FC Köln Wakes Up

It hasn’t been easy for FC Köln this year. By finishing in fifth place in the Bundesliga for the 2016-17 season, they qualified for the UEFA Europa league for this this year. A big part of their success came from Anthony Modeste, the French international who scored 25 goals last season [third-best in the Bundesliga]. But after last season, Modeste took his talents [and most of FC Köln’s offense with him] to Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian F.C. The first half of the current Bundesliga season was horrendous for FC Köln. They managed only three draws [against Hannover, Schalke, and Werder Bremen] in the first 14 weeks. This was FC Köln’s worst start ever in their history. On December 3, the team fired coach Peter Stöger [who was unemployed for one week – he replaced Borussia Dortmund’s coach Peter Bosz on December 10]. Since Stefan Ruthenbeck replaced Stöger, FC Köln has gotten off the deck by winning three straight matches. They are still mired in last place in the Bundesliga and may still face relegation to 2.Bundesliga at season’s end. All FC Köln needs to do is finish in 15th place to avoid the season’s end relegation playoff [they are currently four points behind 16th place Werder Bremen]. There is a glimmer of hope. That hope is Simon Ferodde.

During the just-completed winter break, Ferodde transferred from VfB Stuttgart to FC Köln. The transfer has paid immediate dividends. Last week, Köln pulled off the upset by defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1. Ferodde got the winning goal with a header at the end of stoppage time [it was the last play of the game]. To put this in perspective, Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated Bayern Munich 3-1 in Week 13, giving Jupp Heynckes his first taste of defeat since taking over from Carlo Ancelloti. Borussia Mönchengladbach are currently in fifth place in the Bundesliga standings. Köln beat a good quality team. This week, Terodde scored the game’s only goals as Köln defeated 17th place Hamburg 2-0. That’s three goals in two matches for Terodde – not too bad for one week’s work. Things are looking up for Köln.

Borussia Dortmund - Time to Panic?

What has happened to Borussia Dortmund? They started the current Bundesliga campaign in beast mode. Through the first seven weeks, they won six and drew once. They scored 21 goals while surrendering only two. They gave up zero goals in the first four matches. They seemed to be running away with the Bundesliga. Then the wheels fell off. Their last win in Bundesliga play came on Matchday 7 against Augsburg. That was September 30th [it’s mid-November now]. Since then, they’ve lost [including today] to RB Leipzig [at home!], Hannover 96, Bayern Munich [at home!] and VfB Stuttgart. The best they could manage was a 2-2 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt. In their last two UEFA Champions League matches, they managed two 1-1 draws against APOEL Nicosia. In four days they play Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League, then Schalke four days later. Schalke is the team immediately behind them in the Bundesliga standings. They might catch a break the following week against Bayer Leverkusen [they’re currently 9th in the Bundesliga].

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is but one barometer to measure Dortmund’s success. As he goes, so goes Dortmund. But lately, he’s been in a bit of a funk. He hasn’t scored since Matchday 8. For reasons unexplained he was suspended for the Matchday 12 match against VfB Stuttgart. That’s not to say that Dortmund’s current slide is Aubameyang’s fault – it isn’t. Since that Matchday 7 victory against Augsburg, Dortmund have surrendered 14 goals while scoring only eight. After seeming to runaway with the league in the first seven weeks, Dortmund now find themselves in third place behind Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig [same as last year]. Bayern Munich fired Carlo Ancelotti for lackluster play – could Peter Bosz be next? Since replacing Thomas Tuchel, Bosz introduced an always-pressing style. Is the team already exhausted? I don’t know, but during today’s Bundesliga telecast, Bosz was quoted as the rest of the league have “figured out” Dortmund. I just got back from two weeks in Korea and last night I watched Der Klassiker against Bayern Munich [Bayern won 3-1]. Dortmund’s defense wasn’t pretty. They kept giving Bayern too much space to operate, and Bayern made them pay. Today against Stuttgart, Stuttgart ran Dortmund into the ground. If Bosz doesn’t make any adjustments to the league’s having “figured out” his team, he could follow Ancelotti to the unemployment line.

Nov. 19th note - Between September 30th and now, Borussia Dortmund have fallen from first place to fifth. Meanwhile, Schalke now sits in second place. Good luck Dortmund, you’ll need it.

Bundesliga Match Day 4

Fox Sports televised six Bundesliga games this weekend. On Friday, Hannover defeated Hamburg 2-0. After spending last season in 2. Bundesliga, Hannover are in surprisingly good form. They’re so good right now that for the first time since Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, Hannover found themselves in first place, even if it was for only two days. Three of the televised games were blowouts: Bayern Munich 4, Mainz 0; Bayer Leverkusen 4, Freiburg 0; and Borussia Dortmund 5, FC Köln 0.

Robert Lewandowski scored a pair for Bayern, which puts him at 5 goals thus far season. Maximilian Philipp and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang each scored a pair for Dortmund. That puts Aubameyang at four goals to date. Dortmund are in beast mode this season, scoring ten goals without allowing a single goal in four games. New coach Peter Bosz’s always-pressing style is paying dividends for now. I don’t know how long Dortmund can keep up the pace, but right now they don’t appear to miss Ousmane Dembele. Dembele made the move to Barcelona for a truckload of money, but in his La Liga debut yesterday he severely injured a hamstring, which will put him out of action for three to four months. FC Köln hasn’t shown any offense so far – in four matches they’ve scored only twice. They miss Anthony Modeste, who transferred to Tianjin Quanjian of the Chinese Super League this summer.

Timo Werner [pictured above] has been playing extremely well as of late. Having been awarded the Golden Boot for the most goals scored during this summer’s Confederations Cup [3], Werner recorded his fourth goal of the season in RB Leipzig’s match with Borussia Mönchengladbach. His is the top German scorer in the Bundesliga. Of the six matches televised this weekend, the RB Leipzig-Borussia Mönchengladbach match, which ended in a 2-2 draw, was the most entertaining. Werner drew first blood in the 17th minute, but seven minutes later Borussia Mönchengladbach equalized after Belgian midfielder Thorgan Hazard converted a penalty shot. Jean-Kévin Augustin [signed this summer from Paris Saint Germain] restored Leipzig’s lead in the 34th minute. Leipzig held the lead until Lars Stindl hammered home the equalizing goal from outside the penalty area. Leipzig’s goalie Péter Gulácsi did everything right, going airborne in the direction of Stindl’s shot, but Stindl’s thunderbolt was in just the right spot, out of Gulácsi’s reach. Leipzig kept pressing, but Mönchengladbach’s defense responded to each challenge. It was a riveting contest. With RB Leipzig’s second place finish n the Budesliga, they are playing in the UEFA Champions League, just like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. They’re playing with the big boys in Europe now. They played Monaco to a 1-1 draw last week.

Last week Hoffenheim stunned Bayern Munich at home 2-0. They started today’s match against Hertha Berlin in 7th place with the chance to move up to third with a win. They had a very good season last year, which was good enough to earn them the chance to get into the UEFA Champions League. They lost a two-game playoff to Liverpool, so now they’re playing in the Europa League. As it is, Hoffenheim, like RB Leipzig, are doing double duty in the Bundesliga and European football. It’ll be interesting to see how both of these clubs last. They no longer have the luxury to rest while Bayern and Borussia play the extra games with the rest of Europe. Hertha Berlin are no strangers to European play. Like Hoffenheim, they too are playing in the UEFA Europa League. Last week they played Athletic Bilbao to a 0-0 draw.

As for today’s match, Sandro Wagner put Hoffenheim ahead early with a header in just the sixth minute of play. Hoffenheim held the lead until Hertha Berlin’s Alexander Esswein equalized in the 55th minute. Both teams seemed to play like they were tired, and they probably were. After the equalizer, it was a pretty dull game. I know, for a lot of people this is a dull sport.

Bayern Munich 3, Bayer Leverkusen 1

After a three-month summer break, the 2017-18 Bundesliga season finally kicked off at Munich’s Allianz Arena as Bayern Munich began defense of their Bundesliga title against Bayer Leverkusen. Both teams have new looks. Top scorer Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez left Leverkusen, taking his prodigious goal scoring back to England to play for West Ham. Midfielder Sven Bender joined his twin brother Lars from Borussia Dortmund. Heiko Herrlich is Leverkusen’s new coach, who replaced interim coach Tayfun Korkut [who replaced Roger Schmidt, whom Leverkusen sacked after getting thrashed by Borussia Dortmund 6-2 last year]. Bayern Munich also have some new faces - Sebastian Rudy and Niklas Süle signed from Hoffenheim, French midfielder Corentin Tolisso [signed from French club Lyon], and Colombian midfielder James Rodriguez is on loan from Real Madrid. Bayern lost Phillip Lahm and Xabi Alonso to retirement. The Video Assisted Referee [VAR] made its debut the in Bundesliga regular season.

Bayern’s summer acquisitions are already paying dividends. The Hoffenheim Connection got Bayern on the board first. New guys Sebastian Rudy and Niklas Süle connected for the first goal in the 10th minute. Leverkusen’s Domink Kohr picked up his first yellow card of the new season with a hard foul on Franck Ribéry. After Bayern were awarded the free kick, Sebastian Rudy lofted the kick into the Leverkusen penalty area, and 6’5” defender Niklas Süle made the header which gave Bayern the early lead. Bayern team captain Manuel Neuer is still recovering from a broken foot he suffered against Real Madrid in UEFA Champions League last spring. Leverkusen had their chances. Macedonian striker Admir Mehmedi forced a save from Bayern backup goalie Sven Ulreich and Karim Bellarabi put the follow-up wide, almost equalizing in the 11th minute.

In the 18th minute Bayern made it 2-0. Leverkusen showed they are still having problems with the set piece plays as Corentin Tolisso made his Bundesliga debut, scoring his first Bundesliga goal on a header from a corner kick play [the assist from Arturo Vidal]. Four minutes later Tolisso nearly got his second goal, hitting a cross off the woodwork that almost found Robert Lewandowsky.

To start the second half, Leverkusen substituted Julian Brandt for Leon Bailey, and Aleksandar Dragovic for Sven Bender. Leverkusen came out attacking to begin the second half. The VAR made its presence felt in the 52nd minute when Robert Lewandowski was pulled down by Charles Aranguiz in the Leverkusen penalty area. Upon review, Lewandowski was awarded a penalty shot, which he converted to give Bayern a 3-0 lead. Julian Brandt took his first shot on goal in the 55th minute, but the shot went wide right. More substitutions came in the– Bayern’s Arjen Robben came on for Thomas Müller 61st minute, Leverkusen’s Kevin Kampl came on for Charles Aranguiz at the same time, while Rafinha came on for Mats Hummels two minutes later.

Leverkusen finally got on the board in the 65th minute after Julian Brandt [from the penalty spot] found Admir Mehmedi, who hammered a thunderbolt of a goal past Bayern goalie Sven Ulreich. Domink Kohr nearly made it 3-2, just barely missing a chance off a Leverkusen free kick in the 72nd minute. Bayern substituted Kingsley Coman for Franck Ribéry in the 77th minute.

With Manuel Neuer not providing his usual sweeper-keeper excellence, Sven Ulreich is proving susceptible to challenges from the opposing team. He’s not as good with his feet as Neuer. Ulreich made the saves when he needed to, but he doesn’t quite provide that security blanket the Bayern is used to with Neuer in goal. That’s not quite fair to Ulreich since Neuer is one of the best goalies in the world today, but that’s what Bayern must contend with until his return. Leverkusen had their chances to score but couldn’t capitalize on Bayern’s defensive lapses. There were at least three times when Leverkusen should have scored but didn’t. Leverkusen played better at the beginning of the second half, but Bayern settled things down and in the end, Bayern prevailed 3-1.

The weather was absolute crap. A torrential downpour drenched both sides just before halftime. As a result, the beginning of the second half was delayed for 10 minutes.

Next week Bayern travel to Werder Bremen, while Leverkusen hosts Hoffenheim.

As always, in-studio hostess Kate Abdo was stunning. 😊

2017 German Super Cup

This is the part of the year that She Who Must Be Obeyed dreads – the start of a new German Bundesliga season. The very first game of every new season in the German Bundesliga is the German Super Cup. It is a one-off football match between the regular season Bundesliga champion and the German Cup [DFB-Pokal] winner. The best analogy I could think of in North American sports would be if there was one game between the President’s Trophy winner and the Stanley Cup winner in the NHL. In the Bundesliga, if one team wins the domestic double [the regular season and the German Cup], then the league runners-up are invited as the second team. That happened last year. This year, and for the fifth time in six years, it was Bayern vs. Dortmund. Each team was looking for a record sixth Super Cup win. This game doesn’t count in the season standings, but it does matter.

Both teams have some new faces. Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel’s reward for winning last season’s German Cup was to be fired at season’s end. During Tuchel’s two-year tenure at Dortmund, there was much disagreement between him and club management. The final straw between them occurred after Dortmund’s team bus was attacked in Monaco prior to a UEFA Champions League match against AS Monaco. That match was postponed one day. Tuchel wanted a longer postponement – he didn’t get one. Tuchel effectively pointed the finger at CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke for “making” the players play just 24 hours after the incident [Dortmund lost]. Tuchel disagreed with management letting go of talent like Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Tuchel’s successor as coach is Peter Bosz, whose last team was the Dutch club AFC Ajax. Bosz brings a more pressing style to Dortmund, which promises to not let any of Dortmund’s opponents to get too comfortable. Dortmund’s opponents need to be on their toes at all times with Dortmund doing more pressing than in years past. The player turnover for Borussia Dortmund from last year looks like this”

In

Dan-Axel Zagadou (from Paris Saint Germain Academy) [Defender]

Mahmoud Dahoud (from Borussia Mönchengladbach) [Midfielder]

Maximilian Philipp (from SC Freiburg) [Midfielder]

Ömer Toprak (from Bayer Leverkusen] [Defender]

Out

Sven Bender (to Bayer Leverkusen) [Midfielder]

Matthias Ginter (to Borussia Mönchengladbach) [Defender]

Mikel Merino (on loan to Newcastle United FC) [Midfielder]

Dženis Burnić (on loan to VfB Stuttgart) [Midfielder]

Happily, Mario Götze is back in training with Dortmund after missing the last few weeks of last season due to a metabolic problem [but he didn’t play today]. Also missing today was Marco Reus and Raphaël Guerreiro.

Bayern experienced some player turnover of their own. Three players retired – team captain and defender Phillip Lahm, Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso, and backup goalie Tom Stark. The rest of the team turnover looks like this:

In

Niklas Süle (from 1899 Hoffenheim) [Defender]

Sebastian Rudy (from 1899 Hoffenheim) [Midfielder]

James Rodríguez (on loan from Real Madrid CF) [Midfielder]

Corentin Tolisso (from Olympique Lyonnais) [Midfielder]

Felix Götze (promoted from Bayern U19) [Defender]

Christian Früchtl (promoted from Bayern U19) [Goalie]

Serge Gnabry (from Werder Bremen) [Midfielder]

Serge Gnabry was part of the German international squad that just won the Confederations Cup. He was one of the better shining stars for Werder Bremen in a long time. But he wanted to play elsewhere, so he voided his contract and signed with Bayern Munich. But there’s a twist – he wanted to be loaned to another team so that he could get more playing time. So that’s why we see him as both an addition and a subtraction for Bayern. We don’t know how long the loan will be in effect. He’s young and has a bright future ahead of him.

Out

Douglas Costa (on loan to Juventus FC) [Midfielder]

Serge Gnabry (on loan to 1899 Hoffenheim) [Midfielder]

Holger Badstuber (to VfB Stuttgart) [Defender]

Manuel Neuer didn’t play today either. He broke his foot during UEFA Champions League play against Real Madrid last spring. The good news for Bayern fans is that he is fit enough to be back in training. Sven Ulreich played in Neuer’s place. Usual starters David Alaba and Arjen Robben didn’t play either, nor did new acquisition James Rodriguez.

But enough about the off season- what about the game? I wasn’t sure what to expect from Bayern or Dortmund because they’ve each had a lousy pre-season. Bayern had an early chance at 10:29 when Thomas Müller found Robert Lewandowski, who managed to slip behind two Dortmund defenders [how he stayed onside I don’t know]. There was nothing between him and the Dortmund goal except Roman Bürki, but his shot sailed well over the crossbar. But soon after [exactly one minute], Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic picked Bayern defender Javi Martinez’s pocket and got an easy first goal for Dortmund. I love to watch this guy play. He’s as cool as the proverbial cucumber, playing well beyond his 18 years.

Dortmund’s lead didn’t last long. Lewandowski evened the score at 17:37. After Dortmund’s Sokratis made a dumb foul against Lewandowski [and received a yellow card for his trouble], Bayern received a free kick. After Arturo Vidal took the free kick Sebastian Rudy found Joshua Kimmich, who beat Dortmund’s offside trap on the right. He quickly found Lewandowski streaking toward the goal. Bürki didn’t stand a chance. I thought Kimmich was offside, but the new Video Assisted Referee [VAR] said Kimmich was onside. After Lewandowski’s equalizer, Bayern finally found their rhythm and looked more comfortable. With Dortmund keeping up the pressure and Bayern getting their act together, the remainder of the first half was end-to-end high tempo. After 45 minutes, the score was 1-1.

The beginning of the second half was fairly uneventful until the 63rd minute. Ousmane Dembélé found Gonzalo Castro sprinting toward the goal, but Castro missed the header by mere inches. If he connects it’s 2-1, Dortmund. But it wasn’t to be. But then, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang [last season’s leading goal scorer] put Dortmund ahead 2-1 on a furious counterattack with a chip shot over Sven Ulreich. Lewandowski was driving toward a goal when he elected to pass the ball instead of taking the shot himself. That triggered the Dortmund counterattack. In the 75th minute the referees awarded Dortmund a free kick when Arturo Vidal fouled Pulisic. Vidal was lucky he didn’t receive a second yellow card on the foul. If he did he would’ve also received a red card and Bayern would have had to play a man down. Nuri Şahin took the free kick just outside the Bayern penalty area, but his shot went straight to Sven Ulreich.

Dortmund’s pressure nearly led to a third goal in the 81st minute. In the 87th minute, Sebastian Rudy took a free kick just outside the Dortmund penalty area after Kimmich was fouled. There was a mad scramble in front of the net, with Kimmich getting the equalizer. Dortmund claimed there was a Bayern handball, but again the VAR said “no”. The goal credited to Kimmich was an own goal from Roman Bürki. Initially the match commentators thought the ball deflected off Lukasz Piszczek, but when I looked at the videotape from behind Dortmund’s goal, the ball clearly came off Bürki’s arm. Once again Bayern were back from the dead as they had done so many times last season. As this was a match for a trophy [insert “participation trophy” joke here], after four minutes of stoppage time this game went to penalty kicks.

Penalty Kicks

Bayern - Lewandowski – Yes; Franck Ribéry – Yes; Kimmich – No; Rudy – Yes; Vidal – Yes; Niklas Süle – Yes

Dortmund - Dembélé – Yes; Max Philipp – Yes; Aubameyang – Yes; Sebastian Rode – No; Castro – Yes; Marc Bartra – No

Penalty shootouts are fun to watch. In all sports, there are guys who want the ball when the game is on the line, and you know they want the ball. For goalkeepers, it’s all about making the right guess which way the shooter is going to shoot. That’s why when you see a goalie going the opposite way that the shot went, you know he guessed wrong. On the flip side, sometimes you get to see some fantastic saves [the goalie guessed right]. Usually, each team gets five shots at the other team’s goalie. Those are the five guys who picked themselves to be in the penalty shootout. After those five guys have had their turn, then it gets really interesting. At that time, the teams go to guys who normally wouldn’t take penalty shots. And so, it was today. After Bayern’s first five, new guy Niklas Süle [a defender] stepped up and nailed his shot like he’s a midfielder. Marc Bartra [who was injured in the bus attack in Monaco] was up next. He looked to me like he didn’t want the ball. And as fate would have it, Sven Ulreich guessed right and he was Bayern’s newest hero. It was a wonderful save. Bayern won the record sixth Super Cup. It was a brutal way for Dortmund to lose. They led Bayern twice, outplayed Bayern in the second half, but Bayern is Bayern. You have to put a stake through their hearts to make sure they’re dead.

Observations: Dortmund got off to a fast start with the pressure, but after Bayern equalized they had the better first half. As he did during the Confederations Cup, Sebastian Rudy was quietly effective playing in the midfield. He marked Ousmane Dembélé extremely well, such that I didn’t hear Dembélé’s name called until the second half. And he converted his penalty kick effortlessly. Rudy might just be the Xabi Alonso replacement that Bayern needs. Thomas Müller didn’t score any goals, but he got a big assist for the first goal. He nearly scored two goals in the first half. Given the two goals he scored on Bayern’s Asia exhibition tour, he might be returning to his old self and last year can be a distant [if not painful] memory. And this just in – Joshua Kimmich is a damn good defender. He might just make it hard to miss Phillip Lahm.

Dortmund’s pressure is going to pay dividends. They gave up 40 goals last season. If they keep this up, that total will go down. It has to because Dortmund’s backline defense still needs work. Roman Bürki was very busy today, and not in a good way. But Dortmund will be more fun to watch this season, because they have a lot of weapons with which to attack. I don’t think Bayern is going to run away with the Bundesliga title like they did last season, if they win it at all.

As always, in-studio hostess Kate Abdo looks as good as ever. 😊

Matchday 34 - Hamburg Lives!

For both teams it was very simple – win and you’re in. The loser gets to play in a relegation playoff against the Bundesliga 2 third-place finisher. Hamburg and Wolfsburg played even until the 88th minute, when Hamburg’s Luca Waldschmidt, celebrating his 21st birthday today, scored his first-ever Bundesliga goal to put Hamburg in front for good, 2-1. Hamburg survives, and they remain the only team to play in the Bundesliga’s top division since the founding of the league. Wolfsburg’s season goes into extra time. They have a 2-game home-and-home playoff against Eintracht Braunschweig. Augsburg managed to stay out of the relegation playoff by fighting Hoffenheim to a goalless draw. I didn’t think Augsburg stood a chance against fourth-place Hoffenheim, but that’s why they play the games [and my crystal ball doesn’t work worth a damn). Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund, the top division’s top three finishers, automatically qualify for group play in next year’s UEFA Champions League. Hoffenheim must compete in a playoff with another European football club to qualify for the Champions League. If they win, they’re in the Champions League group stage. If they lose, they play in the UEFA Europa League. 

This was RB Leipzig’s first season in the top division. They went from being the Bundesliga 2 runner-up last year to the top division runner-up this season. They were in first place for a few weeks before the Christmas break, so they’ve had a remarkable season. Now with the addition of the UEFA Champions League schedule, it remains to be seen how they handle what Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund do every year. I think they’ll be fine, but again, that’s why they play the games. FC Köln, Hertha Berlin, and SC Freiburg, by virtue of their 5-6-7 finishes respectively, qualify for UEFA Europa League play next season. Köln booked their first European league play in 25 years, while Freiburg, last year’s Bundesliga 2 champion, get their first taste of European competition. 

There are two individual award winners: 
Top Goal Scorer: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang [Borussia Dortmund] – 31 goals 
Top Goal Keeper – Manuel Neuer [Bayern Munich] – 14 clean sheets [“shutouts” in US-speak] 

Bayern Munich’s Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso played their last games today. They leave the sport as two of the most decorated footballers of their generation.  
Xabi Alonso: 
Liverpool – FA Cup 2005-05; UEFA Champions League 2004-05, UEFA Super Cup 2005 
Real Madrid – La Liga, 2011-12; Copa del Rey, 2010-11, 2013-14; Supercopa de España, 2012; UEFA Champions League 2013-14 
Bayern Munich – Bundesliga 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17; DFB-Pokal 2015-16; DFL-Supercup 2016 
Spain – FIFA World Cup 2010; UEFA European Championship 2008, 2012 

Philipp Lahm: 
Bayern Munich – Bundesliga 2005-06, 2007-08, 2009-10, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18; DFB-Pokal 2005-06, 2007-08, 2009-10, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2015-16; DFL-Ligapokal 2007; DFL-Supercup 2010, 2012, 2016; UEFA Champions League 2012-13; UEFA Supercup 2013, FIFA Club World Cup 2013 
Germany – FIFA World Cup 2014

Matchday 33 – Ingolstadt Relegated

Last week the clock ran out on Darmstadt’s time in the Bundesliga’s top division. This week it was Ingolstadt’s turn. They needed a victory against SC Freiburg to keep their chances of remaining in the top division for one more week. All Ingostadt could manage was a 1-1 draw. This puts them at 31 points for the season, four points behind Hamburg with only one more game to play. Hamburg earned a 1-1 draw against Schalke, but they remain on the relegation bubble. They are only two points behind Mainz, Wolfsburg, and Augsburg. Mainz is safe and will play in the top division next season. They have a better goal difference than Wolfsburg and Augsburg, who have a single goal separating the two. For Hamburg, it’s very simple. They need to beat Wolfsburg next week. If they do, they will avoid the relegation playoff and will play in the top division next season. If they lose, they are in the relegation playoff against the third-place finisher in Bundesliga 2. It is also easy for Wolfsburg – beat Hamburg and they remain in the top division. The same goes for Augsburg – if they beat Hoffenheim, they’re safe for next year. But if both they and Wolfsburg lose, the goal difference will decide who plays in the relegation playoff.