From a team steeped in crisis with a sacked manager to a sexy pick for winning a historic treble, what a difference a couple months can make. Following today’s 2-0 victory over Augsburg, Bayern Munich maintained its four-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga while celebrating the club’s 120th birthday in fine style (hence the special edition kits).
He’s just 17, but the whole world is watching him. And everyone wants to know what nationality Gio Reyna decides to represent at the senior level.
Giovanni Reyna is the 17-year-old son of Claudio Reyna, a former USMNT captain who appeared 112 times for the U.S. Gio has appeared more than two dozen times with the U.S. at the youth level, so it’s a given he’ll make his debut with the senior national team with the U.S. eventually, right?
It might not be so simple.
The last time a Werder Bremen scored in the Bundesliga was nearly three months ago in a 6-1 defeat to Bayern Munich. Leave it to an American to break the epic goal drought.
Josh Sargent scored two minutes into Werder’s match with Hertha Berlin on Saturday, a lovely left-footed blast from the edge of the area.
WHAT A HIT JOSH SARGENT!
The Great Wall of China is thought to be an impenetrable force and the greatest defense’s in mankind’s history. That is, until German goalkeeper Daniel Batz entered the scene.
Watch as the goalkeeper for fourth-tier Saarbrücken led his side to the DFB-Pokal semifinals with five penalty saves against top-flight Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Daniel Batz. The man. The myth. The legend.
The Bundesliga and banners have not been best friends as of late. Offensive banners criticizing Hoffenheim investor Dietmar Hopp caused the last 15 minutes of Bayern Munich’s last game to be spent juggling around the ball. Schalke fans took note of the stoppage of play and unveiled their own banner in Tuesday’s DFB-Pokal match.
It was a weekend the Bundesliga would like to forget. Multiple banners from supporters caused games to stop, and now a group of Japanese fans is being issued an apology after security removed them from RB Leipzig's stadium over fears of coronavirus.
One of the Japanese fans who was removed tweeted about the events that took place. The tweet has since been deleted but read:
BERLIN — Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich fired in three goals in the opening 15 minutes en route to a 6-0 demolition of hosts Hoffenheim on Saturday in a game interrupted for 20 minutes over an offensive banner unfurled by visiting fans.
Bayern moved four points clear at the top of the table but the match was at risk of being cut short when the Munich club's fans displayed the banner insulting Hoffenheim investor Dietmar Hopp in the 79th minute.
American Pellegrino Matarazzo has enjoyed an excellent start to his career as a head coach, taking 13 points from a possible 15 while taking VfB Stuttgart up to second place in the table.
Matarazzo, appointed in December to take over for Tim Walter, got off to a winning start with the Swabians as his side rolled over FC Heidenheim, 3-0. VfB has gone from strength to strength since then, winning three of the next four in the 2. Bundesliga. Matarazzo's only loss at the helm so far came in the narrow 2-1 defeat to Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal.
Sometimes simplicity is the best approach, and that is the route that Eintracht chose during a Frankfurt protest on the scheduling of Monday matches this week.
Sure, the supporters could have brought in 100 flares, made several large banners and yelled their lungs out. Instead the Frankfurt faithful vacated a section of stands and placed a singular banner with one clear message: No Mondays.
Bayern Munich left back Alphonso Davies had himself a little battle with his opposite No. 19, Chelsea’s Mason Mount, on Tuesday. Well, he had a battle in the same way a child with a magnifying glass has a battle with ants on a sidewalk.
Davies toyed with the young Blues midfielder throughout the match, using his immense pace to recover on a couple occasions when it appeared Mount was in on goal. Then the Canadian teenager blistered past Mount and the entire Chelsea defense for the back-breaking goal in a 3-0 win in the Champions League Round of 16 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.