Borussia Monchengladbach continue their blistering run in the German league with a win over Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund on Saturday in the Bundesliga Game Week 28.
It was Dortmund’s 13th loss of the season and it keeps them in the bottom half of the table. Monchengladbach started the game on a high note as Wendt scored in the very first minute. Araujo doubled the lead with his strike in the 32nd minute. Nordtveit dealt the final blow in the second half to which Dortmund’s Gundogan replied in the 77th minute. Gundogan’s goal was too little too late for last year’s runners-up and the score after referee’s final whistle was 3 – 1 in favor of the hosts. In their next fixture, Dortmund will play host to the bottom of the table dwellers Paderborn. According to Bild, Jurgen Klopp has asked to leave the club at the end of this season.
Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich cruised past Frankfurt at the Allianz Arena at the weekend. Two goals from Robert Lewandowski and one from Thomas Muller were enough to sink the eighth place Bundesliga outfit. Frankfurt will face the in-form Monchengladbach side on Friday. Bayern, on the other hand, will be involved in the midweek Champions League game against Porto. Bayern boss Guardiola has claimed that his side won’t take the Portuguese club for granted. He stressed upon the need to work hard in both the legs of their quarter-finals tie.
“We will need two good games to reach the semi-finals,” said Guardiola. “They play an open game . . . they have physical midfielders but with great quality. That is also their biggest asset. Their individual quality.”
Also the German champions have a lot of players out because of injuries, which makes this fixture more interesting.
VFL Wolfsburg look set to finish second on the Bundesliga table after defeating Hamburg 2 – 0 away from home. With six games remaining, their participation in next year’s Champions League seems imminent. Although, it would be interesting to see if they would be able to retain their best players beyond the summer transfer window. Hamburg’s fate is as good as sealed as their performances aren’t getting better as we are nearing the end of the season.
Unlike Hamburg, Stuttgart and Paderborn got good results at the weekend. Stuttgart vanquished over Werder Bremen 3 – 2 while Paderborn won 2 – 1 against Augsburg. Hannover and Freiburg aren’t too far from the relegation zone either. Hannover were held by Hertha BSC at home, while Freiburg played a goalless draw at Schalke.
Last but not the least, Leverkusen won 2 – 3 at Mainz on Saturday. Bayer Leverkusen are pushing up to compete with Monchengladbach for the third spot. The race for Champions League spot will only get fiercer as we get closer to the finish line.