FC Bayern’s second defeat this season tells many exciting stories – especially about Thomas Müller. Freiburg and Leipzig win the battle for the European Cup spots, while Stuttgart finally wins again after what feels like an eternity. Bochum slips in the table.
VfL Bochum – SC Freiburg 0:2 (0:1)
SC Freiburg ended VfL Bochum’s impressive home run and remains in the Champions League. Coach Christian Streich’s team won 2-0 (1-0) on Castroper Straße and secured fourth place in the table with 40 points. After two significant Bundesliga away bankruptcies, it was the first win for the Breisgauer on a foreign pitch in 2023.
Michael Gregoritsch (39th) and Lucas Höler (51st) secured the three points for Freiburg and thus created an almost forgotten feeling for Bochum: After five league wins in a row, VfL lost for the first time under the leadership of coach Thomas Letsch audience and gets stuck in the table cellar. In addition, captain Anthony Losilla received a red card after a hard boarding (63rd).
In front of the vociferous home fans, Bochum got off to a fast start in the drizzle. First attempts by Christopher Antwi-Adjei (5th) and Asano (7th) clearly missed the goal. Ten minutes later, the enthusiastic Japanese shot from the edge of the box again, but Freiburg keeper Mark Flekken saved easily. Freiburg tried it playfully, which worked better from the middle of the first half. Gregoritsch passed a diagonal ball from Lukas Kübler to Ritsu Doan, who was free in the middle of the penalty area, but did not get enough pressure behind his header (26′).
But Freiburg was now game-determining. Bochum blocked an attempt by Nicolas Höfler in dire straits, and after the subsequent corner Gregoritsch scored a volley from close range at the far post that put the visitors ahead at the break. And they followed suit in the second half. A clarification attempt by Schlotterbeck that fell short ended up with Christian Günter. The national player served Höler with a cross in an exemplary manner, who prevailed in a header duel against Konstantinos Stafylidis, who came on at half-time, and scored the 2-0.
VfL then tried to get the goal back, but were unsuccessful. Especially since the hosts had to play outnumbered for the last half hour.
Borussia Mönchengladbach – Bayern Munich 3: 2 (1: 1)
Bayern Munich stumbled badly in everyday Bundesliga life after the statement win at Paris St. Germain. The record champions lost 2-3 (1-1) to feared opponents Borussia Mönchengladbach after being outnumbered for more than 80 minutes. After the second defeat of the season, FC Bayern is threatened with losing the lead in the table to Union Berlin on Sunday – before the summit with the Irons takes place in Munich a week later.
Lars Stindl (13th), Jonas Hofmann (55th) and Marcus Thuram (84th) scored for the cheeky Borussia, who are a good deal behind the European Cup places due to their fluctuating performances. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (35th) and Mathys Tel (90th 3) scored the goals for the series champion, who faced a mammoth task after the red card against Dayot Upamecano (8th / emergency brake). For Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann, Borussia is increasingly becoming a trauma: he was also unable to win his fifth game as coach of Munich against Gladbach.
The afternoon with Yann Sommer’s ex-colleague quickly became uncomfortable for FCB. In the 8th minute, the keeper decided to stay in goal after a through ball to Alassane Plea and rely on his defender Upamecano. However, the runner-up world champion was at a disadvantage in the running duel with his French compatriot, he touched Plea at high speed just before the penalty area and received the red card after a long check by the video assistant.
Gladbach took advantage of the disorder, after a low free kick from national player Hofmann, Stindl shot directly from around 20 meters and scored the acclaimed lead. Nagelsmann reacted and sacrificed Thomas Müller, since Saturday after Sepp Maier the Bayern professional with the second most Bundesliga appearances (429). Full-back João Cancelo came on for the captain. Bayern switched from three to four and gained control despite being outnumbered. Alphonso Davies played his notorious pace down the left wing, the Canadian’s sharp pass finding Choupo-Moting’s foot with pinpoint accuracy. It went up and down now. Sommer saved against the strong Kone (41 ‘), in added time in the first half Leon Goretzka moved freely in front of Sommer’s successor Jonas Omlin.
After the change of sides, Nagelsmann switched again, bringing on Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sané, who were initially rested, for the largely ineffective Serge Gnabry and Ryan Gravenberch. Gladbach made an impact: Plea served Hofmann to make it 2-1, and in the 57th minute Ramy Bensebaini’s long-range shot hit the crossbar. On the other side, Cancelo narrowly missed (68′), Nagelsmann saw a yellow card in the hectic final phase (78′) for complaining, then Thuram made the decision.
VfB Stuttgart – 1. FC Cologne 3: 0 (1: 0)
Lucky with dream goals: VfB Stuttgart celebrated the redeeming first victory with coach Bruno Labbadia in the relegation battle. The Swabians prevailed against the weak 1. FC Köln 3-0 (1-0) and finally got three points in the sixth league game under the new coach – of all things against his old love Cologne, which lost for the first time in 2023. Winter signing Gil Dias (9th) with a remarkable flick with his first Bundesliga goal and Borna Sosa (59th) with a directly converted free kick put VfB on the road to victory. Joker Tanguy Coulibaly (74th) secured Stuttgart’s first success since the beginning of November. Cologne missed the leap into the top half of the table. Ellyes Skhiri was lucky that his hard foul on Dias was only penalized with a yellow card (65th).
Labbadia already gave impetus with the line-up: he included Konstantinos Mavropanos and Silas in the starting eleven – the latter because he believed that “with his passion for football” he could cause problems for FC “behind the chain”. That only worked to a limited extent because Silas tried hard but was not very goal-oriented.
The Stuttgart lead was a co-production of two last-minute purchases: After a one-two with Genki Haraguchi, Dias circled the ball into the goal with his left hand from 13 meters. Like Dias, Silas (26′) could have increased with a near-copy of his goal (40′) and Mavropanos (41′).
Cologne owed everything in the first half. VfB goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow, who replaced Florian Müller as number one, rarely had to intervene. In an initially more offensive role than usual, Skhiri gave no impetus. In the second half, VfB switched to counterattacks and repeatedly embarrassed the visitors’ defense around Stuttgart-born Nikola Soldo, who replaced Timo Hübers (suspended). Goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe prevented the guests from losing even more.
VfL Wolfsburg – Rasenballsport Leipzig 0:3 (0:1)
Manchester City can come: four days before the Champions League cracker against the English champions, RB Leipzig got back on track. After an appealing performance, the Saxons deservedly won 3-0 (1-0) at VfL Wolfsburg and held their ground in the top group of the table. Emil Forsberg provided the opening goal. After an unsuccessful attempt to defend by VfL captain Maximilian Arnold, the midfielder was successful in the 14th minute with an unstoppable low shot. Konrad Laimer (85th) and Dominik Szoboszlai (90th 3) ensured the final score. For the North Germans it was the fifth competitive game in a row without a win.
Leipzig competed in the Volkswagen Arena with black armbands. With this action, the players remembered their former athletics coach Tim Lobinger. The former world-class pole vaulter died on Thursday at the age of 50 as a result of leukemia.
After a short phase of scanning, the guests took more and more control of the game. The Lower Saxony acted extremely harmless until the half-time whistle and had to listen to whistles from the 24,831 spectators when going into the dressing room. At this point in time, coach Marco Rose’s team could have already made a preliminary decision. Szoboszlai stumbled in a promising position in the 39th minute and 120 seconds later the Hungarian hit the outside of the post with a free-kick.
After all: National player Lukas Nmecha, who has been out of action since November last year due to a knee injury, returned to the team in the Bundesliga seventh after about an hour. But RB was also able to look forward to a comeback in the final phase: Goalscorer Christopher Nkunku, who was out for a similar length of time as Nmecha, re-entered the field in the 69th minute.
