Schick hat trick, SGE celebrates late
FC Bayern is shaking its way to a minimal victory despite Kane’s dream goal
December 20, 2023, 10:27 p.m
At the end of 2023, the top clubs in the Bundesliga celebrate victories. FC Bayern can rely on Harry Kane and Thomas Müller, but they do far too little in the second half against Wolfsburg. Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, is bursting with sovereignty and VfB Stuttgart is also marching. Frankfurt and Heidenheim celebrate very late.
VfL Wolfsburg – FC Bayern Munich 1:2 (1:2)
A lackluster start to the festivities: star striker Jamal Musiala and Bayern Munich said goodbye to the Christmas holidays with a staid mandatory win and remain close to league leaders Bayer Leverkusen. In the last game of the year, the record champions muddled their way to a 2-1 (2-1) win against favorite opponent VfL Wolfsburg, despite a few problems.
Musiala (33rd) and Harry Kane (43rd) scored a dream goal for Thomas Tuchel’s team. Maximilian Arnold’s goal (45th + 1) wasn’t enough for the Wolves, who didn’t have a chance. Bayern are now unbeaten in 17 Bundesliga games against Wolfsburg and go from second place in the hunt for Leverkusen next year. The gap to the factory club is still four points, but Bayern still have to play the catch-up game against Union Berlin. Wolfsburg remains a gray average in the league.
Mattias Svanberg’s early opportunity (4th) for VfL remained the best opportunity of the game for a long time in front of 28,917 spectators. The guests, in whom Raphaël Guerreiro and the young Aleksandar Pavlovic replaced the sick Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, as they did in the 3-0 win against VfB Stuttgart, had much more of the game in the Wolfsburg rain for a long time. And as the game went on, Bayern increased the pressure.
But first Thomas Müller, who has just extended his contract again until 2025, hit the crossbar with his head (32′). Seconds later, whirlwind Musiala nodded in after a Müller cross to take the deserved lead. “King Kane” scored with a wonderful shot from around 20 meters – it was the Englishman’s 21st goal of the season.
But Arnold kept things exciting with his powerful shot from distance before the break. In addition, Bayern could have gotten a lot more out of their superiority, but promising attacks were completed too sloppily by Müller and Sane, for example. On the other hand, Tiago Tomas and Rogerio (58th) had the equalizer for the increasingly courageous Wolves.
As a result, Bayern gave up some control and an increasingly open exchange of blows developed. Of course, Bayern wanted to win and had a good opportunity through Kane (74′), but Wolfsburg also sensed their chance. And so the spectators didn’t see a high-class game at the end of the year, but they did see a surprisingly exciting and open game. In stoppage time, Manuel Neuer made a good save against Arnold (90+2).
Bayer 04 Leverkusen – VfL Bochum 4:0 (3:0)
Goal scorer Patrik Schick led Christmas champions Bayer Leverkusen to the sole starting record in German professional football with a hat trick. Thanks to the confident 4-0 (3-0) win against VfL Bochum, coach 83 across all competitions had not lost 24 games at the start.
Schick, who only celebrated his comeback a few weeks ago after a long-term adductor injury, scored with a penalty kick (30th), with a direct shot (32nd) and with a header (45th + 1). Joker Victor Boniface made the final score (69′). After matchday 16, the Werkself are at the top with 42 points at Christmas. The Alonso team only dropped points against their closest rivals Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart and are entering the new year as hot title contenders – in three competitions.
The Spaniard was already rehearsing for an emergency: all five potential African Cup drivers (January 13th to February 11th) around the three regular players Boniface, Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou had to sit on the bench. Loss of quality? Think!
Only in the initial phase did the Bochum team hold out with fight and passion, a few days after the outstanding 3-0 win against Union Berlin. Then the Schick show began and the sold-out BayArena was finally put into a festive mood.
VfB Stuttgart – FC Augsburg 3:0 (2:0)
VfB Stuttgart has crowned a remarkable half-year with another success and consolidated its place in the Champions League. Coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team deservedly won the Swabian derby against FC Augsburg 3-0 (2-0) at the end of the year and wintered in third place in the table as the first pursuers of the top duo Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich.
The two top strikers Deniz Undav (18th) and Serhou Guirassy (45th + 1) as well as Chris Führich (69th) secured Stuttgart’s eleventh win in the first half of the season – a club record. After the 3-0 defeat at Bayern last Sunday, VfB showed a strong reaction against harmless Augsburg and remains the surprise team of the season with a seven-point lead in fifth place.
Eintracht Frankfurt – Borussia Mönchengladbach 2:1 (0:1)
Eintracht Frankfurt stays in touch with the European Cup places and, thanks to a late double strike, goes into the Christmas season with the hoped-for mood booster. On the last matchday of the year, coach Dino Toppmöller’s team defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach after falling behind 2-1 (0-1) and celebrated their second win from the last eight competitive games (six defeats).
With the goals from Aurelio Buta (90+2) and Robin Koch (90+7) in the majority, Eintracht proved at least to some extent that the furious 5-1 win against record champions Bayern Munich a week and a half ago was not a flash in the pan. With 24 points from 16 games, the SGE continues to have its sights set on the international places. Gladbach (17th), on the other hand, is nestled in no man’s land in the table; the goal from Maximilian Wöber (27th), who saw yellow-red shortly before the end (88th), was not enough.
1. FC Heidenheim – SC Freiburg 3:2 (0:1)
The remarkable 1. FC Heidenheim winters with a big cushion in the fight against relegation. In a turbulent game, the promoted team fought back to win 3:2 (0:1) against SC Freiburg after being behind twice and is already ten points ahead of the relegation place after 16 match days. Second positive news: Shortly before the last game of the year, captain Patrick Maika extended his contract until 2027.
Eren Dincki (52nd) and former Freiburg player Tim Kleindienst (84th) scored the equalizers for the hosts, who benefited from an own goal by Matthias Ginter (90th + 3) for their third win in a row. Lucas Höler (7th, 64th/foul penalty) gave Freiburg the lead twice. Coach Christian Streich’s team slipped out of the European Cup ranks for the time being due to the defeat.