Pott Luck! The Bundesliga burning at both ends
Two traditional clubs (and massive local rivals) are really enjoying 2023
It’s fun at the top, it’s fun at the bottom. There is plenty of Bundesliga drama ahead of us.
Bayern Munich quickly put paid to the idea of a three-way Bundesliga title race as they brushed Union Berlin aside on Sunday. Three weeks earlier, Union had gone top of the league on Saturday evening before Bayern strolled into a three-goal lead within 19 minutes at Wolfsburg to reclaim top spot.
Things were no different when a statement was required this time around. Borussia Dortmund had gone top this time around and Bayern made light work of potential challengers Union just over 24 hours later.
And then, if you do now exclude Union from the race, there were two.
We have heard this story before, of course. Bayern drop some points and a run of form from a potential threat to their Bundesliga hegemony gets tongues wagging before the side from the south click into gear and pull away.
This time, though, it is a little harder to write Borussia Dortmund off. They have won all seven of their league games in 2023 so far, taking more shots per game and scoring more goals per game than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues since 2022 ended.
For the first time in a long time, Dortmund look legitimately good. After winning a few close games, some with dramatic late goals, Edin Terzic’s side have now dominated in defeats of Freiburg, Bremen, Hertha and Hoffenheim. They are creating (and converting) regular from set-pieces — just one team in the league has now created more xG from dead ball situations — and players who have previously struggled are now performing consistently. Emre Can is shielding the defence more proficiently than ever, Juliann Brandt might be the most in-form player in Germany right now, and summer addition Karim Adeyemi has burst into life.
And even Dortmund, Bayern’s challengers-in-chief, do not usually enjoy runs this consistent or this convincing. The last time BVB won more than seven in a row in a Bundesliga campaign was 2011/12, when they were last crowned champions. They have made it to seven wins in a row just a couple of times since.
With RB Leipzig up next, Dortmund’s run has seen the nine-point gap Bayern had at the turn of the year vanish and it is hard not to start wondering if BVB actually could keep it up.
And they are not the only team from their part of Germany enjoying a surprisingly sharp upturn in form.
The team with the second-longest ongoing unbeaten run is somehow bottom of the league Schalke. Heading into the last weekend of January, they were seven points from safety and had the worst defensive record in the league, conceding 41 times in 17 games.
Since then they have played five and lost none. The last time they went more than five unbeaten in the top flight was 2017/18, a season that saw them finish second. They became the first team in Bundesliga history to record four 0-0 draws in a row before breaking that streak with a 2-1 win over Stuttgart at the weekend.
And, like rivals Dortmund, they have by and large deserved their results. A midfield base of Alex Kral and Tom Krauß provides a lot of the steel and energy required to compete in the Bundesliga, with fit-again Rodrigo Zalazar able to offer game-changing moments just ahead of them. With those three now all available and reliable, durable wide men Marius Bülter and Dominik Drexler on the wings, there is every reason to believe Schalke will be just fine.
They are capable of making games tight against just about anybody, now they just need to score enough goals to win enough close matches to survive. The gap to safety is down to just three points and Schalke face Bochum, the team just above them and the side with the league’s worst goal difference, this weekend.
Nobody would have believed you a month ago but the Bundesliga’s two Ruhrpott sides have managed to make things interesting at both ends of the table. At least for now.