dominated the game, Frankfurt withdrew. Xavi Simons, in particular, spun as usual, goalkeeper Kevin Trapp quickly became Eintracht’s most important employee. But Leipzig, despite having two strikers Lois Openda and Benjamin Sesko on the field, failed to hit the target and in the end 31 shots on goal were in vain.
Man of the day: Kevin Trapp.
(Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Immediately after the break, Openda blasted a shot over the goal, which as a professional striker you can sometimes put on goal. Mario Götze missed the 2-0 for Eintracht, shortly afterwards Trapp, who was excellent that day, had to save an Openda header from impact. At Leipzig, Dani Olmo, who was missing for a long time, made his comeback after his shoulder injury – it didn’t work. Leipzig starts the year with a defeat and Eintracht’s previously mixed season could quickly turn into a pretty good one.
1. FC Cologne – 1. FC Heidenheim 1:1 (1:0), Goals: 1:0 Davie Selke (29th), 1:1 Adrian Beck (55th)
It took about 20 minutes for the coaching effect to become noticeable in Cologne and FC played about as aggressively as before the coaching change. Until then, the FC fans had nothing to blame the new coach Timo Schultz, but some of them may have missed the dismissed Steffen Baumgart. The Cologne team started the new year quite timidly, which led to the strange scenario that the newcomer from Heidenheim initially controlled the game – even though the guests are not a team that places too much emphasis on control. A double chance (Huseinbasic, 19th, Selke, 20th) woke up the Cologne team, and the new coach could also take credit for the fact that they now appeared much more lively. His move to move Florian Kainz back to the left wing paid off – it was no coincidence that it was Kainz’s dribbling and cross that preceded Selke’s well-deserved opening goal (29′).
Davie Selke celebrates the interim lead.
(Photo: Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)
However, the Heidenheimers didn’t change anything in the winter, neither coach, team nor style of play, which means that left winger Jan-Niklas Beste prepared a goal from a corner as always – this time by substitute Adrian Beck (55th). That was enough to remind the people of Cologne that they are actually in crisis. FC still pushed for victory in an exciting final phase, but with their remarkable Ostalb mentality, Frank Schmidt’s team managed to keep their opponents ten points away.
SC Freiburg – 1. FC Union Berlin 0-0
Union would have liked to improve its previous meager away record in Freiburg: This season, the Berliners were only able to win one away game against newly promoted Darmstadt 98. Without the departed defender Leonardo Bonucci and attacker David Fofana, but with Kevin Vogt on the pitch, Union coach Nenad Bjelica saw few good offensive moves and was happy, especially in two scenes, that nothing more happened. It wasn’t until the 16th minute when goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow was just able to deflect Vincenzo Grifo’s header out of bounds with his left arm. And then in the 31st minute, another header became dangerous, but Roland Sallai put it past the left.
Otherwise, the first half was a rather tough affair – that didn’t change after the break. The Freiburg team tried a few more times to give their supporters among the 33,800 spectators reason to warm up with cheers. But sometimes Michael Gregoritsch didn’t hit the ball correctly, sometimes Sallai went down, sometimes Gregoritsch unnecessarily kept his foot in the path of a Grifo shot.
FSV Mainz 05 – VfL Wolfsburg 1:1 (0:1), Goals: 0:1 Vaclav Cerny (12th), 1:1 Silvan Widmer (61st)
Temperatures just above freezing, your own team in the bottom of the table, VfL Wolfsburg as opponents – all these factors ensured a lot of free seats in the Mainz stadium. And from FSV’s perspective, the game was initially just as bleak. Coach Niko Kovac’s team, which hasn’t been in the best form recently, took the lead after a few quick passes all over the field, Vaclav Cerny scored, goalkeeper Robin Zentner didn’t make the best impression.
Can’t be happy with the game and the whole season so far: Wolfsburg coach Niko Kovac.
(Photo: Torsten Silz/dpa)
Shortly before the break, Zentner at least prevented Wolfsburg’s second goal; it was still the best news for Mainz, who, as so often this season, combined offensively comparatively well, but hardly developed any real threat to score. No Mainz player currently has more than two goals this season. Consequently, a Sunday shot was needed on Saturday: Silvan Widmer hit the ball – whether intentionally or accidentally it was impossible to tell – halfway up with the outside of his foot, the ball spun elegantly around Koen Casteels into the corner. Shortly before the end, Zentner saved a draw again with a save that didn’t really benefit either club. However, Mainz 05 in particular should urgently start winning their home games with eleven points after 17 games. Support from the audience doesn’t hurt.