Runde 20 in the Bundesliga – and somehow these games on Saturday afternoon were characterized by penalty decisions. Quick spoiler: Not all of them were correct. About a flight of fancy that doesn’t want to end, a club in crisis that concedes too many goals and a bizarre coaching debate in the cool north. Everything else about the Bundesliga can be found here.
Will Eintracht stop its problem phase?
Not yet. Against Tottenham they finally conceded not three goals, but only two, which is why Frankfurt’s euphoria was limited even when they said goodbye to the Champions League. And in pretty tight ones. After seven games without a win in a row, everything should finally get better in the last game before new coach Albert Riera takes office on Monday. Unfortunately, the opponent was Bayer Leverkusen, the Hjulmand team had recently fought their way out of the crisis with two wins in five days.
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Eintracht could have presented right at the beginning, when Robert Andrich’s contact with Arnaud Kalimuendo in the Leverkusen penalty area resulted in a penalty scene. But such situations are often in the eye of the beholder – and so referee Robert Schröder did not award a penalty. And then it hit the back foot, in the 26th minute Alejandro Grimaldo and Arthur took over the Hessian defense, the latter (wearing a stylish face mask) coolly finished to make it 0-1. And even when the score was 2-0 a few minutes later, the Eintracht defenders just stood there in amazement as Malik Tillman was allowed to slide in unhindered.
But Frankfurt didn’t give up, the second period was still young, when captain Robin Koch reduced the score to 1:2 with a lot of determination. After Ellyes Skhiri (71’/yellow-red) was sent off, the Eagles’ comeback was over, Leverkusen’s Aleix Garcia put the late finishing touch – once again conceding three goals for Eintracht. Now the Riederwald is waiting for the new Spanish coach Albert Riera, who should finally get the SGE’s defensive problems under control.
Will the Hoffenheim tornado also sweep over Union?
Clear and unequivocal: yes. Steffen Baumgart’s team was determined to put the perennial winners from Kraichgau in their place. And Rani Khedira also had a really good chance to take the lead when TSG keeper Oliver Baumann stumbled, but the Union midfielder was too determined to finish.
But then towards the end of the first half there was a big appearance from the evergreen Andrej Kramaric, who first converted a rather controversial penalty and then used a header against the direction of the goalkeeper to make it 2-0. And when Union wanted to roll up their sleeves at the beginning of the second half and try to catch up, Diogo Leite, who was courted by Lazio, stumbled the ball into his own goal. In the end it was 3-1 for TSG, who are now finally real Bayern hunters. If you can say that when you are several points behind.
Will Leipzig settle in the top 4?
It doesn’t look like that, although the signs were good, after all, their opponents Mainz had not won seven away from home recently. But the upswing of the FSV has recently been clearly noticeable. Among those leading the way was celebratory Stefan Bell, who played his 300th Bundesliga game and recently scored twice in eight days after three and a half years without scoring his own goal.
First, the lawn ballers showed why they were favorites here. Conrad Harder took the lead, while Mainz, in addition to this low blow, also had to accept the shock of the serious injury to Benedict Hollerbach, who collapsed to the ground without any outside influence and was later seen on the bench with crutches. Mainz put up with all that, Nadiem Amiri converted a flattering penalty to make it 1-1, and immediately after the substitution, Silas turned the game completely with an irresistible solo – even the ex-Mainz player Ridle Baku couldn’t stop him. Leipzig toiled and toiled, but the longed-for equalizer would no longer come. And Mainz? Is actually only one point behind 15th place.
Will Augsburg step up after the coup in Munich?
You can say that! How did Keven Schlotterbeck put it so beautifully before his Augsburg game against St. Pauli? It would be a completely different game, after all, we knew that in Munich we would only have the ball 20 to 30 percent of the time. Things are naturally different against a team from the bottom of the table.
And that’s how FCA played the game at the beginning, having good chances through Alexis Claude-Maurice, who hit the post, and Michael Gregoritsch. But then there was a penalty for Hamburg, which would hardly have lasted if referee Sascha Stegemann had been asked to the screen by his video assistants. But they saw no reason for this, even though Augsburg’s Marius Wolf clearly played the ball before hitting Manolis Saliakas on the ankle. Danel Sinani didn’t care, he scored from the spot. But before the break, Gregoritsch, who they affectionately call “Gregerl” in Austria since his decisive goal in the World Cup qualifier against Bosnia, equalized to make it 1-1. And after just under an hour, FCA even took the lead. And the Bavarian Swabians trembled over time – although St. Pauli still had one or two great chances.
Will coach-killer Horst Steffen secure his own job in Bremen against Gladbach?
Maybe so, but if so, it worked at the last minute. Four of six coaches who were fired this Bundesliga season were fired after a game involving SV Werder. Before the duel between the troubled former top clubs, the joke was circulating that the Bremen team would soon lose another coach’s job – this time their own.
The old masters played the first half uninspired. And just as Bremen took the initiative to avoid the negative run, they slipped even deeper because Franck Honorat asserted himself strongly on the right and Haris Tabakovic held out his foot in the middle and scored to make it 0-1. There was a threat of the seventh defeat in the tenth game for SVW, then Keke Topp, who comes from a small town in Lower Saxony with the beautiful name Gnarrenburg, pulled the trigger. His shot landed at a right angle to make it 1-1 and may have had a job-saving effect for Horst Steffen.
