Saturday, December 18, 2021
Gladbach awards lucky victory
Decimated Bielefeld shocks RB Leipzig
Borussia Mönchengladbach is going downhill for four Bundesliga games in a row. Of all things, it looks better for a long time against Hoffenheim, who were recently in a very good mood – until stoppage time. For relegation candidate Arminia Bielefeld, things are not going up in the table – but that doesn’t change the sensation.
TSG Hoffenheim – Borussia Mönchengladbach 1: 1 (0: 1)
Borussia Mönchengladbach missed a redeeming victory at the end of the year – but at least slowed down the week-long decline. After four defeats in a row in the Bundesliga, the Gladbach team and their ailing coach Adi Hütter won 1-1 (1-0) at TSG Hoffenheim.
Kevin Akpoguma (90 + 1) only equalized in stoppage time for the recently strong Hoffenheim team. Breel Embolo (35.) scored for the Gladbachers against their favorite opponent Hütters, who had previously won all of his six league games as coach of Eintracht Frankfurt against TSG. The Hoffenheim team have been unbeaten for six encounters (14 points), and from then on they missed their sixth home win in a row.
Eintracht Frankfurt – FSV Mainz 05 1: 0 (1: 0)
Eintracht Frankfurt has continued to soar. The team of coach Oliver Glasner prevailed 1-0 (1-0) against FSV Mainz 05 in the Rhein-Main duel and thus won their sixth victory in the last seven league games. By catching up, the Hessians reported back in time for the end of the year in the battle for Europe.
Jesper Lindström (35th) scored for the Frankfurters, who had been in the table cellar a few weeks ago after the weak start to the season, but had recently got better and better. The SGE also impressed in the derby against Bo Svensson’s team. For the Mainz team, however, it was a bit of a damper to the end of a successful year.
RB Leipzig – Arminia Bielefeld 0: 2 (0: 0)
The disappointing first half of the season came to a fitting end for RB Leipzig. The runner-up of the previous season lost his home game against the table penultimate Arminia Bielefeld with 0: 2 (0: 0) and comes under even more pressure for the targeted chase in the second half of the season.
In the first defeat in the third league game under the new coach Domenico Tedesco, Leipzig acted without ideas and powerless. The Bielefeld team, for whom Janni Serra (57th) and Masaya Okugawa (75th) scored the goals, earned the unexpected victory with passion and effectiveness. Even the red card for Fabian Klos (70th) after an overly hard boarding did not disturb the guests.
VfL Bochum – 1. FC Union Berlin 0: 1 (0: 1)
The newly wed Max Kruse led Union Berlin back on course for the European Cup a week and a half after the Conference League. Two days after his wedding, the ex-international scored the winning goal to make it 1-0 (1-0) at home-strong VfL Bochum.
After a slack with only two three-pointers from eight Bundesliga games, the Berliners climbed back to sixth place. For the newly promoted Bochum, a strong first half of the season ends with two defeats in a row – with 20 points, the Bundesliga returnee is still fully on target.
Kruse, who married his fiancée Dilaria on Thursday, scored 1-0 with a dropkick in front of 13,500 spectators in the Ruhrstadion, who were eliminated from the new Conference League after the group stage on December 9th. The Bochumers, who recently got eleven of 15 possible home points, conceded their second home defeat.
SpVgg Greuther Fürth – FC Augsburg 0-0
SpVgg Greuther Fürth goes into the second half of the season as a designated relegated team. With the 0-0 win against FC Augsburg, the promoted team ended the first half of the season with just one win and two draws. The cloverleaf escaped the 56 old negative record of Tasmania Berlin (a win, a draw, but with at least twelve points behind the relegation place, it remains the bottom of the league.
The Augsburgers missed the opportunity to gain a little air in the relegation battle by winning. With 18 points, the team of coach Markus Weinzierl, who once played with his colleague Stefan Leitl together with the amateurs of Bayern Munich, left the relegation place for the time being, but is stuck in the extremely tight field of potential relegation candidates.