The Daily Bee (December 9th, 2019): Axel Witsel out for the rest of the year

• Matchday 14

Borussia Mönchengladbach stay on top thanks to their 2:1 win against Bayern Munich. The foals are a serious title contender now, meanwhile Bayern are down in seventh place after their second loss in a row. The Bavarians are obviously not out of the title race but it’s fair to say they are at their worst level in a long time.

RB Leipzig are in second place and are a consistently good team. The Nagelsmann-team, led by Timo Werner, defeated Hertha BSC Berlin 3:1.

BVB seem to be back on track after their 5:0 thrashing of Fortuna Düsseldorf. The players seemed to have fun again and it showed on the pitch. They will need to keep that level if they want to seriously contend for the title.

Bayer Leverkusen won 2:1 against Schalke to move up to sixth place and tie them on points. Between them is still the surprise team of the season, SC Freiburg. Christian Streich’s team has surpassed all expectations and he even joked about being above Bayern on matchday 14.

SC Paderborn managed to escape last place because of their 1:0 over Werder Bremen. 1.FC Köln are now in 18th place after another unacceptable performance in their 0:2 loss to Union Berlin. Cologne has already gone through a coaching change but it did not seem to improve the team that much, it will be tough for them to avoid relegation.

• Witsel out for the rest of year

Axel Witsel suffered a facial injury and will miss the rest of the year. He did not suffer the injury on Saturday against Fortuna Düsseldorf but at home, the midfielder had to undergo surgery.

• Zorc comments on Haaland (kicker)

BVB are looking for a new striker and Michael Zorc has finally confirmed that they are looking to add a new centre forward:

”We’re working on that, we still have some time.”

One of the candidates is said to be RB Salzburg’s Erling Haalandand of course Zorc was asked about him:

“The player belongs to RB Salzburg. It is a matter of respect that you do not speak publicly about players of other clubs - I do not like that either”

That doesn’t really tell us a lot but it is a sign of interest that he did not deny the rumor outright. The best guess is that they are working on a transfer but it’s far from a sure thing that he’ll actually join the black and yellows.

• Special BVB kit

Borussia Dortmund celebrated their 110th birthday with a special “blackout” kit. The limited edition sold out in just over three hours. Hopefully the club decides to make them available again.