By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Bayern Munich can secure the Bundesliga title on Saturday with a win over Mainz, if reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen fail to beat Augsburg.
Log leaders saw Leverkusen clinch a league and DFB-Pokal double last season after going undefeated domestically, and are eager to seal their 34th German league crown.
Of course, nothing is decided with four matchdays remaining in what has been a fascinating campaign, and as Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said after his team’s 1-1 draw against FC St. Pauli last Sunday, “The season isn’t over yet.” Realistically, it would take a slip-up of historic proportions for Bayern to give up an eight-point lead over their nearest rivals at this late stage of the season, yet the Bavarians know they must focus on each remaining game as it comes, especially with some highly ambitious opponents on the horizon.
Next up in Bayern’s title tilt is FSV Mainz 05, a team that may be currently lacking in form – Bo Henriksen’s 05ers are winless in their last five games – but who inflicted on the Rekordmeister their first Bundesliga defeat back in December. In fact, Mainz – who are eager to finish in the European spots – are the only team to have beaten Bayern four times in the Bundesliga since April 2021.
Saturday’s hosts will thus need to be at their attacking best and will look to the league’s current top scorer with 24 goals – Harry Kane – to lead the line as Vincent Kompany’s men attempt to edge ever closer to Bundesliga glory.
Leverkusen will have it just as hard when they welcome FC Augsburg to the BayArena. Despite sitting in 10th spot, Die Fuggerstädter have been obdurate opponents this campaign and have lost just one of their last 14 Bundesliga games since mid-January. What’s more, that sole loss came against championship-chasing Bayern earlier this month.
Despite Alonso admitting that his side have “had too many draws this season,” – the defending champions amassing a joint division-high 10 of those – the reappearance of their attacking wizard Florian Wirtz in the starting line-up against St. Pauli last weekend added a lift to the Werkself set-up. So too did leading marksman Patrik Schick, getting back on the scoresheet in Hamburg to end a run of four games without a goal. It all means
that Bayer 04 are primed to fight to the last, despite their grip on the Meisterschale loosening.
It should lead to fascinating watching this weekend, but the focus will not solely be on the top two teams. The race for the top four is just as intense. And when third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt welcome RB Leipzig – just one place and three points further back – to the always atmospheric Deutsche Bank Park for Saturday’s Topspiel, the excitement will be electric. The prospect of some of the Bundesliga’s most exciting strikers in Hugo Ekitiké, Benjamin Šeško and Loïs Openda battling it out in Mainhatten as their teams go head-to-head in search of a UEFA Champions League place is spine-tingling.
SC Freiburg and Mainz 05 are also very much in the mix for the top four, with the former coming out on top by 3-2 in an exceptional game with TSG Hoffenheim last weekend to make it two wins on the bounce. Next up for the Black Forest side is a tricky trip to VfL Wolfsburg on what is set to be a spectacular Saturday in the Bundesliga.
And speaking of spectacular, Borussia Dortmund’s three goals in nine late first-half minutes to turn the tables on Borussia Mönchengladbach last weekend was just that, with Serhou Guirassy, Felix Nmecha and Daniel Svensson all on target at the Signal Iduna Park. That victory – BVB’s third in four unbeaten Bundesliga games – took the Black-and Yellows to seventh and back to within touching distance of a European finish. Niko Kovač’s buoyant team next visit Hoffenheim.
Elsewhere, the fight to stay in the top tier of German football continues with 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 opening Matchday 31 away at VfB Stuttgart on Friday night. Frank Schmidt’s side are currently in the relegation play-off spot and just about keeping their noses in front of VfL Bochum 1848 and Holstein Kiel in the bottom two places. Bochum play 1. FC Union Berlin on Sunday, a day after Kiel face Gladbach.