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The Bundesliga continues into the second month of 2021 with a headline fixture to kick-off the weekend in style under the Friday night lights of the capital.
League leaders FC Bayern München travel to Berlin to begin the action, facing Hertha Berlin on Friday at the Olympiastadion. The Old Lady have taken points in five of their last eight meetings with the record German champions, and new head coach Pal Dardai has been in charge of four of those.
However, Hertha will have to find a way to stop Robert Lewandowski, who remains on course to break Gerd Müller’s 40-goal season record. Bayern’s No.9 has scored in each of his last eight away matches played in the Bundesliga.
Four of the top six teams in the table are in action on what is sure to be an entertaining set of fixtures on Saturday afternoon. Second-placed RB Leipzig travels to face bottom club FC Schalke 04, who could see returning favourite Klaas-Jan Huntelaar start for the first time, as well as a deadline day signing Shkodran Mustafi.
Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, will be in the Black Forest as they return to the Schwarzwald-Stadion to face SC Freiburg. Edin Terizc led his side to a dramatic DFB Cup last 16 victory over Bundesliga 2 side SC Paderborn in midweek and will be desperate to keep his side in the hunt for a top-four finish on Saturday.
Two of the league’s most enjoyable teams to watch so far this campaign meet at the same time, with Bayer 04 Leverkusen welcoming VfB Stuttgart to the BayArena. There was a midweek cup upset for Leverkusen, who were knocked out by Rot-Weiss Essen of the fourth tier. Rewriting those wrongs will be at the forefront of Peter Bosz’s plans, but it won’t come easy against Pellegrino Matarazzo’s impressive outfit.
Third-placed VfL Wolfsburg, who sit three points behind Leipzig, are at FC Augsburg as they -led by the club record 13 goals in 19 games of Wout Weghorst -look to keep their charge for European qualification on track.
Elsewhere on Saturday, a 1. FSV Mainz 05 side fighting for every point against relegation meet 1. FC Union Berlin who are right in the mix for a European push through the second half of the season.
On Saturday evening the drama continues with one of the Bundesliga’s biggest rivalries taking centre stage once more. Borussia Mönchengladbach host 1. FC Köln in the second Rhine-Derby of the season. The Billy Goats ended a near one-year wait for a home victory in the Bundesliga last weekend but have not claimed a win at Borussia-Park since 2016.
The first of our Sunday double-headers sees two of the league’s top strikers -Andrej Kramaric and Andre Silva -face one another as TSG Hoffenheim play host to Eintracht Frankfurt. That is before DSC Arminia Bielefeld and SV Werder Bremen round off the weekend’s action in a relegation six-pointer that will be just as drama-filled as the rest of the fixtures on Matchday 20.
