Thanks to the Bundesliga, we are finally getting to watch some live football on the weekends. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the matches are being played behind closed doors, which does seem a bit strange but unfortunately, that’s the call of the hour.
Matchday 27 of the Bundesliga promised some epic clashes and it completely lived up to its hype as the race for the title continued to intensify.
Both Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig made easy work of their respective opponents by recording big wins. Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund continued to keep up the pressure on the league leaders by winning their fixture, while Bayer Leverkusen leapfrogged Borussia Mönchengladbach into fourth place, after beating them comfortably at Borussia Park.
On the other end of the table, Fortuna Dusseldorf and SC Paderborn failed to step out of the relegation places after sharing the spoils in their respective matches, but Werder Bremen picked up three very crucial points by overcoming seventh-placed SC Freiburg.
Heading straight into the thick of the action then, with our game-by-game review of matches that took place in matchday 27 of the Bundesliga:
Hertha Berlin vs Union Berlin (4-0)
This week’s round of matches kicked off on Friday night with the Berlin Derby which finished 4-0 in the favour of the hosts.
The Olympiastadion was treated to a dreamy affair, wherein Union Berlin succumbed to a second consecutive defeat since the resumption of the Bundesliga. As a result, they have fallen to 13th place in the league table.
Vedad Ibisevic opened the scoring for Hertha Berlin, who also saw Dodi Lukebakio, Matheus Cunha and Dedryck Boyata bag a goal each. Die Alte Dame remain in the 11th place despite the win, trailing FC Köln by goal-difference, with both having 34 points after 27 games.
Borussia Monchengladbach vs Bayer Leverkusen (1-3)
Arguably the biggest fixture of the weekend ended in a surprising yet well-deserved victory for Bayer Leverkusen, who won by a margin of 3-1, thanks to a Kai Havertz brace.
Monchengladbach welcomed an army of ‘cardboard cutout’ fans to their stadium, but couldn’t replicate the goods on the field as they were pegged back by an early Havertz strike.
Teenage sensation Marcus Thuram equalised for his side but Leverkusen responded immediately, courtesy of Havertz’s penalty. Sven Bender ensured that Leverkusen would go back home with all three points by getting his name on the scoresheet late on.
Wolfsburg vs Borussia Dortmund (0-2)
Lucien Favre’s men continued to mount pressure on Bayern Munich with yet another clinical performance, this time on away turf against Wolfsburg.
Raphel Guerreiro continued from where he left off last week, scoring the opener for Dortmund. BVB continued to dominate the proceedings and soon doubled their lead, courtesy of another man in-form, Achraf Hakimi.
After their latest triumph, the Black and Yellows remain four points behind Bayern Munich, whom they will face next.
Freiburg vs Werder Bremen (0-1)
17th-placed Werder Bremen pulled off the shock of the week by ousting Freiburg, who enjoyed the lions’ share of possession at home but couldn’t make it count.
Leonardo Bittencourt made the difference at Schwarzwald-Stadion, handing his team a valuable three points in their bid to remain in the Bundesliga. Despite having eight shots on target, Freiburg failed to bulge the net and as a consequence, they remain in seventh place.
Luckily for the home side, both Wolfsburg and Schalke lost their respective matches, and so the race for Europa league slots is still very much on.
Paderborn vs Hoffenheim (1-1)
Paderborn remain stuck at the foot of the table after drawing with Hoffenheim at the Benteler Arena. The home side have now drawn both their matches since the league’s resumption and it seems they are headed for relegation most certainly.
Hoffenheim succumbed to a humiliating defeat last week but were able to snatch a point away from home this time around. Robert Skow kicked off the proceedings for the away side putting them ahead after just four minutes.
Their joy didn’t last long though as Dennis Srbeny found the back of the net for Paderborn, and the two sides couldn’t be separated until the final whistle.
Bayern Munich vs Eintracht Frankfurt (5-2)
The Bavarian giants made easy work of Eintracht Frankfurt, who suffered their fifth consecutive league defeat of the campaign at the Allianz Arena.
As expected, Bayern Munich dominated from the get-go and were already 2-0 up at half-time, thanks to goals from Leon Goretzka and Thomas Muller. Robert Lewandowski scored a third just as the play resumed, but instead of deflating the away side, it seemed to wake them up.
Two quickfire goals from Martin Heinteregger got them back in the game but despite Frankfurt’s best efforts to stage a comeback, they fell further behind as Alphonso Davies compounded their miseries and Heinteregger scored an own goal late in the game.
Bayern are still at the top, ahead of the Der Klassiker, while Frankfurt are treading in dangerous territory lying just four points away from relegation berths.
Schalke vs Augsburg (0-3)
It’s starting to go from bad to worse for Schalke who fell to yet another demoralising defeat, this time at home to Augsburg.
Eduard Lowen, Noah Joel and Sergio Cordova scored one goal each to take Augsburg two places up to 12th in the table. Schalke, meanwhile, are still in eighth spot, thanks to some favourable results elsewhere.
Mainz vs RB Leipzig (0-5)
Timo Werner was the star of the show at Opel Arena as he scored his third hattrick of the season, having done so in the return fixture earlier in the season as well.
Yussuf Poulsen and Marcel Sabitzer also got into the act as they put five past Mainz to continue to keep things tight at the top of the table. The home side are just three points ahead of relegation-threatened Dusseldorf and they need to get their act together before its too late.
FC Köln vs Fortuna Dusseldorf (2-2)
The home side completed a late comeback to survive a scare at home in the last fixture of matchday 27 of the Bundesliga.
Anthony Modeste and Jhon Cordoba helped Köln recover from 2-0 down after early goals from Kenan Karaman and Erik Thommy had put Dusseldorf ahead.
The away team would be licking their wounds as they took home just one point instead of three. In the end, the result did not favour either team, as they remain where they were before the current round of fixtures.
All stats courtesy: Bundesliga.com