The early season jockeying for position at the top of the Bundesliga has intensified this week as the teams hoping to dethrone FC Bayern had mixed fortunes.
Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Leipzig both picked up three points while early pace setters Wolfsburg fell to a second successive defeat.
Winners: Borussia Dortmund
A first-half penalty converted by Raphael Guerreiro gave die Schwarzgelben an ideal start in their clash with Augsburg, but when Andi Zeqiri reacted the quickest to a blocked shot and fired the rebound into the roof of the net, the visitors were level. Marco Reus teed up Julian Brandt who smashed home a long-range winner early in the second half and while BVB couldn’t add to the scoreline it wasn’t for the want of trying. Reus hit the post as did Thorgan Hazard, and Jude Bellingham had a shot brilliantly saved as the hosts ran out 2-1 winners.
The manner of the victory was more convincing than the score-line suggests as Dortmund had 70 per cent possession and won the shot count by 20 to six. The pre-season Bundesliga 2021 betting odds here at SBOTOP pitched Borussia Dortmund as second-favourites, alongside Red Bull Leipzig, and this result has kept Marco Rose’s side nicely in touch with leaders Bayern.
Loser: Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, FC Augsburg
When you are playing away to a top-four side, and one with a passionate home crowd, the policy is generally to keep things tight for the first twenty minutes or so and try to keep the fans subdued. What you don’t want to do is hand your hosts the perfect start on a plate, but that’s exactly what Augsburg’s Dutch defender Jeffrey Gouweleeuw did with less than ten minutes on the clock when he put a clumsy challenge in on Donyell Malen and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.
Guerreiro look the spot-kick, the Yellow Wall erupted and BVB were on their way.
Winner: Christopher Nkunku, Red Bull Leipzig
Red Bull continued their climb up the table thanks to a comprehensive 3-0 home win over strugglers Bochum, but they had to wait until the 69th minute to break down their stubborn visitors when Andre Silva headed home from a corner. The Portuguese star then turned provider when he threaded a ball through to Christopher Nkunku and the attacking midfielder slotted it coolly home in the corner. Nkunku grabbed his second and Red Bull’s third, firing home from an angle to seal the points.
The 23-year-old is a real livewire and in red hot form, recently scoring a hat-trick in Leipzig’s 6-3 Champions League defeat to Manchester City, and he’s become a key player for die Roten Bullen over the past two seasons. Head coach Jesse Marsch was under some pressure following his side’s slow start, but they are starting to gather some much-needed momentum after spanking Hertha Berlin 6-0 last week when Nkunku scored another brace.
Losers: Bochum
After this defeat, only Greuther Furth are below Bochum in the table and the newcomers will be starting to fear a difficult campaign. Only two weeks they were battered 7-0 by FC Bayern and they have picked up just a single win in the campaign, a home victory over Mainz in their second game. If this fruitless run continues it will be a long winter for Thomas Reis’ team.
Bochum tried to compete against Red Bull and had nine shots on goal, to Red Bull’s 16, but the hosts had nine on target to Bochum’s two and the gulf in class was painfully evident.
Winners: Borussia Monchengladbach
Adi Hutter’s Monchengladbach picked up a second big scalp in succession on Saturday, following an impressive victory over Borussia Dortmund with a successful trip away to high flying Wolfsburg. Die Fohlen started explosively when Breel Embolo scored with a spectacular overhead kick in just five minutes (one to watch on the Bundesliga 2021 highlights this weekend) and two later Jonas Hofmann doubled the lead.
Luca Waldschmidt halved the deficit but die Wolfe were undone when they went down to ten men before Borussia defender Joe Scally scored his first Bundesliga goal finishing off a long punt assist from goalkeeper Yann Sommer. This setback makes it two losses on the bounce for Wolfsburg who lost to Hoffenheim last week by the same score.
Loser: Maxene Lacroix, Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg were still well in the game at 1-2 with 15 minutes and injury time still to play and pressing for an equaliser, but when centre back Maxence Lacroix ploughed into Breel Embolo, the referee pointed to the spot and handed the defender a second yellow card. As it turned out Lars Stindl saw his penalty saved but the numerical advantage eventually told when die Folen made it 1-3 deep into stoppage time.
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