Three things we learnt from the afternoon Bundesliga kick-offs | OneFootball

After a rather poor midweek for German sides in Europe, the Bundesliga returned with a big game as Bayer Leverkusen threw away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich saw off SC Freiburg 2-1 in a contender for most boring game of the season, Borussia Dortmund under interim head coach Mike Tullberg also threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Werder Bremen, VfB Stuttgart lost 2-0 to Mainz and Augsburg beat Heidenheim 2-1 thanks to two corner kick goals.

Here is what we learnt:

Bayer Leverkusen contributes to their own slip-up:

First of all, why was RB Leipzig vs Bayer Leverkusen on a Saturday afternoon? It is by far the biggest game of the weekend so it really should have been placed in the topspiel spot later on today. I doubt anybody would complain about swapping this game with Borussia Mönchengladbach vs Bochum.

Anyway.

Florian Wirtz was magical today and was at the centre of everything that went right for Leverkusen. His run and miss (we will forget about the latter) set up Patrik Schick’s equaliser while he was also crucial in the counter-press that led to Aleix Garcia making it 2-0. The 21-year-old was also unlucky not to score as he hit the post several times. However, at the end of the day, a statement performance was made redundant by Leverkusen throwing away a 2-0 lead.

For the second game in a row, Leverkusen have thrown away a lead. Despite creating more than their fair share of chances, they decided to sit back a lot more and began to soak up more pressure from Leipzig. Granted, the first goal was an unlikely deflection but the second was poor defending from a free kick. While Benjamin Seško also had a great chance if it were not for a save by Lukas Hradecky.

In midweek their defence was poor, and this time as well their defence regressed as the game went on. Leverkusen will have to go 100% from now until the end of the season, and I hope that Bayern Munich will drop points in the future.

The game against Bayern in three weeks has become even more crucial.

Nothing gets better for Borussia Dortmund:

The fact that Dortmund threw away a 2-0 lead, drew with Werder Bremen and Nico Schlotterbeck got sent off with the most unnecessary red card showed that the manager is not the problem here, as the ultras also pointed out. But Dortmund’s players are genuinely quite bad.

It will be optimistic that whoever will be the interim manager for Dortmund could salvage European qualification with this set of players. Out of all the players, only Serhou Guirassy, Gregor Kobel and Jamie Gittens could contribute to a top Bundesliga side, the rest could probably be sold. There is a significant lack of energy and effort in this squad.

The same cannot be said for Bremen who continue their good season and have once again been able to fight back against Dortmund, in Dortmund. There was even a point during the game where Bremen looked like they could win it and it would have been deserved as well, which again says everything about this Dortmund side.

Mainz continue their hunt for European Football

Mainz, who were on the verge of relegation a year ago, are one point off of the Champions League places. A very convincing performance against a Stuttgart side that had also been on the upturn, however, the visitors may have one eye on their Champions League decider against PSG in midweek. This should not discredit Mainz’s win.

A big positive is that striker Nelson Weiper was able to get back on the score sheet. The 19-year-old has a lot of potential but has struggled with his fitness in recent seasons. Today he was able to show his potential once again and why he could be the natural successor to Jonathan Burkardt if the club captain leaves in the summer. The only issue? Weiper went off injured in the second half.

GGFN | Jack Meenan