1. FC Heidenheim – Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1:2 (0:1), Goals: 0:1 Jeremie Frimpong (45th + 2), 0:2 Amine Adli (81st), 1:2 Tim Kleindienst (87th)
Xabi Alonso is starting to feel like he is in the German spring. In any case, the 42-year-old Basque wore a spring-like thin jacket when he directed his Leverkusen players on the sidelines in Heidenheim. Maybe the coach would have been better off wearing a thick workman’s jacket, because the game wasn’t going particularly easily for the league leaders. If there is a term for Leverkusen’s performance, it would probably be that of victoria laborista, a classic work victory. But if you want to become a champion, you also need these successes, especially since Leverkusen mastered another art in Heidenheim: that of scoring at a psychologically important time. Jeremie Frimpong scored with a shot into the right corner six seconds before the end of two minutes of stoppage time in the first half.
In the second half, Leverkusen saved their lead over time – and were quite lucky that neither Benedikt Gimber, Nikola Dovedan or Tim Kleindienst scored. And because Leverkusen really wanted to equal Bayern’s record from the Hansi Flick era (32 competitive games in a row without defeat), Amine Adli scored to make it 2-0 in the 85th minute. Wirtz had previously hit the ball against the crossbar. Tim Kleindienst’s goal came too late. Leverkusen now has an eight-point lead over the German record champions ahead of Bayern’s Sunday game in Bochum. Another unique selling point: On a match day on which hundreds of tennis balls were thrown again because of the fan protests, the game in Heidenheim was unspectacular – and ended earlier than any other.
VfL Wolfsburg – Borussia Dortmund 1:1 (0:1), Goals: 0:1 Niclas Füllkrug (8th), 1:1 Yannick Gerhardt (64th)
13 points from five games after the winter break, Dortmund’s record sounded quite good recently. However, one occasionally had the impression that one or two less points would have been okay and that things had turned out rather happily for BVB. The afternoon in Wolfsburg showed how things can work. A weak BVB had a lot of trouble trying to save at least one point. After Füllkrug’s rather fortunate opening goal, Wolfsburg had significantly more of the game, but “only” managed to score the next goal through Gerhardt. A point that helps the ailing VfL coach Niko Kovac a little, but doesn’t really relieve the burden.
SV Darmstadt 98 – VfB Stuttgart 1:2 (0:1), Goals: 0:1 Serhou Guirassy (14th), 0:2 Mahmoud Dahoud (90th+2), 1:2 Aaron Seydel (90th+5)
Even before the game, Bundesliga promoted SV Darmstadt may have collected sympathy points from VfB Stuttgart. Like the Swabians, 1. FC Cologne and Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Hessians have also spoken out in favor of an open new vote among all 36 professional clubs before the planned investor entry. During the game, the Darmstadt team initially made themselves more popular because they let the guests take the lead: Serhou Guirassy pushed the ball onto the crossbar after a header from Waldemar Anton and from there into the goal.
But then things became more uncomfortable for VfB. Marvin Mehlem almost immediately equalized, Stuttgart’s luck was due to a previous handball. Referee Tobias Welz had to interrupt several times after that, and tennis balls kept flying onto the lawn, which led to 20 minutes of added time. And Stuttgart’s pulse rose a few more times: first Anton almost scored an own goal, then Darmstadt came close to equalizing again and finally Pascal Stenzel had to leave the field with a yellow-red card. Being outnumbered, VfB was hardly able to build up any pressure, but still made it 2-0. Darmstadt’s goal came too late.
1. FSV Mainz 05 – FC Augsburg 1:0 (1:0), Goal: 1-0 Sepp van den Berg (44th)
In the 52nd minute the time had come in Mainz: you thought you were in Wimbledon, there were lots of yellow tennis balls on the lawn and the usual scolding from investors. Referee Tobias Reichel interrupted the game, but that wasn’t a bad thing because it wasn’t really spectacular anyway, especially in the second half. As things continued, things got intense and rough on the pitch. Mainz really took on the relegation battle, Augsburg only noticed when Mads Pedersen received a deserved red card after a nasty foul on Leandro Barreiro.
Bo Henriksen, coach in Mainz since this week and successor to the sacked Jan Siewert, was able to celebrate his first three points at the new club in the end. This was mainly due to Sepp van den Berg, the 1.90 meter long central defender who scored with his head after a Mainz free kick. Augsburg’s keeper Finn Dahmen was very helpful, he jumped elegantly past the ball and the opponent. Dahmen became a knight of the rather sad figure anyway. Because he also caused a penalty in stoppage time in the first half when he clumsily touched Mainz’s Phillipp Mwene on the foot with his goalkeeper gloves – and he fell. But Nadiem Amiri managed to put the penalty on the left post. It was the fourth missed penalty for Mainz this season.
The renewed nerve weakness did not have any serious effects. Less than the mass brawl between fans of both camps, in which, according to the police, up to 100 people were involved hours before the game started in Mainz. The emergency services, alerted via the emergency call, detained a total of 36 people involved – 28 of them with a connection to Augsburg. Everyone was sent off.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim – Union Berlin 0:1 (0:0), Goal: 0:1 Brenden Aaronson (84th)
No, it wasn’t boring. In the first half, both teams scored a hit on the post and a yellow-red card – Hoffenheim had Stanley N’Soki fly, Union had Kevin Volland – then the game was on the verge of being abandoned several times due to numerous felt balls thrown from the stands. Hoffenheim were clearly better in the second half, but what good does it matter if the only goal is scored by Union, with the first chance in the second half through Brenden Aaronson? Right, nothing.