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BERLIN — Bayer Leverkusen faces a significant setback in its attempt to defend the Bundesliga title, while Borussia Dortmund continues to struggle under the new leadership of Niko Kova?.
Leverkusen played to a scoreless draw against Wolfsburg on Saturday, enabling Bayern Munich to extend their lead to eight points before the crucial matchup between the top two teams next weekend in Leverkusen. Historically, no team has successfully overcome such a deficit this early in the Bundesliga season to claim the championship title. In their latest match, Bayern triumphed over Werder Bremen with a 3-0 victory on Friday.
Leverkusen’s goalkeeper, Lukáš Hrádecký, expressed disappointment, stating, “The gap has become far too big, unfortunately. That’s the difference from last season – the games that we’re drawing now, we won last year.”
Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso made several changes to the lineup that narrowly defeated Cologne in the German Cup semifinals. Prominent player Florian Wirtz was benched, while new recruit Mario Hermoso made his first appearance as a starter. Only Nordi Mukiele, Jonathan Tah, and Granit Xhaka retained their place from the previous match.
Dortmund’s woes persisted as they suffered a 2-1 loss at home to Stuttgart in Kova?’s initial game as head coach, marking the eighth league defeat for the team this season. Kova? had a rough start when his bag got stuck while trying to exit the team bus prior to the match.
Two players who moved to Dortmund from Stuttgart over the summer were directly involved in the goals scored by their former team. Defender Waldemar Anton inadvertently scored an own goal from Chris Führich’s cross early in the second half, while Serhou Guirassy, another former Stuttgart player, lost the ball in defense, leading to Julian Chabot scoring the second goal in the 61st minute. Dortmund experienced further bad luck when Alexander Nübel managed to deflect Jamie Gittens’ shot onto the crossbar.
Julian Brandt netted one goal in the 81st minute but summed up Dortmund’s frustrating day when he missed a promising free kick, sending it well over the goal. Additionally, Dortmund’s Julian Ryerson received a second yellow card for his reactions to a foul, resulting in his dismissal.
Kova? commented on the intensity of the sport, saying, “Football is emotions, that’s why we go to the stadium. If it wasn’t like that, we’d go to the theater. There would probably be fewer emotions there.” His tenure in Dortmund as a coach has now seen him face seven defeats, although this time he was on the opposing side.
Marin Ljubi?i?, a Croatian forward, celebrated an impressive debut for Union Berlin, contributing with a goal and an assist during their 4-0 victory against Hoffenheim. This match marked Union’s most significant win of the season, breaking their previous trend of never scoring more than two goals in a match. They had experienced a drought in scoring, failing to find the net in four of their last five encounters.
Benedict Hollerbach opened the scoring, with Ljubi?i? making an impact just two minutes after being substituted on with the second goal. Andrej Ili? added his first Bundesliga goal for the third tally, and Ljubi?i? assisted Hollerbach for the final score.
Meanwhile, Eintracht Frankfurt, currently in third place, ended up in a 1-1 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach, marking their third consecutive tie. Michy Batshuayi played his first match for Frankfurt, with Elye Wahi also making his debut in the second half, both of whom were signed to compensate for Omar Marmoush’s transfer to Manchester City.
However, it was Marmoush’s previous teammate, Hugo Ekitiké, who responded quickly to Tim Kleindienst’s goal for Gladbach in the 26th minute. Freiburg managed a 1-0 victory over Heidenheim, while Mainz and Augsburg played to a goalless draw.
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