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With just four games to play, the end is in sight for this season’s Bundesliga. The outcome, however, remains intriguingly unpredictable. Defending champions FC Bayern München moved back to the summit last weekend, after Thomas Tuchel’s side completed their task against Hertha Berlin. The Bavarians’ 2-0 victory at the Allianz Arena took them a point ahead of fellow title challengers Borussia Dortmund, who only managed a 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum 1848 two days prior. It sets everything up for a forthcoming round of fixtures that will have Bundesliga fans glued to the action.
“We’re happy because we are back in first place and have our destiny in our own hands,” Bayern attacker Kingsley Coman told Bundesliga.com. “If we win the next four games, we’ll be champions,” the France star added. The first of those four encounters comes at 12th placed SV Werder Bremen on Saturday evening. It will be a far from straightforward task for Tuchel’s team, with Werder boasting the Bundesliga’s leading scorer this season with 16 goals, Niclas Füllkrug, and his inform strike partner Marvin Ducksch. Bayern will need Coman and fellow attackers, Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane in full flow at the Weserstadion.
Dortmund, too, must match the heights they have often hit in 2023 in order to get the better of a VfL Wolfsburg side intent on finishing in the European spots. The Black-and-Yellows suffered a 2-0 reverse in the corresponding fixture against the
Wolves last November. BVB will thus know they will need to be wary against Niko Kovac’s side, who are up to seventh spot in the table after last weekend’s victory against 1. FSV Mainz 05. “We still have a few exciting weeks ahead of us; we won’t give up,” were Julian Brandt’s fighting words as Dortmund’s young, attacking team set themselves for the championship run-in. BVB midfielder Jude Bellingham recently spoke of wanting to give back to the fans in the form of a Bundesliga title, and all those at Signal Iduna Park know that this is crunch time in terms of those noble ambitions.
Elsewhere on an action-packed weekend of Bundesliga football, SC Freiburg play host to RB Leipzig at the impressive Europa-Park Stadion. Not just a repeat of last season’s DFB Cup final – which Leipzig won on penalties – this Matchday 31 headto-head sees two teams locked in battle for a place in the top four. Freiburg – in fourth – currently hold a two-point advantage over their Saxony-based rivals but the outcome of Saturday afternoon’s showdown in the Black Forest is impossible to predict. Christopher Nkunku and Timo Werner will be keen to make their mark for the visitors but Vincenzo Grifo, Ritsu Doan and Michael Gregoritsch will have other ideas in front of their own fans.
The tussle at the bottom of the table this season is proving just as exciting. Until now, it appears that as many as six teams could still drop out of the division while two of them meet each other in this next round of games. Hertha are in last place and are desperately in need of a victory against a VfB Stuttgart side that has risen under recently appointed coach Sebastian Hoeneß. As many as six points and three places separate the teams, with the outcome of this clash looking crucial to their respective hopes.
Kicking off with a Friday-night double header of Xabi Alonso’s Bayer 04 Leverkusen against 1. FC Köln and Mainz against FC Schalke 04, this Bundesliga weekend is one you cannot afford to miss.
