Newly crowned Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munich clinched their 24th title on Matchday 27. The Bavarians became the first team in Bundesliga history to secure the title in March. Although the Championship has now being wrapped up, there are still teams battling it out for European spots and teams fighting for relegation. Matchday 28 sees Mainz and Augsburg face each other in a late charge to clinch a place in Europe whilst the game at the bottom of the table is Freiburg against Nürnberg.
Schalke v Hertha Berlin
Tonight’s game sees Hertha Berlin travel to the Veltins Arena who secured a point against local rivals Borussia Dortmund in midweek to keep pressure on their rivals in the race for second. Although all of the hype, the Revierderby did not live up to expectations however it really was a battle of the keepers. Schalke keeper Ralph Fahramann was awarded play of the week for his performance.
Schalke came out 2-0 winners in the teams’ previous meeting at the Olympiastadion with Adam Szalai and Julian Draxler grabbing the goals. Schalke have won 28 games out of 61 times they’ve played each other with Hertha Berlin winning 23.
Bayer Leverkusen v Eintracht Braunschweig
Eintracht Braunschweig find themselves at the bottom of the Bundesliga and travel to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday who recently went on a run of nine games without a win. However Leverkusen did grab their first win against FC Augsburg in midweek to end that dreaded run of games.
Sami Hypia’s Leverkusen will now look to mount a push to keep in Champions League contention whilst Brawnschweig were down and out just a couple of weeks ago. However a midweek 3-1 win over Mainz means they are now just five points behind Freiburg in 15th with a number of games still to play.
When these two teams last met in November, Eintracht Braunschweig grabbed a 1-0 win through a late Dominick Kumbela goal. The 29-year-old DR Congo striker sealed the win over Mainz in midweek scoring a tremendous bicycle kick.
Wolfsburg v Eintracht Frankfurt
Frankfurt travel to Wolfsburg on Saturday and they will be glad to play without the threat of relegation. You can imagine that Frankfurt only need one or two more wins now to secure another season in the top flight whilst Wolfsburg will look to strengthen their position in the top six and a place in the Europa League.
Wolfsburg won 3-1 against Werder Bremen in midweek which sees them get their first win in five games for a team that have performed well all season. Eintracht Frankfurt travel to the Volkswagen Arena on the back of two wins, one a midweek game against Borussia Mönchengladbach and the other a 5-2 demolishing of Nürnberg. The 5-2 win is the first time Frankfurt have scored five goals away from home in twenty-years.
The last time these two met it was Wolfsburg who came away 2-1 winners from a late goal by the youngster Max Arnold.
VfB Stuttgart v Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund will look to grab a win in Stuttgart to remain above rivals Schalke in the race for the runners-up place. VfB however will be no easy win for BVB despite their 2-0 loss to Nürnberg on Matchday 27. Since Huub Stevens has taken over he seems to have revitalised Stuttgart and will look to move out of the relegation zone with a win against the visitors.
Believe or not, overall Stuttgart have 38 wins in the head to head compared to Dortmund’s 30. Saying that however, the last time that these two teams met it was Dortmund who came off the better side hitting Stuttgart for six. Stuttgart have not won Dortmund in seven games now. In the past seven meetings there has been 26 goals and this match will surely not disappoint either.
Bayern Munich v Hoffenheim
Bayern Munich clinched their 24th title with a 3-0 win over Hertha Berlin in midweek and despite winning the Bundesliga, Pep Guardiola will still want to keep the unbeaten run intact. Hoffenheim have hit some good form of late scoring goals in the process, however they perhaps lack that defensive qualities that other teams have. Markus Gisdol has taken the approach of scoring more goals than you and it seems to have gone well as of late.
Guardiola has already stated that he will be resting Manuel Neuer so there will be a start for Tom Starke who will be given the opportunity to impress. Roberto Firmino is Hoffenheim’s danger man and he has attracted the attention at a number of European clubs. Firmino is the only player in the Bundesliga to be in double figures for both goals and assists.
Hoffenheim have never won against Bayern Munich but there is a first chance for everything. The previous four meetings between the two teams has seen 11 goals, this game is one not to be missed as Hoffenheim could make a late surge for Europa League if they keep their current form going.
Mainz v Augsburg
Eight months ago if you looked at the fixture list you would have thought this game would have been a relegation fixture. However this case is totally opposite, Mainz find themselves in 7th whilst visitors Augsburg find themselves in 8th just two points behind them. Thomas Tuchel has done a brilliant job at Mainz and has been linked with other managerial jobs elsewhere. Victory for either team would give their hopes of European football a timely boost.
Mainz were defeated by Braunschweig 3-1 in midweek however they were without key players Shinji Okazaki, Joo-Ho Park and Ja-Cheol Koo who are all likely to return for this game and will give Mainz a morale boost who have become a team difficult to beat this season.
This matchup has only ever happened five times and it is Augsburg who have been the better side with three wins, one draw and one defeat. When these two last met in November the young-German Andre Hahn grabbed both goals for the away side before Maxim Choupo-Moting put away a penalty giving them hope to grab a draw.
Freiburg v Nürnberg
Both of these teams find themselves at the wrong end of the table if you go by how they have done in previous seasons. Freiburg were playing in Europe and Nürnberg were up there, however this game really is a relegation six-pointer as they are in 14th and 15th respectively. Nürnberg beat relegation rivals 2-0 in midweek thanks to Josip Drmic who grabbed his 14th and 15th goals of the season, and like Firmino, he is also attracting the attention of bigger clubs in Europe. The striker is also on course to represent Switzerland at the World Cup in Brazil.
Freiburg won the last game that these two played each other, running out 3-0 winners with goals from Felix Klaus, Vladamir Darida and Admir Mehmedi. Klaus has played well of late and will look to keep his good run of form going when Freiburg welcomes Nürnberg.
Borussia Mönchengladbach v Hamburg
European chasing Borussia Mönchengladbach will be looking to make amends for their midweek defeat at the hands of Freiburg as they won’t want to slip up with Mainz and Augsburg chasing them down. The European race is likely to go down to the final day of the season. Hamburg on the other hand are still down at the wrong end of the table despite the appointment of Mirko Slomka. HSV did manage a draw at Freiburg on Wednesday however they will need to improve drastically if they want to avoid the drop as they are in 16thand drawing on points with Stuttgart in 17th.
These two teams are no strangers to each other as they have played each other 91 times in previous years with Hamburg winning 36 times and Borussia Mönchengladbach winning 31. The home side also won the previous fixture 2-0 with Max Kruse getting both goals.
Hannover 96 v Werder Bremen
A couple of weeks ago Hannover 96 looked like a strong mid-table team, however just two weeks later they have been caught up in the fight at the bottom of the table. They are just five points clear of 17th placed Stuttgart and with just seven games remaining in the Bundesliga they will need to get a little run going to avoid the drop. Another big club in Germany, Werder Bremen have found themselves down there in the bottom half of the table for much of the season. Just a place below Hannover, they are only five points ahead of Stuttgart too.
The last times these two met, the match involved five goals with Santiago Garcia grabbing a late 3-2 win for Bremen, with Aaron Hunt and Cedric Makiadi getting the other two whilst Szabolcs Huszti and Hiroki Sakai socred the goals for Hannover.