Looking Around the League: The Bundesliga’s Two-Horse Race

These roundups from the latest Bundesliga matchday tend to serve one of two functions. They’re either an opportunity to find out what happened in the league over the weekend, having been distracted by the good Borussia Dortmund result, or they serve as a distraction from the disappointment of a poor BVB game. Needless to say, this week, we’re offering distraction!

This week it’s natural that we will focus on Sunday’s games and what is going on at the top of the table, but there were some pretty big results elsewhere in the league too. Frankfurt smashed Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen 5-1 and Stuttgart beat Bochum 4-1.

Results

Schalke 0-3 Hoffenheim

Frankfurt 5-1 Bayer Leverkusen

VfB Stuttgart 4-1 VfL Bochum

Werder Bremen 0-2 Mainz

Wolfsburg 2-2 Borussia Monchengladbach

RB Leipzig 3-2 Hertha Berlin

FC Köln 3-2 Augsburg

Union Berlin 2-0 Borussia Dortmund

Bayern Munich 5-0 Freiburg

Standings

Bayern Munich’s Inevitable Climb Up the Table

Borussia Dortmund are now languishing in eighth place, and Union Berlin are four points clear at the top of the table. It’s certainly not what we were hoping to see ahead of Sunday’s matchup in the capital. However, to add insult to injury, Bayern Munich went out shortly after BVB’s loss and thumped then-second place Freiburg 5-0.

Bayern Munich are now in second place behind Union, with Freiburg and Hoffenheim making up the rest of the top four, and Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach in fifth and sixth. There’s only a couple points between all these teams (and only three points separating BVB and Bayern), but I think it’s fair to say that none of them will catch Bayern now.

The only question is whether Union can stave off Bayern Munich’s inevitable rise to the top of the table. It’s something we’ve discussed quite a bit, and I’m not sure it’s worth me going over the arguments for or against in much detail, but I remain sceptical about their chances.

Your Thoughts

I can’t be bothered to have another discussion about the top of the table. Are Bayer Leverkusen going to be relegated this season?