After the short winter break we’re back in action and it’s been a great weekend of football in the Germany top flight.
With league champions and leaders FC Bayern at home to Mainz in the late Sunday game to come, the challengers had a chance to put down a marker. This week’s Bundesliga fixtures threw together the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th and 9th teams to fight it out.
The Bundesliga 2021 betting odds have Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen all heavily odds on to make a Champions League place, but these three want something more, and while Red Bull Leipzig and BVB both won, Bayer Leverkusen missed their chance, going down to a 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Winners
Red Bull Salzburg
With Leverkusen slipping up, Red Bull took advantage to leapfrog Bayern to the top of the table, but they had to work hard to see off a stubborn VFB Stuttgart before the first set of Bundesliga 2021 results were happily celebrated in Leipzig.
But it wasn’t easy. The hosts’ keeper Gregor Kobel made a brilliant save to deny Emil Forsberg from the penalty spot, but Die Roten Bullen finally broke the deadlock in the 67th minute when Dani Olmo met an Angelino cross to volley past Kobel and claim all three vital points.
Leipzig are now on 31 from 14 games and looking a serious threat.
David Abraham – Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht skipper David Abraham lead by example on Saturday as he marshalled his defence to keep a dangerous Bayer attack quiet.
The Argentine centre back plays with immense passion which sometimes gets him into trouble. Last season he received a seven week ban for barging SC Freiburg head coach Christian Streich and pushing him to the ground during Frankfurt’s 1-0 Bundesliga defeat. His actions sparked a mass brawl between the two teams and the league threw the book at Abraham.
But he was calmness personified as his team conceded 65 per cent possession to Leverkusen, but limited them to seven shots and just two on target. The victory lifted Eintracht to eighth place and two points behind the European places.
Manuel Akanji – Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund vs Wolfsburg was the match of the weekend, 5th versus 4th, an underachieving team against a club punching above its weight, and it turned out to be a tense affair, the hosts winning it 2-0.
With a front line of Marco Reus, Gio Reyna, Jadon Sancho and Erling Braut Haaland you’d back yourselves to score against any team, and BVB did, but it was centre back Akanji who scored the crucial opener to win a hard fought game.
The 25 year old Swiss international is responsible for keeping goals out for his team but, midway through the second half he rose to meet a Jadon Sancho corner and plant it into the bottom corner.
Sancho settled any nerves with an injury time second on the break.
Losers
Bayer Leverkusen
When Nadiem Amiri gave Leverkusen an early lead against Eintracht Frankfurt, it all looked quite rosy for Die Werkself. But when Amin Younes equalised for Eintracht, the title chasers didn’t have a reply, and matters got worse when Edmond Tapsoba put through his own net early in the second half.
Head coach Peter Bosz threw on Argentine striker Lucas Alario, alongside offensive midfield duo Kerem Demirbay and Karim Bellarabi, but to no avail. And this defeat made it back to back losses for Die Werkself after they lost by the odd goal in three to Bayern just before the winter break.
VfL Wolfsburg
This was as bad a day for Wolfsburg as it was a good one for Dortmund. Having matched their hosts for over an hour, slack marking at a corner allowed Akanji to score and the visitors had no reply, despite winning the shot count by 21 to 14…frustrating.
Schalke 04
It was another bad weekend for bottom club Schalke, this time surrendering meekly in a 3-0 defeat to Hertha Berlin after Matteo Guendouzi had given the Berliners an early lead. The defeat leaves Schalke stranded on four points, and six away from the play-off place, but the club has moved to bolster its defence by bringing back fans favourite Sead Kolasinac on loan from Arsenal.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina full-back spent five years in the Schalke first team before signing for the Gunners in 2017.
Well folks, that’s it for now. It’s FC Bayern vs Mainz next; we took a long look at the game here at SBOTOP and can’t see anything other than a Bayern victory. But, for 24 hours at least, Red Bull Leipzig are at the top of the pile.
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