It’s the highlight fixture of matchday 32 – third placed Borussia Mönchengladbach (60 points) play host to fourth placed Bayer Leverkusen (58 points) at 15:30 CEST on Saturday. If Gladbach win they will all but guarantee third place and with that, direct qualification for next seasons Champions League. If Leverkusen win, it will go down to the wire.
Whether or not Borussia can manage this remains to be seen – they have not beaten Leverkusen at home for 26 years, more than against any other club. Bayer, meanwhile, haven’t lost in the last five matches against Borussia, a run they could extend on Saturday. Things are going pretty well for Bayer 04 in 2015. Since matchday 23, they have won every game except for the 1-1 draw against 1. FC Köln in the Rhine derby. Defensive consistency is not something manager Roger Schmidt has had to worry about and in almost every game his side has played top class football.
Will Augsburg win against Bayern’s second team?
There’s a good chance that when FC Augsburg travel to FC Bayern on Saturday, the German champions will field a weakened team, with the focus undoubtedly on the Champions League semifinal second leg next week against FC Barcelona. Just like last year. Having already wrapped up the title, an unexperienced Bayern side lost 1-0 to Augsburg.
Last weekend the record champions suffered just their third Bundesliga defeat of the season. Ignoring the fact that several players were rested, Bayern have struggled with a number of injury problems of late. As well as Franck Ribéry, David Alaba, Arjen Robben and Holger Badstuber, Sebastian Rode is also injured having suffered a torn hamstring in training this week.
FC Augsburg will hope to get something from the game as they hope to keep hold of their Europa League spot in the league. They are undoubtedly the surprise team of the season, sitting in sixth place with 43 points. That said, Augsburg have struggled recently. Of the last five games, only one has ended in a win. “We’re taking a good look at ourselves and we have a difficult fixture list. Now we need to get some momentum going”, said manager Markus Weinzierl.
Hertha will hope to rescue themselves in Dortmund
Hertha BSC will hope to guarantee their survival on Saturday, with a win at the Signal Iduna Park. “We still need one more win”, warned manager Pál Dárdai. It certainly didn't seem likely a few weeks ago, that the Berlin side would still be embroiled in the relegation tangle. After seven games without a defeat, HSC lost their last two games against FC Bayern and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Now Berlin find themselves in 13th place with 34 points meaning they are not yet safe.
For Borussia Dortmund, however, things are going much better. Despite a catastrophic first half of the season, BVB now find themselves among the Europa League hopefuls. They may only be ninth in the league, but things can change very quickly if one of the teams above them slip up. Since the announcement of Jürgen Klopp’s departure, Dortmund haven’t lost a game, collecting seven from a possible nine points.
With a win, Berlin will celebrate their third consecutive away win at BVB, whilst Dortmund have only won one of the last seven home matches against Hertha.
Frotzeck looking for first win as 96 boss
Hannover 96 find themselves well and truly involved in the relegation battle ahead of Saturday’s game against Werder Bremen. Lying 17th in the league, 96 have not won a game since December 2014 and have just 30 points to their name. The morale has definitely been boosted under new manager Michael Frontzeck, though the results are still lacking. Without results, Hannover will not survive relegation.
A look back at history should bring hope for 96: three of the last four games at home to Bremen have ended in victory. On top of that, they will be hoping to reap the benefits of their mid-week training camp. Hannover spent three days at the Sporthotel Klosterpforte in Marienfeld. Dirk Dufner told Sky Sports News HD: “After the last visit there we had five games to play and we won four of them and drew one. That’s definitely still at the back of our players’ minds and it was naturally one of the reasons why we came here. We are working on the small things at the moment.”
Werder Bremen are enjoying a completely different run of form in 2015. SVW are sitting seventh with 42 points, despite being near the relegation zone earlier season, and are now on the hunt for a Europa League spot. Central defender Sebastian Prödl told kicker confidently: “I want to play in the Europa League with Werder.”
Werder are certainly on good enough form for this, having collected seven points from three games and losing just one in six. Striker Davie Selke has scored three of Werder’s last six goals and is playing a major role in their good form.
Hoffenheim holding onto European dream
In their seventh Bundesliga season, 1899 Hoffenheim are still dreaming of European football for next season. Currently Markus Gisdol’s team are eighth in the league, two points behind sixth and just one behind seventh, which may yet be a route into the qualifying round for the Europa League.
TSG will definitely need to improve their form if they want to achieve this dream, having won just one of their last six matches. They will, however, take solace in the fact that their competition are also dropping points, like FC Augsburg for example.
In Eintracht Frankfurt, TSG come up against opponents who are also struggling with form of late. Thomas Schaaf’s team have not won in six games, though they are all but safe from relegation with a six point lead ahead of 16th place. Theoretically, they could still go down, though just one more victory is needed to ensure safety. Stephan Aigner and Nelson Valdez are doubtful for the game, whilst Anderson will definitely not play.
Stuttgart need a win
The pressure is growing on VfB Stuttgart. They have just three games to avoid the clubs second ever relegation from the Bundesliga. The last time VfB dropped down to the second division was in 1975, though they came back up just two years later. Before two crunch matches against Hamburg and Paderborn, Huub Steven’s team have the chance to improve their league position when they face FSV Mainz 05 in the Saturday evening kick off.
If things go completely wrong for Stuttgart, guaranteed safety could be almost out of reach. If VfB lost to Mainz and Hamburg and Paderborn both win, the best Stuttgart would be able to hope for will be a relegation playoff – a situation nobody wants to think about right now. “My expectation is that we win this game. There’s still a lot to happen”, said VfB sporting director Robin Dutt.
The Stuttgart sickbay is clearing out just in time for the season run in. Antonio Rüdiger is back in training after suffering from the flu, as well as Daniel Ginzeck (thumb injury) and Serey Dié (hamstring problems) are all back in full training. The chances are also looking good for Georg Niedermeier (thigh injury).
After back to back victories, Mainz lost last weekend at home against relegation threatened Hamburger SV. Agaisnt the worst home team in the league, manager Martin Schmidt is hoping his team rediscover their form. Mainz have collected four points from their last two matches away at Stuttgart.
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It’s the highlight fixture of matchday 32 – third placed Borussia Mönchengladbach (60 points) play host to fourth placed Bayer Leverkusen (58 points) at 15:30 CEST on Saturday. If Gladbach win they will all but guarantee third place and with that, direct qualification for next seasons Champions League. If Leverkusen win, it will go down to the wire.
Whether or not Borussia can manage this remains to be seen – they have not beaten Leverkusen at home for 26 years, more than against any other club. Bayer, meanwhile, haven’t lost in the last five matches against Borussia, a run they could extend on Saturday. Things are going pretty well for Bayer 04 in 2015. Since matchday 23, they have won every game except for the 1-1 draw against 1. FC Köln in the Rhine derby. Defensive consistency is not something manager Roger Schmidt has had to worry about and in almost every game his side has played top class football.
Will Augsburg win against Bayern’s second team?
There’s a good chance that when FC Augsburg travel to FC Bayern on Saturday, the German champions will field a weakened team, with the focus undoubtedly on the Champions League semifinal second leg next week against FC Barcelona. Just like last year. Having already wrapped up the title, an unexperienced Bayern side lost 1-0 to Augsburg.
Last weekend the record champions suffered just their third Bundesliga defeat of the season. Ignoring the fact that several players were rested, Bayern have struggled with a number of injury problems of late. As well as Franck Ribéry, David Alaba, Arjen Robben and Holger Badstuber, Sebastian Rode is also injured having suffered a torn hamstring in training this week.
FC Augsburg will hope to get something from the game as they hope to keep hold of their Europa League spot in the league. They are undoubtedly the surprise team of the season, sitting in sixth place with 43 points. That said, Augsburg have struggled recently. Of the last five games, only one has ended in a win. “We’re taking a good look at ourselves and we have a difficult fixture list. Now we need to get some momentum going”, said manager Markus Weinzierl.
Hertha will hope to rescue themselves in Dortmund
Hertha BSC will hope to guarantee their survival on Saturday, with a win at the Signal Iduna Park. “We still need one more win”, warned manager Pál Dárdai. It certainly didn't seem likely a few weeks ago, that the Berlin side would still be embroiled in the relegation tangle. After seven games without a defeat, HSC lost their last two games against FC Bayern and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Now Berlin find themselves in 13th place with 34 points meaning they are not yet safe.
For Borussia Dortmund, however, things are going much better. Despite a catastrophic first half of the season, BVB now find themselves among the Europa League hopefuls. They may only be ninth in the league, but things can change very quickly if one of the teams above them slip up. Since the announcement of Jürgen Klopp’s departure, Dortmund haven’t lost a game, collecting seven from a possible nine points.
With a win, Berlin will celebrate their third consecutive away win at BVB, whilst Dortmund have only won one of the last seven home matches against Hertha.
Frotzeck looking for first win as 96 boss
Hannover 96 find themselves well and truly involved in the relegation battle ahead of Saturday’s game against Werder Bremen. Lying 17th in the league, 96 have not won a game since December 2014 and have just 30 points to their name. The morale has definitely been boosted under new manager Michael Frontzeck, though the results are still lacking. Without results, Hannover will not survive relegation.
A look back at history should bring hope for 96: three of the last four games at home to Bremen have ended in victory. On top of that, they will be hoping to reap the benefits of their mid-week training camp. Hannover spent three days at the Sporthotel Klosterpforte in Marienfeld. Dirk Dufner told Sky Sports News HD: “After the last visit there we had five games to play and we won four of them and drew one. That’s definitely still at the back of our players’ minds and it was naturally one of the reasons why we came here. We are working on the small things at the moment.”
Werder Bremen are enjoying a completely different run of form in 2015. SVW are sitting seventh with 42 points, despite being near the relegation zone earlier season, and are now on the hunt for a Europa League spot. Central defender Sebastian Prödl told kicker confidently: “I want to play in the Europa League with Werder.”
Werder are certainly on good enough form for this, having collected seven points from three games and losing just one in six. Striker Davie Selke has scored three of Werder’s last six goals and is playing a major role in their good form.
Hoffenheim holding onto European dream
In their seventh Bundesliga season, 1899 Hoffenheim are still dreaming of European football for next season. Currently Markus Gisdol’s team are eighth in the league, two points behind sixth and just one behind seventh, which may yet be a route into the qualifying round for the Europa League.
TSG will definitely need to improve their form if they want to achieve this dream, having won just one of their last six matches. They will, however, take solace in the fact that their competition are also dropping points, like FC Augsburg for example.
In Eintracht Frankfurt, TSG come up against opponents who are also struggling with form of late. Thomas Schaaf’s team have not won in six games, though they are all but safe from relegation with a six point lead ahead of 16th place. Theoretically, they could still go down, though just one more victory is needed to ensure safety. Stephan Aigner and Nelson Valdez are doubtful for the game, whilst Anderson will definitely not play.
Stuttgart need a win
The pressure is growing on VfB Stuttgart. They have just three games to avoid the clubs second ever relegation from the Bundesliga. The last time VfB dropped down to the second division was in 1975, though they came back up just two years later. Before two crunch matches against Hamburg and Paderborn, Huub Steven’s team have the chance to improve their league position when they face FSV Mainz 05 in the Saturday evening kick off.
If things go completely wrong for Stuttgart, guaranteed safety could be almost out of reach. If VfB lost to Mainz and Hamburg and Paderborn both win, the best Stuttgart would be able to hope for will be a relegation playoff – a situation nobody wants to think about right now. “My expectation is that we win this game. There’s still a lot to happen”, said VfB sporting director Robin Dutt.
The Stuttgart sickbay is clearing out just in time for the season run in. Antonio Rüdiger is back in training after suffering from the flu, as well as Daniel Ginzeck (thumb injury) and Serey Dié (hamstring problems) are all back in full training. The chances are also looking good for Georg Niedermeier (thigh injury).
After back to back victories, Mainz lost last weekend at home against relegation threatened Hamburger SV. Agaisnt the worst home team in the league, manager Martin Schmidt is hoping his team rediscover their form. Mainz have collected four points from their last two matches away at Stuttgart.
