LEIPZIG, GERMANY - JANUARY 09: Marco Reus of Borussia Dortmund reacts during the Bundesliga match between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund at Red Bull Arena on January 9, 2021 in Leipzig, Germany. (Photo by Boris Streubel/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection via Getty Images)
An Englische Woche with games on Tuesday and Wednesday has just concluded, and
the Bundesliga shows no sign of stopping with Matchday 18 sending us into the
second half of the 2020-21 season just two days after the last games in the German
top-flight’s Hinrunde.
The weekend’s action starts in style at Borussia-Park on Friday night.
The Battle of the Borussias headlines the matchday as Borussia Mönchengladbach host
Borussia Dortmund. The Foals have found form at the start of 2021 but have struggled
against their namesakes from Dortmund in recent years. Gladbach have, in fact, failed to
win any of their last 11 league matches against Dortmund – the longest winless run against
any team in the club’s history.
Just one point separates the two sides with Die Schwarzgelben sitting fourth and Die Fohlen
in seventh heading into the weekend.
The high-profile matchups continue on Saturday
when two top-six teams face-off at the BayArena with Bayer Leverkusen hosting VfL
Wolfsburg.
Florian Wirtz capped a man-of-the-match display against Borussia Dortmund in the
midweek fixture by becoming the youngest player to reach four career Bundesliga goals,
aged 17 years, eight months and 17 days, deposing former teammate Kai Havertz in
reaching the tally 83 days younger than the Chelsea man was. Previous record-holder Timo
Werner, Havertz’s teammate in London, was 84 days shy of his 18th birthday.
RB Leipzig are in action on Saturday afternoon as they travel to 1. FSV Mainz 05, with the
chance to close the gap to FC Bayern München at the top of the table to just one point
overnight.
Meanwhile, SC Freiburg face VfB Stuttgart and FC Augsburg meet 1. FC Union Berlin –
another team in the top-eight of the Bundesliga standings where just two points separate
eighth and fourth at the midway point of the campaign.
DSC Arminia Bielefeld have found form at the bottom of the table taking 10 of their last 15
available points before they face Eintracht Frankfurt to round up the Saturday afternoon
fixtures. The game could see Real Madrid loanee Luka Jovic start for the first time since his
return to Die Adler.
The Saturday evening fixture takes us to the German capital and a key meeting between
two sides in the lower mid-table. Hertha Berlin welcome SV Werder Bremen to the
Olympiastadion with the pair just two and three points above the relegation play-off spot
respectively.
The first of the Sunday double-headers sees bottom play top as FC Schalke 04 welcome
Bayern to the Veltins-Arena. US teenager Matthew Hoppe has equalled top scorer Robert
Lewandowski’s tally for 2021 so far with five goals from three games played.
Bayern’s No.9, however, has his eyes set on a bigger goal. With his penalty against
Augsburg on Matchday 17, Lewandowski became the first and only player in the
Bundesliga’s history to have scored 22 goals from the first 17 matches of a season, with
Gerd Müller’s 40-goal record campaign in his sights.
The weekend concludes in Sinsheim where TSG Hoffenheim face 1. FC Köln, who earned a
vital last-minute win at Schalke on Wednesday evening which took them eight points clear
of Mainz and the Royal Blues at the lower end of the table.
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