By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
With only eight more games to go this season, Bayern München have seen their lead at the top cut to just six points by hungry chasers Bayer 04 Leverkusen – and the battle to lift the Meisterschale as Bundesliga champions is very much back on.
Bayer 04 will host 16th-placed VfL Bochum 1848 on Friday evening, while FC Bayern will welcome FC St. Pauli on Saturday afternoon. The Hamburg side are now five points clear of the relegation play-off spot and eager to boost their standing in the Bundesliga table.
Dieter Hecking’s visitors to the BayArena might have opted to face a different opponent, given the Werkself’s collective, jubilant mood after Patrik Schick scored a 94th minute winner – his 17th Bundesliga goal of the season – in Stuttgart to revive memories of the ‘Laterkusen’ moniker Alonso’s side picked up during their unbeaten run to a first Bundesliga title last term. Their grip on the trophy seemingly slipping away recently, Bayer 04 are now right back in the hunt and will be desperate to avoid any more slip-ups from here on in.
Elsewhere, the season’s surprise side, 1. FSV Mainz 05, are involved in one of the weekend’s most intriguing encounters, when the third-placed, Champions League-chasing 05ers travel to the Signal Iduna Park to play Borussia Dortmund. Mainz have plenty of form in this fixture, most notably when they denied BVB a Bundesliga title on the last day of the campaign in 2023. With Mainz winning in Dortmund that day and Bayern beating 1. FC Köln, it was the Munich team that leapfrogged their Klassiker rivals in the table to win an 11th-successive top-flight title. If Niko Kovač’s team fancy taking revenge this time around, they will need to seriously improve on the domestic front, with the Black-and Yellows suffering four defeats in their last six Bundesliga games.
A side back in the groove is Eintracht Frankfurt, who aided their chances of a top-four finish with a 3-1 win in Bochum on Matchday 26. That result ended three losses on the bounce for the Eagles, and Dino Toppmöller’s team are back in action against a Stuttgart side still feeling the sting of their incredible home reverse to Leverkusen, a game they had led by 2-0 and 3-1.
RB Leipzig and Borussia Mönchengladbach are equally interested in a place among the Champions League finishers, meaning sparks could fly when the pair go head-to-head at Borussia-Park on Saturday afternoon.
The weekend’s remaining fixtures all see teams harbouring European hopes take on sides battling to ensure they stay up. FC Augsburg are unbeaten in 10 and haven’t conceded a single goal in the last six prior to their trip to TSG Hoffenheim in 14th place.
FC Heidenheim 1846 clawed themselves off the foot of the table with only their second win of 2025 by beating Holstein Kiel in their relegation six-pointer. The bottom two now take on VfL Wolfsburg and SV Werder Bremen respectively on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday’s other fixture then sees SC Freiburg, still only three points outside the top four, look to pounce on any slips as they host 1. FC Union Berlin. The Irons took a point off Bayern prior to the break to lift themselves seven points clear of the bottom three.