Bundesliga star check
Just beating Bayern is not enough: is Gladbach playing the most unnecessary relegation of all time?
After the 2-1 defeat on the 20th Bundesliga matchday against Union Berlin, Gladbach’s Breel Embolo is also on the ground in a figurative sense
© Bernd Thissen / DPA
The most common question of the Bundesliga match day? What’s going on with Gladbach? There were no answers, the descent continues unabated. Do the foals fail to meet their own standards? At the top end of the table, FC Bayern effortlessly keeps BVB at bay.
This is how the 20th Bundesliga matchday went
All results of the 20th matchday, the table and statistics for reading can be found here star-Ticker.
Game day excitement
“Referee performances of this kind destroy the games,” VfB sporting director Sven Mislintat rumbled on TV channel Sky after a penalty for his team was taken back in the game in Freiburg. “It’s unbelievable, completely insane. It would never happen that that would be taken back against teams that have a different reputation than VfB.” Already in the 0: 2 against RB Leipzig in the previous week, the Stuttgart felt treated unfairly after controversial decisions.
The scene that made the 49-year-old so mad in the southwest duel happened in the 34th minute. After dribbling in the penalty area, Alexis Tibidi fell over Lukas Kübler’s leg. The video referee intervened, although there was no clear wrong decision. Stieler then watched the television pictures himself and came to the conclusion that the Freiburg defense attorney had in fact not committed a criminal offense. He reversed his decision. On the other hand, things got even worse. After a long-range shot by Nicolas Höfler, Hiroki Ito deflected the ball into his own goal.
Matchday Winner
Union Berlin crowns a splendid week with a jump to fourth place in the table – which would entitle them to participate in the Champions League at the end of the season. The Köpenicker showed themselves to be courageous and passionate in the 1-2 away win in Gladbach, but in relation to the game shares the victory was a bit lucky. “At the moment we’re just on a roll,” said match winner Max Kruse happily. He shot the staid guests to victory with the only two shots on goal, with the first goal being a converted penalty kick. On Wednesday, the Unioner advanced to the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup with a 2-3 win at Hertha BSC, thereby impressively underpinning their supremacy in the capital. A sporting changing of the guard, which, given the budgets of both clubs, should surprise quite a few football fans.
Game day loser
If things continue like this on the Lower Rhine, then the foals might create something very special. In three competitive games this season, the Gladbachers have not lost against FC Bayern, they even “take off” their proverbial lederhosen in the cup according to all the rules of the art and incidentally also won a pre-season game against the permanent champion. Now the big but: If you only win against Bayern, you will unfortunately still be relegated.
Borussia’s series of bankruptcies has been going on for a long time now, meanwhile underground appearances like in Hanover alternate with (reasonably) good games, which you then – according to the rules of the crash – still lose. The fact that ex-Borusse Max Kruse, of all people, secured the victory of the Irons from Berlin in the Nordpark – everything fits into the picture. “I was skeptical before, and I’m even more so now,” said Sky expert Didi Hamann after another bankruptcy. He couldn’t see that a team was on the pitch, he judged. The question is more and more whether manager Max Eberl will show loyalty to his expensive coach Adi Hütter this time too. It feels like he’s tried everything – with no effect. And some foal fans were already electrified by news from the weekend: Lucien Favre wants to go back to business. Once a departure, now an infusion? Surely they won’t be that desperate?!
The full life of Uli Hoeneß in pictures
14 images
You should see this gate (again).
She still has to prove that the Gladbach star squad can fight relegation. The Bielefeld Arminia is completely different. Here you fight against slipping into the 2nd league every day, and so you can still do a little magic. At least Patrick Wimmer can do that. Probably still euphoric from his goal to make it 1-0 in the away game at Eintracht Frankfurt, he wasn’t impressed by a well-populated penalty area. Where there are many opponents, you have to find a way to play past them. And what could be more obvious than a fine Rabona flank?! In any case, the Austrian chose the trick kick with crossed legs and maneuvered the ball in the direction of the goal. Colleague and compatriot Alessandro Schöpf jumped into the trajectory and let the ball drip from his chest behind the line. That makes you want more! After the international break it’s against… Gladbach!
Game day picture Before the RB Leipzig game against VfL Wolfsburg, there is a minute’s silence, as in many stadiums from the first to the third Bundesliga, for the recently deceased Hans-Jürgen “Dixie” Dörner. A portrait in honor of the GDR football legend is shown on the video screen in the Leipzig Arena. In addition to the players from Dynamo Dresden and Werder Bremen, the teams from Wolfsburg and Leipzig, among others, also wore black armbands on this match day. © Jan Woitas / DPA