With an arduous victory, FC Bayern completed the best first half of the season for a Bundesliga team. The Munich team defeated the crisis-plagued 1. FC Köln. At the same time, the pursuers Leipzig and Hoffenheim were also successful – the Kraichgauer even had a gala.
The best first half of the season in FC Bayern’s history is perfect. In the 3-1 (1-1) win, the record champions had a lot of trouble against newly promoted 1. FC Köln, but in the end they weren’t stopped by a ten-minute pyrotechnic interruption and a mistake by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Serge Gnabry (45th+5), Min-jae Kim (71st) and Lennart Karl (84th) turned FC’s celebrated lead thanks to a long-lasting shot from Linton Maina (41st minute) into Munich’s 15th win with two draws in the first 17 games of the season.
Three days after the 8-1 win against VfL Wolfsburg, coach Vincent Kompany’s team ended the first half of the season as confident half-time champions with 47 points and plus 53 goals. In the first half of the 2013/2014 season, FCB also had 47 points and 35 goals.
In order to reach the record mark, an increase in performance was necessary after the break. As in the cup game at the end of October, the duel between the super talents initially fell flat. At FC, Said El Mala was back in the starting line-up this time, but Karl was still on the bench for Bayern and was later substituted on. And like Bayern’s 4-1 cup win, Cologne came out trumps in the first half. The promoted team repeatedly posed problems for the record champions with their quick and committed switching game.
After Ultra poster: Cologne coach Kwasniok reacts in terms of personnel
Already in the second minute, the nimble El Mala was denied by Manuel Neuer from a tight angle. In the 2-2 draw in Heidenheim, the 19-year-old saved a point for FC as a joker. Four days later, the winger was allowed to start again from the start. “I won’t stop him so that he can show in the first half that he is a great kicker,” said Cologne coach Lukas Kwasniok before the game on DAZN.
Criticism of the FC coach, who was initially celebrated, was probably also due to the playing times of Cologne’s best goalscorer so far this season (7). In Heidenheim, an Ultras poster with the inscription “Kwasni Yok” caused a stir. The word “Yok” can be translated from Turkish to German as “no”. Afterwards there was even a meeting between the FC bosses and the Ultras, who were particularly powerful in Cologne.
How powerful this group is was also shown on Wednesday. At the start of the game, the Ultras set off so much pyrotechnics in the south curve that the massive smoke development led to an almost ten-minute interruption. That’s why there was so much replay before the break. During the interruption, the FC supporters proudly celebrated themselves. The club has already had to pay fines in the high six-figure range for such behavior by some fans in the past.
Kwasniok not only responded by bringing in El Mala, but also by returning the deserving and popular FC veterans Florian Kainz and Luca Waldschmidt to the squad. “I really enjoy being the coach of this team and I’m incredibly proud to be able to represent this club. That gives me a lot of joy. I give the team the belief that we can pull off a surprise,” the Cologne coach told Sky.
Because Bayern didn’t play nearly as greedily as they did over large parts of the overall outstanding first half of the season, the surprise was actually in the air. Maina rewarded the Rhinelanders, who have not won since the beginning of November, for their courageous performance to date. After a listless challenge from Gnabry in the middle of Cologne’s half, Maina ran to the opponent’s sixteen-yard box and hit the quite tenable ball over the hands of the astonished Neuer into the Bayern goal.
The Neuer faux pas wasn’t enough for the Cologne team to take the lead at halftime. With a stroke of genius, Gnabry made up for his timid duel behavior just ten minutes earlier. He beat FC keeper Marvin Schwäbe from a tight angle with a crazy shot.
After the change, Bayern, as expected, became better and, above all, more dominant. The pressure from the guests increased with every minute. However, there were no top-class opportunities for a long time. This made Cologne continue to believe in the surprise – until the strong Kim headed it in to make it 2-1 for Bayern. Karl also came late to his appearance, which he crowned with his fourth goal of the season.
1899 Hoffenheim – Borussia Mönchengladbach 5:1 (4:0)
Even before the break, Andrej Kramaric triumphantly showed off his three goals with three fingers: the star striker and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim were in gala form as they showed Borussia Mönchengladbach the final round of the preliminary round. In the 5:1 (4:0) in front of only 20,750 spectators in Sinsheim, in addition to the TSG top scorer (22nd minute/foul penalty, 45th+1/45th+4), Tim Lemperle (24th) and Max Moerstedt (77th) also scored for TSG.
Hoffenheim have only lost one (0-2 in Dortmund) of their last ten league games. While the Kraichgauer celebrated their fifth home win in a row and remain a hot candidate for the European Cup, Gladbach experienced a lesson with coach Eugen Polanski at his former place of work. Shuto Machino’s goal to make it 1:4 (68′) didn’t change that.
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It was a special return for Polanski. “Actually, they should name the stadium after me,” the 39-year-old joked beforehand. From 2013 he played for Hoffenheim for five and a half years. Today’s national coach Julian Nagelsmann once promoted him to captain.
On the sidelines, Polanski had to watch with increasing despair as his team was hopelessly outnumbered. The Hoffenheim team stormed full of enthusiasm with the young stars Fisnik Asllani and Lemperle – and of course Kramaric: The 34-year-old also became the sole Croatian record holder in his 302nd Bundesliga game, ahead of Zvonimir Soldo (301 league games).
After TSG’s game in Bremen was canceled last weekend, the hosts continued where they left off in 2025. Gladbach celebrated a 4-0 win against FC Augsburg at the start of the year. However, the recently strong defense immediately came into trouble: Ozan Kabak headed it onto the crossbar in the 3rd minute.
After 20 minutes, Kramaric grabbed the ball and went to the penalty spot – without waiting for the decision on video evidence. Referee Christian Dingert then agreed with him over the stadium microphone, Philipp Sander had cleared Wouter Burger. Kramaric safely converted to make it 1-0.
The dismayed Borussia had not yet recovered when the Hoffenheim team struck again quickly – after a throw-in from the opponent: Lemperle scored into the far corner on an assist from Asllani – his sixth goal of the season.
The two young stars of TSG and veteran Kramaric were spinning incessantly, but Haris Tabakovic was nowhere to be seen for a long time. The striker, who was loaned to Gladbach from Hoffenheim, has recently been the focus of attention. The Bosnian international player miserably missed his tenth goal of the season shortly before half-time: he shot well past the national goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.
Kramaric did much better, using an assist from Asllani to make it 3-0 and once again overcome goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas. His lift to make it 3-0 was great. So the TSG star went into the dressing room at half-time with the ball under his arm – which he deserved to take home with him that day. The attacker also recommended the extension of his contract, which expires in the summer.
RB Leipzig – SC Freiburg 2:0 (0:0)
Two standards, two goals, finally another win: RB Leipzig started the new year successfully after a delay and ended its small crisis in results in time for the Bundesliga hit against Bayern Munich. The Saxons defeated SC Freiburg 2-0 (0-0) and celebrated another success after two defeats in a row.
In front of just 30,902 spectators, a double strike made the decision within three minutes. Defense chief Willi Orban (53rd minute) headed Leipzig into the lead after a free kick. Center forward Romulo (56th) also headed in after a corner. Leipzig thus consolidated third place behind leaders Munich and pursuers Dortmund.
Leipzig coach Ole Werner gave his whiz kid Yan Diomande some rest. The 19-year-old, who only returned from the Africa Cup on Sunday by private jet, was somewhat surprisingly not in the starting line-up. National player Assan Ouédraogo made his comeback after recovering from a knee injury and moved to the somewhat unusual left wing position.
Freiburg had to do without Matthias Ginter for a short time; the veteran was out with an infection. The rebuilt SC defense didn’t notice Ginter’s absence at first. The guests defended in a disciplined manner, made the spaces narrow and made life extremely difficult for the Leipzig team on the offensive.
VfL Wolfsburg – FC St. Pauli 2:1 (1:1)
VfL Wolfsburg has recovered well from the 8-1 debacle in Munich. Just three days later, the factory club beat FC St. Pauli 2-1 (1-1) in the important north and basement duel. Christian Eriksen’s first Bundesliga goal (25th minute/hand penalty) and Dzenan Pejzinovic’s late winning goal (88th) gave Wolfsburg a six-point lead over the relegation place. St. Pauli was an equal opponent for a long time in front of 22,031 spectators, but only scored to make it 1-1 through Eric Smith (40th).
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