The Daily Bee (December 17th, 2018): Matchday 15 recap and more Pulisic rumors

• Matchday 15

Borussia Dortmund remain unbeaten after their 2:1 win against Werder Bremen and have extended their lead to 9 points thanks to Gladbach’s 0:0 draw against Hoffenheim.

Bayern Munich have started somewhat of a streak with 3 consecutive Bundesliga wins. The Bavarians have looked better in recent weeks and look they could be Dortmund’s biggest challenger for the title, although their wins came against Bremen, Nürnberg and Hannover. The two upcoming games against Leipzig and Frankfurt will show if Bayern are truly back to their old strength.

Speaking of Leipzig and Frankfurt, both won their games and solidified their place in the top 5. Meanwhile Schalke and Leverkusen, two teams that were expected to compete for an international spot, can’t get anything going. Bayer are in 11th place and Schalke are in the relegation zone.

BVB’s upcoming opponent Fortuna Düsseldorf won 2:0 against Freiburg but they still remain in 16th place, the Bundesliga continues tomorrow with matchday 16.

• BVB Christmas caroling

Borussia Dortmund have continued their proud tradition of organizing a “Christmas concert” where some famous German musicians and the entire team are joined by thousands of people to sing Christmas songs in the Signal Iduna Park.

• Pulisic-drama continues (Daily Mail)

The Christian Pulisic drama continued this weekend with several rumors making the rounds. First Cadena Ser claimed Atletico made an inquiry for Pulisic but were supposedly turned down by BVB because there is already a deal in place with an English club.

Later on the Daily Mail doubled down and claimed Pulisic had agreed to a move to Chelsea which only hinges on the transfer fee which still needs to be negotiated with Dortmund. The fee could be around 60£ million (~66€ million).

A move seems likely, nevertheless it would be surprising if there were any agreements in place at this point. A few days ago Michael Zorc still said “I strongly expect Christian to still wear the BVB-jersey in February” but as we all know things can change rather quickly.

• Zagadou out for remaining games in 2018 (WAZ)

Dan-Axel Zagadou sprained his foot during the game against Freiburg and has been out since. The French centerback was expected back for the remaining games against Fortuna Düsseldorf and Borussia Mönchengladbach but he will miss those too. This means Zagadou won’t resume training until January.

This should not be to worrying for Dortmund, Lucien Favre can still rely on Manuel Akanji, Abdou Diallo and Ömer Toprak for the rest of 2018.

Daily Buzz: While we’re on the topic, which one is your favorite Christmas song?