By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
With just 10 games to go this Bundesliga season, there is a familiar sight on top of the standings: FC Bayern München and a healthy championship lead.
But there is much more to the Bundesliga than the fight for the title: there are laurels to be earned by securing one of the coveted places in the coming season’s European competitions, and there are intense rivalries to be fought out between the teams ranging somewhere in the middle; not to mention the struggles for the Klassenerhalt at the bottom, where 1. FC Heidenheim 1846, Holstein Kiel, and VfL Bochum 1848 have been trading places, each eager to climb back up and avoid relegation.
Opening Matchday 25 on Friday evening, soaring 1. FSV Mainz 05 in fourth place will try to fend off hosts Borussia Mönchengladbach to bolster their UEFA Champions League aspirations.
Then a tricky triple-header where Vincent Kompany’s men faced a trip to title-defenders Bayer 04 Leverkusen before meeting third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and then VfB Stuttgart had the potential to knock the Bavarians o their stride. Yet, with seven points gained from those fixtures – and two convincing wins in the latter two – Bayern emerged with an enviable eight-point advantage over nearest rivals Bayer 04.
The last two Bundesliga winners are in the midst of their historic UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie this week, but in between that, it’s back to the “real” domestic business, with FCB hosting VfL Bochum 1848 at the Allianz Arena. Fighting for their top- ight lives in the division’s bottom three, Bochum will clearly not be favourites to emerge with what would be a monumental three points for Dieter Hecking’s men, especially given the Blues have never beaten a team sitting top of the Bundesliga.
However, coach Hecking has been around the block enough times to have overseen vewins against Bayern in his 25 games against them, which is more than any other active Bundesliga coach has managed. Striker Harry Kane’s uncharacteristic goal drought – England’s record scorer has gone three Bundesliga games without netting for the rst time – may also o er Bochum a shred of hope as they get set to face a Bayern side who are other wise in superb form.
Another side needing a lifeline to cling to this weekend is SV Werder Bremen, with the Green-Whites enduring a poor run of results – ve straight defeats in all competitions – just at a time when the BayArena beckons. Leverkusen fans will view this xture with fondness as it was a 5-0 home victory against Werder last season – which included a rst senior Florian Wirtz hat-trick – that sealed a maiden Bundesliga title win for the Werkself. Xabi Alonso’s men know they cannot a ord a single slip-up from this point onwards as they cling to the defence of that title from second place. In their favour, Saturday’s hosts have a 22-game unbeaten run in the league to point to, along with a striker in Patrik Schick who, with 16 goals, now only trails Kane (21 goals) at the head of the Bundesliga scorer standings.
Elsewhere on Matchday 25, the Niko Kovač-inspired Borussia Dortmund revival sees the Black-and-Yellows host FC Augsburg. The previously troubled BVB have won their last two Bundesliga games in a row – a rst for them this term – to the aggregate tune of eight goals to nil. Saturday’s hosts Dortmund can also claim to have beaten the visiting Fuggerstädter in the teams’ last six meetings at the Signal Iduna Park. Yet, Die Schwarzgelben will have their work cut out for them dismantling an Augsburg side who are unbeaten in their last eight, with Jess Thorup’s team also boasting the best defence in 2025.
Completing the Saturday afternoon action, VfL Wolfsburg are on the cusp of the European spots as they prepare to host FC St. Pauli, who may be hovering just above the bottom three but boast the fourth-tightest defence in the division. Holstein Kiel nally moved o the foot of the table last week with a historic rst away win in the Bundesliga. Can they follow that up at home to last season’s runners-up Stuttgart?
In Saturday evening’s main game, a top tussle sees SC Freiburg and RB Leipzig vying for that crucial fourth place in the standings. Indeed, with third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt dropping points of late, both the aforementioned teams will be keen to take advantage when they go head-to-head at the Europa-Park Stadion. Inspired by the evergreen Vincenzo Grifo and Ritsu Dōan, Freiburg are unbeaten in their last ve, winning four.
Leipzig may be just two points behind their opponents this weekend, but momentum has shifted somewhat now that Marco Rose’s side have failed to win any of their last three Bundesliga games. A loss against 1. FSV Mainz 05 last time out allowed the 05ers to jump up to fourth, and with Bo Henriksen’s charges heading to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday night, a battle of the strikers awaits, with local hero Tim Kleindienst facing the 05ers in-form forward, Jonathan Burkardt, in a tussle that Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann will have a close eye on as he mulls over his options at centre-forward.
Frankfurt could well have been dislodged from the top three for the rst time since October by the time they play on Sunday as they host 1. FC Union Berlin sandwiched between their UEFA Europa League last-16 tie against Ajax. TSG Ho enheim and bottom side 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 are both now out of Europe and turn their attentions to top- ight survival as they close out the matchday on Sunday evening.