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:
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.
It’s hard to remember a time without Lukas Podolski. He burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old after scoring 10 goals in his first 19 Bundesliga appearances with FC Köln . . . that was 16 years ago.
He’s since gone on to play for Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Galatasaray and Vissel Kobe, as well as representing Germany 130 times before announcing his international retirement after Euro 2016.
Erling Håland continued his red-hot start to life at Borussia Dortmund, scoring his 12th goal in eight matches in Dortmund's 2-0 victory over Werder Bremen on Saturday.
Erling Haaland just cannot be stopped! It's 2-0 @BlackYellow! pic.twitter.com/PfkY3YLP3q
Jesse Marsch's RB Salzburg entered its Europa League Round of 32 first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt looking to rebound from a loss against LASK this past weekend which cost Salzburg first place in the Austrian Bundesliga. Frankfurt came into the game having won four of its last six games, most recently putting five goals past Augsburg. Only Bayern Munich has racked up more points than Frankfurt since the Bundesliga's winter break.
In terms of a 1-0 scoreline, there’s no greater beatdown than the one RB Leipzig just administered to Tottenham in London on Wednesday. The difference on the scoreboard was Timo Werner’s 58th-minute penalty, but the difference on the pitch was an incredible gulf in tempo, build-up play and variation in attack.
While the men’s Champions League Round of 16 begins this week, the women’s competition doesn’t return until the end of March with the staging of the quarterfinals. The question — on the back of four straight titles — is can anyone disrupt Lyon’s recent hegemony of the competition?
One potential answer is Wolfsburg.
The club won back-to-back European titles in 2013 and 2014, but in the five tournaments since, they’ve been bounced by Lyon four times (twice in the final, twice in the quarters). This season, the two clubs won’t possibly meet until the final.
Just 76 days after it began, Jurgen Klinsmann's return to club management is over.
The former USMNT boss, appointed manager of Hertha BSC on Nov. 27, shocked the club by announcing his decision to step down as Head Coach immediately, but he will maintain his post as a member of the club's supervisory board.
The year is 2020. A top-of-the-table Bundesliga clash between Bayern Munich and Leipzig is being dictated by a fascinating duel between a 19-year-old Canadian and a 20-year-old American. Bayern Munich doesn’t win.
How ‘bout that for a bit of science fiction?! But that’s actually what happened on Sunday during the sort of match that proves a 0-0 scoreline can still be a damn good time.