By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Robert Lewandowski — fresh from claiming another Bundesliga record — will hope he can not only find the net but also fire champions FC Bayern München back to winning ways when they host struggling VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 33.
Lewandowski took his tally of away goals this term to an unprecedented 18 when he struck against 1. FSV Mainz 05 last weekend, but the Poland international, who holds the Bundesliga’s single-season scoring record and is the all-time leading foreign-born goal getter, could not prevent Julian Nagelsmann’s men slipping to a surprise 3-1 loss. Title-winners for a tenth successive season, Bayern need to score eight times across their final two games to equal their own single-season Bundesliga record for goals (101, 1971/72), a mark they could make strides towards against a Stuttgart team that starts the Matchday in 16th, the relegation promotion play-off spot.
Borussia Dortmund are within touching distance of getting over the line as runners-up — they travel to face relegated SpVgg Greuther Fürth where Marco Rose will be hoping his side can end a run of back-to-back defeats. Bayer 04 Leverkusen will feel confident of pressing their claims for a top-four finish — and with it UEFA Champions League group stage qualification — when they face a TSG Hoffenheim outfit that has tumbled out of the reckoning following a drastic dip in form. SC Freiburg stretched Hoffenheim’s winless streak to seven with last weekend’s 4-3 win in Sinsheim to apply serious pressure on their top-four fivals — Christian Streich’s side now take on a 1. FC Union Berlin team that is also gunning for Europe.
RB Leipzig will have the advantage of knowing how the clubs around them at the top end of the table have done when they take on an FC Augsburg team that is all but safe in Sunday evening’s Matchday closer. Domenico Tedesco’s men will no doubt be watching 1. FC Köln’s home encounter with VfL Wolfsburg closely — the Billy Goats made it four wins from four with a 4-1 win in Augsburg last weekend and are trotting up on the rails with a late but strong bid for a UEFA Champions League qualifying place.
Unlike Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt’s successful UEFA Europa League campaign this term has blurred some of their Bundesliga focus — Oliver Glasner’s men come up against another club that has underwhelmed in the German top flight this season, VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Defeat for Stuttgart could see Arminia Bielefeld inch ahead of them and out of the automatic relegation places if they can end a nine-game wait for a win and defeat VfL Bochum in Friday’s Matchday opener. Hertha BSC — another giant of the German game — are four points and a place better off than Stuttgart after an upturn in fortunes under Felix Magath, who could see his side go four unbeaten if they can draw the sting of Mainz in the capital.
