By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The 2021/22 Hinrunde is coming to a close, with FC Bayern München confirmed as Herbstmeisterschaft champions and FC St. Pauli having also wrapped up the Bundesliga 2 winter crown with one game to go until the festive break.
Both are in action on Friday night as Bayern host VfL Wolfsburg at the Allianz Arena (20:30CET) and St. Pauli travel to Holstein Kiel (18:30 CET).
Key to Bayern’s success over the course of the first half of the campaign has been, you guessed it, the form – and goals – of Robert Lewandowski, who equalled Gerd Müller’s record for most goals in a calendar year courtesy of his midweek brace.
Lewandowski hit two – and Serge Gnabry three – in Bayern’s 5–0 win over VfB Stuttgart that confirmed the Herbstmeisterschaft, taking his tally to 42 goals in 2021. The Poland captain now needs just one more strike to prise yet another record from Müller.
St. Pauli have been the surprise package in Bundesliga 2 this year, with the “Kult” club opening up a four–point gap to SV Darmstadt 98 in second at the halfway stage.
They will be looking to maintain – even extend – that lead at 15th–place Holstein Kiel in their final game of what has been a superb year for the Buccaneers.
Friday night’s action also includes Fortuna Düsseldorf vs. SV Sandhausen in the second division before Saturday serves up six mouth–watering fixtures in the top–flight alone.
Five of those take place at 15:30 CET, with Domenico Tedesco putting his two–game unbeaten run as RB Leipzig boss on the line against Arminia Bielefeld, Eintracht Frankfurt taking on Mainz 05, TSG Hoffenheim facing Borussia Mönchengladbach, VfL Bochum 1848 welcoming 1. FC Union Berlin to the Vonovia Ruhrstadion and FC Augsburg travelling to SpVgg Greuther Fürth.
Hertha Berlin host Borussia Dortmund at the Olympiastadion in Saturday’s final game of the day from 18:30 CET as Erling Haaland takes his red–hot form to the capital.
The Norwegian is hot on the heels of Lewandowski (18 goals) in the race for the Torjägerkanone and is just five goals back from his Bayern counterpart with 13 goals from 10 Bundesliga appearances, including four in his last four.
Sandwiched between Haaland and Lewandowki in the scoring charts is Patrik Schick on 16 goals, with the Bayer 04 Leverkusen man scoring eight times across his previous three outings.
The latest of which came as Leverkusen threw away a two–goal lead for the second game in succession in Wednesday’s 2–2 draw with Hoffenheim, a match that also saw Florian Wirtz become the Bundesliga’s youngest player to 50 appearances.
Next up for Schick and Leverkusen is a trip to SC Freiburg on Sunday (15:30 CET), with 1. FC Köln playing host to VfB Stuttgart at the Rhein Energie STADION (17:30 CET) in the final Bundesliga match of 2021.
Before then, two sleeping giants of German football meet in Bundesliga 2 as Hamburger SV go up against Schalke 04 on Saturday night (20:30 CET), with that game preceded by SC Paderborn 07 vs. 1. FC Heidenheim 1846, FC Erzgebirge Aue vs. 1. FC Nürnberg, and FC
Ingolstadt 04 vs. SG Dynamo Dresden (all 13:30 CET).
The three remaining games in the second tier all take place on Sunday at 13:30 CET when Karlsruher SC play F.C. Hansa Rostock, Hannover 96 take on SV Werder Bremen, and SSV Jahn Regensburg host Darmstadt.