The curtain is set to fall on yet another highly memorable Bundesliga season, but not before a final matchday – with plenty still at stake – is played out.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen secured the championship title for the first time in the club’s history some weeks ago but have kept on going and are still unbeaten in 50 competitive games this season. Should they avoid a reverse at the BayArena against FC Augsburg, Xabi Alonso’s side will be able to parade the Meisterschale trophy in front of their fans as the Bundesliga’s first Invincibles.
Further behind the Brilliant Bayer 04, FC Bayern München and VfB Stuttgart are battling it out to finish as runners-up. Last season’s champions – who are set to be led by Thomas Tuchel for the last time – hold a two-point edge over the Swabians and visit a TSG Hoffenheim side still very much in the mix for a European finish. Bundesliga top scorer Harry Kane suffered a blow to his hopes of beating Robert Lewandowski’s 41-goal record tally for a single season when the English striker missed last weekend’s win against VfL Wolfsburg through injury. Kane will nonetheless be eager to add to his remarkable 36 goals should he be fit enough for his team’s finale.
Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy has added one more story to a remarkable season with the Guinea international clocking up 26 strikes, and the 28-year-old will be ready to help VfB pounce to nick second spot should Bayern slip up. Sebastian Hoeneß’s overachievers are at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Things are even tenser at the other end of the table where the relegation picture is not yet 100 percent clear. With SV Darmstadt 98 already down, 1. FC Köln looked to be joining the Lilies, until a dramatic come-from-behind win against fellow strugglers 1. FC Union Berlin last weekend set up an unmissable last day’s excitement. Köln – who travel to 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 – could now snatch a play-off lifeline from 16th-placed Union should the Billy Goats win and the capital club lose to Sport-Club Freiburg, when goal difference will also come into play. With Freiburg chasing Europe in what will be coach Christian Streich’s last game, it’s anyone’s guess what might happen at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
For their part, 1. FSV Mainz 05 or VfL Bochum 1848 are not out of the relegation play-off woods just yet either. The 05ers have been flying under recently appointed coach Bo Henriksen, and if they can add to an eight-game unbeaten run against Wolfsburg, Mainz should be safe. Bochum, meanwhile, need a point away at SV Werder Bremen to make their Bundesliga status absolutely certain.
A quick glance back up the standings sees RB Leipzig certain to finish fourth no matter what happens in their game against Eintracht Frankfurt. With Hoffenheim breathing down their necks, it’s the Eagles who could really do with the points to confirm sixth place. Just above them, UEFA Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund, who play relegated Darmstadt, will finish fifth and compete in European club football’s elite tournament next season. With a possible eight teams set to advance to continental competition in 2024-25, Werder,
Augsburg or Heidenheim – the latter enjoying a fairytale debut season in the top flight – could yet make the cut.
So get set for one last Bundesliga weekend when all nine top-flight fixtures will kick off at the same time on Saturday. We’re in for more unmissable top-flight drama to close out what has been a campaign that will live long in the memory.
