Bayern set to consolidate as Bundesliga resumes

Bayern Munich, who are four points clear with nine games left to play will look to win the title for an eighth consecutive season as the German Bundesliga resumes on Saturday (May 16). The re-start comes two months after the league was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The football world will be watching in anticipation with success in Germany likely to help fast track the start of other top leagues. Football officials worldwide are still wary of the many uncertainties around the pandemic and how the Bundesliga experiment plays out this weekend will help shape their decisions.

Bayern are closely followed by the chasing pack of Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Borussia Monchengladbach, all within six points of the league leaders.

Bayern had suffered an uncharacteristic slump in late November and early December, losing back-to-back games and languishing in seventh place.

Hansi Flick has since guided them back to the summit with a series of impressive results as former leaders, Dortmund floundered.

Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann was among the many enjoying a renewed sense of anticipation.

“The whole situation is like before a tournament. We all had a short break, then a relaxed phase and now an intense preparation,”

“We’re going to try to win this nine-game tournament – with the theoretical possibility of finishing first,” Nagelsmann told Kicker magazine.

Bayer Leverkusen is next on the log, with the possibility of chasing a Champions League slot, while Schalke, Wolfsburg, Freiburg, Hoffenheim and Cologne are chasing Europa slots.

Werder Bremen are under threat of relegation and Paderborn will need an improvement in form to stay up.

Fortuna Dusseldorf, Mainz, Augsburg, Hertha Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt are all within the relegation danger zone so there will be as much excitement and anxiety at the bottom of the table as there will be at the top.