Goals galore in Germany
Bundesliga action continues to unfold quickly, with teams slowly settling into the normalcy of playing in empty stadiums with rules that aren’t out of place in a world dealing with a pandemic.
A fortnight ago, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund restarted their league campaigns with impressive wins and maintained a fourpoint gap at the top of the table.
Since then, the Bavarian giant has defeated Dortmund in Der Klassiker to go seven points clear at the top.
Bayern followed up the win over Dortmund with a 50 drubbing of relegationbattling Fortuna Dusseldorf, with Robert Lewandowski scoring a brace to go within one strike of another 30goal season.
The defeat to Bayern also saw Dortmund lose Mahmoud Dahoud to a longterm injury and Erling Haaland to a niggle. However, Jadon Sancho made his rst start since the league resumed and scored the rst hattrick of his professional career to help his team bounce back against bottom club Paderborn. The English winger’s return to form and tness, coupled with Haaland’s possible return to the starting XI soon, will be a welcome boost for a club that’s hoping to win its rst domestic title since 201112.
Timo Werner’s hunt for Lewandowski’s golden boot has helped RB Leipzig move to third, two points behind Dortmund. The German striker, who is expected to leave the club at the end of this campaign, scored his 31st goal of the season as Julian Nagelsmann’s side brushed aside FC Koln 42.
Borussia Monchengladbach’s goalless draw against Werder Bremen was followed by a comprehensive 41 win against Union Berlin. Monchengladbach occupies the nal Champions League position, with an inspired Bayer Leverkusen looking to oust it.
Leverkusen midelder Kai Havertz has been the most impressive player over the last fortnight. He has scored more goals since the restart that anyone and showed his tactical exibility in the win against Freiburg. Pushed into a false nine role, he did his best to unsettle Freiburg’s defence and used his physical power to run through defenders and poke the ball home for the only goal of the game.
The Bundesliga saw a series of highscoring games even as other top leagues in Europe get their houses in order for a restart.
While Inter Milan spent most of the season in a twoway ght for the title with Juventus, mixed results before the break see it return as an outside contender.
Lazio’s consistency throughout the season helped it go eight points clear of Inter and just one point behind Juventus.
Behind Inter, Atalanta and AS Roma are three points apart for the nal position in the table that guarantees participation in toptier European football next season.
VELAMURI