The penultimate matchday of the Bundesliga season has come and gone, yet we’re still no closer to determining who will qualify for the Champions League and who will be relegated.
At the very least, we now know Fortuna Düsseldorf and Werder Bremen are the only teams in danger of being banished to the 2. Bundesliga along with Paderborn.
At the top of the table, Borussia Dortmund has secured Champions League football next season at the expense of third-place RB Leipzig, who could still miss out on Europe’s premier competition depending on the final day’s results.
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Here are our musings from Matchday 33 of the Bundesliga.
Champions League race going down to wire
In lieu of a title race, unlike last season’s final round of games, Bundesliga fans will have to settle for the Champions League fight between RB Leipzig, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen.
The marquee game of Matchday 33 featured Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund, which Dortmund won 2-0 following a brutal defeat to lowly Mainz in midweek.
Erling Haaland struck twice, bringing his season tally to 13 goals. Despite joining Dortmund in January, Haaland is tied for sixth in the Golden Boot race. The Norwegian has logged just 972 minutes in the league, which equates to an astonishing 1.2 goals per 90 minutes.
But the big story is Leipzig failing to win a single home match since the restart. They earned just three draws and a loss at Red Bull Arena, which proved costly in the title race. The Red Bulls were five points adrift of Bayern Munich when the league paused, only to fall 16 points behind the champions with one matchday remaining.
Leipzig goes to Augsburg for its final match and is favoured to win, which would guarantee a Champions League berth.
Mönchengladbach, meanwhile, boosted its qualifying hopes with a solid 3-1 victory against bottom-of-the-table Paderborn. Alassane Plea and Marcus Thuram, Gladbach’s two top scorers, missed this match with injuries. Both players might be out for the season finale as well.
Hertha Berlin is the final obstacle in Gladbach’s path to the Champions League. Hertha has 13 points in five matches since the season’s resumption when Matheus Cunha starts, having lost three straight games without Cunha starting. The Berliners will be a tricky test for Mönchengladbach.
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Hertha could end up having a large say in this Champions League fight, especially after shutting out Leverkusen 2-0 this past weekend with Cunha scoring a goal-of-the-week candidate.
Having Kerem Demirbay from the start on Matchday 34 could boost Leverkusen’s hopes, as his involvement could’ve provided more incisive passing and sequences against Hertha. Karim Bellarabi might be out with a calf injury, too, so all the more reason for Demirbay to feature.
With Gladbach two points up on Die Werkself and potentially without its top scorers, Leverkusen has a prime opportunity to capitalize against Mainz and claim a Champions League spot.
Fortuna Düsseldorf controls its destiny
Fortuna Düsseldorf recovered from a 2-0 deficit against RB Leipzig on Wednesday to salvage a 2-2 draw in the dying minutes of the second half. However, that was followed up with a passive 1-1 draw with Augsburg on the weekend. But manager Uwe Rösler will take it, especially with Werder Bremen falling 3-1 to Mainz.
Düsseldorf (at Union Berlin) and Bremen (vs. FC Köln) have winnable matches on Matchday 34, but the former has a two-point cushion in the relegation playoff place after the draw with Augsburg.
Düsseldorf controls its fate, but it should be a wild finale at the bottom of the table.
Gladbach reportedly tables offer for Canadian Jonathan David
Alphonso Davies was suspended for Bayern Munich’s win over Freiburg, but he might be joined by a fellow Canadian international in the Bundesliga next season.
Belgian newspaper HLN reported Monday that Borussia Mönchengladbach offered €25 million (CAD$38 million) to K.A.A. Gent for 20-year-old Canadian forward Jonathan David, who sees only the Bundesliga as his next destination.
HLN also stated Gent wants €30-million to €35 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Bayern would be the only club that could meet that valuation.
There are several other interested Bundesliga clubs, according to Transfermarkt, including Bayern, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen. Even Arsenal and Manchester United made enquiries, per the Daily Mail.
Even though Gladbach supposedly made a bid, there is a potential logjam in attack. Assuming all four players stay, Alassane Plea, Marcus Thuram, Breel Embolo and Lars Stindl all occupy the same areas as David.
However, the Canadian could play behind Plea as a second striker with Thuram cutting inside from the left to form a lethal trio. All three players like to roam from their positions so it would be a fluid attack.
Tactically, David would be a solid addition to coach Marco Rose’s energetic, high-pressing 4-2-3-1. Gladbach is fifth in attacking-third pressures this season, per FBRef.com, and we’ve seen David press high up the pitch regularly with Canada, like in October’s win over the United States or the 2019 Gold Cup.
This team radar below exemplifies a well-rounded attack from Gladbach. David is a complete forward, so he could easily adjust to Rose’s style of play. He can influence games against the run of play, via set pieces or create chances by harrying opposing defenders.
When examining David’s stats radar below, his pressing numbers with Gent (as seen in the “pressures” category) appear underwhelming. That’s because as a second striker at Gent, David isn’t asked to press as relentlessly. But when he does, he recovers the ball at a solid rate, as noted by his “pressure regains.”
Tactics can be learned with time. What matters for David is regular minutes so he can continue his development.
Player of the Week
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund): Haaland won a decisive battle over Dayot Upamecano to complete a brace for Dortmund to wrap up second place.
Goal of the Week
Matheus Cunha vs. Bayer Leverkusen: Cunha’s stunner – not the first he’s scored this season – helped seal a win over Leverkusen.
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