Bundesliga in the star check
“Shut up, Arne” – when the league pukes and spits
Gladbach manager Max Eberl
© Ina Fassbender / AFP
At Borussia Dortmund, Hummels takes on the injured Haaland’s scorer job. The SC Freiburg is becoming a Champions League aspirant and there is heavy ranting in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Of the star-Bundesliga check.
That’s how the game day went
All results of the 9th match day, the table and statistics for reading can be found here in star-Ticker.
Excitement of the game days
Ghost games, which luckily are a thing of the past, had one exciting quality: you could hear the scolding on and off the pitch much better. Acoustically, there were no longer any differences between Bundesliga and regional league games. Now that the spectators are partly back in the stadium, you don’t pick up that much anymore. Most of it is drowned out in the chants or in the jubilation. But on Saturday evening there was an exception in the Berlin Oylmpiastadion. Perhaps it was because the arenas are not completely sold out due to the coronavirus and the overall noise level is a bit lower.
In the Olympic Stadium for the game between Hertha BSC Berlin and Borussia Mönchengladbach, only 25,000 spectators were allowed instead of the maximum number of almost 75,000. In any case, in the 50th minute after the referee’s whistle, the Gladbach manager Max Eberl could be heard refreshingly scolding. Gladbach’s Elvedi had hit Herthan’s Piatek with his elbow in the header duel and Eberl shouted, clearly audible through the microphones on TV, in the direction of the referee: “This is not a foul. He jumps up and heads”. And then Eberl had a saying ready for Hertha’s sports director: “Shut up, Arne!”, He put it frankly and freely in a high number of decibels.
Presumably Eberl was electrified because he saw a disheveled game in which his team was 1-0 down. Eberl pushes additional frustration because the league has so far been disappointing for the team under the new coach Adi Hütter. Incidentally, the result remained. Hertha overtook Gladbach in the table with the victory and climbed to 10th place. Place while the guests slipped to the 12th.
Loser of the game day
Late on Sunday afternoon, the DPA news agency sent the breaking news: “VfL Wolfsburg is separating from coach van Bommel.” That came as a surprise for both those involved and the observers, especially for those affected: “I am surprised and disappointed with the decision because I am convinced that together we would have managed to get back on the road to success,” he said. After nine match days, the Dutchman is the first to vacate the coaching chair. It all started so well. Wolfsburg started the season with four wins and took over the championship lead. This was followed by a strange drop in performance with eight competitive games without a win, four bankruptcies in a row in the league and Wolfsburg fell to 9th place. Sports director Jörg Schmadtke and sports director Marcel Schäfer need not have been very convinced of their new signing, otherwise they would not have killed them so quickly.
Match day winner
Five wins, four draws and no defeat – that’s the sparkling clean balance of SC Freiburg. The last time there was a 2-0 win at VfL Wolfsburg was on Saturday. In the table, that means 3rd place, which would mean Champions League qualification for the Breisgauer at the end of the season. Just imagine it: SC Freiburg against Real Madrid or Manchester City. A win against Messi and Paris Saint-Germain would be even better. But logo, there is still a long way to go. Coach Christian Streich knows that too, and he immediately gave the warning: “We have to keep improving, stay humble and work,” he said and warned: “I’m not going to be dazzled. It’s wonderful now, we’ve never had anything like that before nine match days. But we know why it’s stable at the moment. And if we lose a little of it, you won’t win a Bundesliga game anymore. “
You should see this gate (again)
Recently there wasn’t so much good news for BVB. First it was the biggest defeat in history in the Champions League, then striker Erling Haaland was injured and was out for several weeks – the mood was in the basement with the black and yellow. Who should score the goals now? Mats Hummels, for example. He carved a ball from 18 meters into the mesh of opponent Arminia Bielefeld, who accidentally fell in front of his feet after a corner kick. Looked nice and meant the 2-0 lead just before the break. Emre Can had previously converted a penalty. Jude Bellingham scored a goal after a wonderful solo and in the end BVB won 3-1. So everything is good so far. In the table, Dortmund are one point behind Bayern on their heels.
Picture of the game day On Friday evening this scene occurred in the game between Erzgebirge Aue and FC Ingolstadt 04 in the 2nd division. Referee Nicolas Winter showed Aues Clemens Fandrich the red card. The Auer had apparently spat in the face of the linesman because he did not agree with a throw-in decision, but denied the act after the game. The TV pictures, however, speak for it. We think you should only spit on the lawn, that’s the way it should be. © Hendrik Schmidt / DPA