Goals, Goals, and More Goals...Bundesliga review

The Bundesliga continued this weekend and in some style. With only two home wins and 32 goals in 9 games, this goals galore weekend had drama, red cards, and VAR decisions!

The second week back since the restart gave us goals galore in the Berlin derby, as Hertha ran riot against Union on Friday night. Bruno Labbadia’s men dominated the game from the start with Cunha and Ludebakio coming close to breaking the deadlock in the first half. Early in the second half, Plattenhardt’s whipped ball across the face of goal was met by the head of Ibisevic, who guided the ball into the near post. Almost straight from kick off, the Bosnian goalscorer’s ball over the top of the Union Berlin defence, had Ludebakio racing through and he calmly rounded the goalie and slotted home. Not long after, Matheus Cunha’s jinxing run, similar to the game against Hoffenheim, found him completing a one-two with Ibisevic and the Brazilian curled a low shot into the far-right corner. 10 minutes from the end, Plattenhardt’s corner was nodded in by Boyata to make it 4-0.

The 2:30 games on Saturday commenced with a comfortable win from the Dortmund boys against Wolfsburg. It wasn’t as dominant and attacking as normal for the BVB however, they went ahead when a combination between Brandt and Hakimi allowed room for Hazard to pull it back. However as the ball came to the prolific Haaland, the Norwegian slipped and it fell to Guerreiro who fired home. Wolfsburg’s only real attack came early in the second half when Renato Steffen latched onto a through ball and hit the bar. Dortmund doubled the lead towards the end when Jadon Sancho's powerful drive committed defenders, and when Wolfsburg engaged, he set it to Hakimi and he hit it under the keeper. 10 minutes from the end, Felix Klaus’ coming together with Akanji went to VAR and the winger received a red card.

Perhaps the most anticipated game towards the top of the table was Monchengladbach hosting Leverkusen. The away side took the lead when a through ball from Bellarabi found Havertz and he clinically finished under Sommer. Minutes before half time another Kai Havertz’s effort from an acute angle hit the bar and bounced back to Dermibay on the line and he somehow managed to hit it straight at Elvedi and the chance to double the lead was missed. Shortly into the second half, Plea’s clipped ball over the top found Thuram and he executed the volley perfectly to level it. Just minutes later, Havertz’ ball to Bellarabi set him free, and with a last-ditch sliding tackle from Elvedi caught the winger, leaving Havertz to calmly slot home the resulting penalty. A game with chances galore, it was the away side that yet again proved how clinical they were when Demirbay’s free-kick was nodded in by Bender to win the game 3-1.

It was possibly the upset of the matchday when Bremen traveled to Freiburg. The team that is 2nd bottom went ahead on the counter-attack when a long ball from deep found Leonardo Bittencourt, whose finish past Schwolow was wonderful. Freiburg dominated the game and forced saves from Pavlenka, who ultimately was man of the match. Freiburg created many half chances but didn’t have the extra edge. 3 minutes from the full time, a Freiburg attack was halted by Bargfrede, who was shown his second yellow. This resulting cross from the free kick hit the upright and was followed in past Pavlenka. Fortunately for Bremen, it was ruled out by VAR and the away side took home the much needed 3 points, although they remain deep in the relegation dogfight.

In the game between Paderborn and Hoffenheim, the away side started with a bang, when Kaderabeck’s pull back found Skov and he put Hoffenheim 1-0 up within 3 minutes. Only 5 minutes later, a defensive error from the Hoffenheim defence and former Norwich striker, Denis Srbeny hit his curling effort from 30 yards into the top corner past Oliver Baumann. Hoffenheim dominated the game and had the best chance of the game, when Robert Skov went through one-on-one with the goalie but after beating the keeper with a lob, it was cleared off the line by Collins to keep it the final score at 1-1.

The late kick-off at the Allianz Arena was a 7-goal thriller that was exciting from the neutral’s perspective. It started when Thomas Muller’s run down the left found the cushioned right foot of midfielder Leon Goretzka and he buried it in the top corner. Bayern doubled their lead when Davies’ cross was finished by Muller. Less than a minute into the second half, Kingsley Coman’s cross from the by-line was met by Lewandowski to potentially finish the game and Bayern were seemingly coasting to yet another 3 points. However not long later, a Hinterreger volley from the corner managed to get his 8th for the season. 3 minutes later, the Austrian jumped higher than everyone else to make it 3-2, for his 9th of the season. Not a bad return for a centre back! Bayern replied with a run from deep from Alphonso Davies, where he just followed the ball and somehow ended up 10 yards out and he finished well. Bayern added another when a long ball from David Alaba found Serge Gnabry and his pass past Trapp was bundled in by Hinterreger however this time in his net to conclude the thriller.

Sunday’s games started with an upset between Schalke and Augsburg. The away team scored early on from a stunning Eduard Lowen free kick in the 6th minute. David Wagner made questionable substitutions, seemingly focusing on youth over winning the game and that could have cost him. Schalke dominated the possession but were unable to create any good chances. With just 15 minutes left a mix-up between Sane and Kenny allowed Sarenren-Bazee to drive at goal and curl an effort past Schubert. Augsburg always looked a danger on the counter-attack and were soaking up Schalke’s possession and capitalizing on mistakes. In added-on time a heavy touch from the youngster Levent Mercan, allowed Cordova to go through on goal. He showed composure to round Schubert and slot into an empty net for the 3-0 win.

There were more goals later when Mainz played host to a strong RB Leipzig side that had thumped them 8-0 in the reverse fixture and there was a common theme here too. A run down the wing and pull back from Laimer found Timo Werner who calmly directed the ball into the far-right corner. Just 10 minutes later Sabitzer’s cross sat up nicely for the captain, Christian Poulsen to head unopposed from 6 yards out. Leipzig came close to making it 3 with chances from Werner and Poulsen saved by Muller. However, it wasn’t long before they did make find the net again when a high press allowed Sabitzer to rob Fernandes and play a one-two and score in the top corner. Just minutes into the second half a lovely team move that had one-two’s between Kampl, Poulsen and Werner, left the latter unmarked 6 yards out and he scored his 2nd. 10 minutes later and Leipzig were knocking the ball around with ease and a powerful run and curled finish from Kevin Kampl looked to have made it 5 but Poulsen was offside and interfering with play so the effort was disallowed. They did manage to make it 5 eventually when a long ball found Werner and he lobbed Muller, giving him back-to-back hat-tricks against Mainz and perpetuating his growing reputation as one of Europe most feared and sought after front men.

The later game on Sunday between FC Koln and Fortuna Dusseldorf also had goals to top off goals galore Sunday. The favourites, Koln, went behind just before half time when Karaman’s effort deflected away from Horn and into the back of the net. Midway through the second half, Koln’s Mark Uth saw his shot come back off the post to him and he was bundled over by a melee of Dusseldorf players. The German took the penalty but it was saved by Kastenmeier to the bottom left. Minutes later, it was Dusseldorf that went down the other end and Erik Tommy’s precise effort managed to evade the reach of Horn. 3 minutes before time Anthony Modeste’s header from Cordoba’s cross managed to give the home side a chance for the comeback and it was completed in added time when Dominic Drexler’s cross was met by the powerful Cordoba to make the comeback complete and secure a thrilling 2-2 draw.

And now we wait until tonight for the big game between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, which could determine the league along with the rest of the midweek games.