Bundesliga Review – Buoyant Bayern all set for Arsenal

Arsène Wenger may claim his side have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League quarter finals. The truth is, they don’t. The Gunners first leg against Bayern Munich proved just how much stronger the Bavarians are. And even if the Bundesliga leaders may have stuttered ever so slightly at the weekend, Bayern still look the strongest side in Europe.

Now for this season’s Bayern, a stutter qualifies as a win – just not in the swashbuckling style that we have come to expect of the champions-elect. Their opponents on Saturday could count themselves unfortunate too. In the last two seasons, scoring twice against Bayern usually guarantees victory. So, poor old Fortuna Düsseldorf, who became the first away team to score two and not win a Bundesliga game at the Allianz Arena since Freiburg in October 2010. They can take solace in the fact they played a side on course to become the greatest team in Bundesliga history.

Coach Jupp Heynckes didn’t put out much of a weakened team on Saturday either. Even when you include injuries, Heynckes played a side which was just three players off what has become the acknowledged full strength team for Bayern this season – those missing being Holger Badstuber, Javi Martinez and perhaps the signing of the season, Dante.

Saturday was the first Bundesliga game the Brazilian centre back has not started this season as he was rested for Wednesday’s game against Arsenal. That there was a certain fragility to the Bayern defence against Fortuna was testament to the impact Dante has had since signing from Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer.

Twice Fortuna Düsseldorf took the lead (sparking wild, yet understandable celebrations in the away end of the stadium ) and, when they did so for a second time through Andreas Lambertz’s strike, just 18 minutes remained in the game. Still, it was naïve to think there wasn’t enough time for Bayern to turn round the deficit. Within minutes Franck Ribery had equalised and with just a few to spare, Jerome Boateng made sure that the team’s dinner was on Jupp Heynckes by nodding in his first ever Bundesliga goal.

More importantly, it was the winner, taking Bayern 20 points clear at the top of the division. Forget the title race (if you haven’t already) because Bayern Munich are now up against history – and they’re even on course to thrash that too. Jupp Heynckes’s team have five more points than any other side has had at this stage of a Bundesliga season.

Win their next three games and they’ll clinch their first league title since 2010 at Eintracht Frankfurt on April 6th. Yet, perhaps the sweetest domestic prospect for Bayern lies in early May. Because, should they take 16 points from their next six games, they will go to Borussia Dortmund, not just as Champions but having broken the record points total set just last season by BVB. And if they could even win at Signal Iduna Park, having already surpassed 81 points, it would further legitimise their status as Deutscher Meister once more.

They may have looked weaker defensively without Dante at the weekend but, that aside, the quality in Bayern’s squad has been shown to be so interchangeable, that it will be surprising if Jupp Heynckes’s side do anything but breeze through to the quarter finals of the Champions League on Wednesday evening.

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga:

Whilst Jupp Heynckes got away with leaving out his summer signing from Gladbach, Jürgen Klopp wasn’t so fortunate. Marco Reus was on the bench for the Revierderby as Schalke raced into a first half lead thanks to goals from Julian Draxler and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The emergence of Reus in the second half wasn’t enough to spark a revival as Schalke held on for their second derby win of the season, despite Robert Lewandowski’s goal just before the hour. However, there was concerning injury news for both Dortmund and Schalke after the game. Mats Hummels tore an ankle ligament which will put him out for four weeks whilst Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will miss Tuesday’s Champions League game with Galatasaray. He’s out for eight weeks having torn a ligament in his knee after an innocuous collision with his own goalkeeper, Timo Hildebrand. That result for Schalke pushed them back into the top four for the first time since the beginning of December. But, there are quite a few sides behind them. Take Mainz who won for the first time in 2013 by overcoming Bayer Leverkusen. Eintracht Frankfurt are level on points with Schalke but their run of games without scoring was extended to five in their goalless draw at Hannover. Goals were not a problem for Wolfsburg though as they scored five in a surprise victory at Freiburg which included a pair of superb strikes. First came Vieirinha’s thumping volley from 25 yards before Ivica Olic tried to top that with an overhead kick. Alternatively there was a powerful volley by Hamburg’s Artjoms Rudnevs on Sunday. That earned his side the win against Stuttgart, putting HSV within two points of fourth place. Their local rivals, Werder Bremen, had to settle for a draw at Borussia Mönchengladbach. And, in the scrap to avoid relegation, Augsburg’s recent good form came to an end as they were beaten by Nuremberg -that allowed Hoffenheim to gain some ground on the Bavarians as they overcame bottom club Greuther Fürth.

Matchday 25 Results:

Augsburg 1-2 Nuremberg

Bayern Munich 3-2 Fortuna Düsseldorf

Freiburg 2-5 Wolfsburg

Greuther Fürth 0-3 Hoffenheim

Mainz 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen

Schalke 2-1 Borussia Dortmund

Gladbach 1-1 Werder Bremen

Hannover 0-0 Eintracht Frankfurt

Stuttgart 0-1 Hamburg

Table:

FC Bayern Munich