Berlin (AFP)
RB Leipzig virtually secured the title of Bundesliga Fall Champion on Saturday, the first to be won by any team other than Bayern or Dortmund since 2010, beating Augsburg at home 3-1.
In theory, Mönchengladbach could steal this honorary title from the RB, provided they win with 14 goals away on Saturday night in Berlin against Hertha (6.30pm).
Bayern Munich, which won at the very end of the match against Wolfsburg 2-0, again thanks to their young Dutch talent Joshua Zirkzee, finished the first leg in third position, four points behind. Dortmund, beaten Friday night at Hoffenheim, is fourth seven lengths behind the leader.
. RB ramps up
For its fourth season only in the first division, the team supported by Red Bull offers itself an honorary title of refreshing autumn champion for the Bundesliga: since Leverkusen had finished the first leg matches in 2010, only Bayern Munich ( seven times) and Dortmund (twice) had occupied this position after 17 days.
With the arrival on the bench of the 32-year-old young coach Julian Nagelsmann, Leipzig has reached a plateau this season, in results as in play. Besides their success in the league, the Saxons are also for the first time in their history qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, against Tottenham.
Nagelsmann has enriched the team's game while retaining its trademark: an ultra-fast and vertical transition game. But the RB now knows how to keep the ball if necessary, and controls its matches much better.
On Saturday, however, Augsburg opened the scoring very quickly (8th), and Leipzig took a very long time to materialize its domination, however clear. But Konrad Laimer (68th), Patrik Schick, the Czech on loan from Roma (80th) and Yussuf Poulsen (89th) gave the RB an indisputable victory.
. Bayern: the fairy tale Zirkzee
At 18, the young Dutchman Joshua Zirkzee had never played in Bayern's first team last weekend yet. In two matches, and eight minutes in total on the pitch, he has just given the Rekordmeister twice the goal of victory!
This future talent benefited from the carnage of professionals. The team, decimated by injuries, ended the year with just ... eleven field players available! And when Jérôme Boateng entered shortly before the break to replace Javi Martinez, victim of a breakdown, there were only young players from the reserve and the U19 team on the bench.
But the youth of Munich has resources. While Wolfsburg still tied 0-0 in the 85th minute, Zirkzee opened the scoring (1-0, 85th). In Friborg, he scored the 2-1 goal in added time. And as in Friborg, Serge Gnabry hit the nail on the head (2-0, 89th).
In view of the course in December, and unless huge surprise, the leaders of Bayern should announce this weekend the retention at least until the end of the season of coach Hansi Flick, who was "interim" since the dismissal by Niko Kovac in early November.
. Dortmund at half mast
Friday night, Borussia Dortmund, future opponent of Paris SG in the Champions League, again let slip a match he seemed to dominate clearly. After leading 1-0 at Hoffenheim, the German vice-champions conceded two goals in the last 12 minutes.
Borussia's inability to keep a score has led it to lose a lot of points this season, and places it in a delicate position halfway through the championship, 7 lengths from the leader and quite far from the title ambitions posted in August by its leaders.
Results of the 17th day:
Friday
Hoffenheim - Dortmund 2 - 1
Saturday
Schalke 04 - Friborg 2 - 2
RB Leipzig - Augsburg 3 - 1
Cologne - Werder Bremen 1 - 0
Mainz - Bayer Leverkusen 0 - 1
Bayern Munich - Wolfsburg 2 - 0
(5.30 p.m. GMT) Hertha Berlin - Mönchengladbach
Sunday
(14:30 GMT) Fortuna Dusseldorf - Union Berlin
(5.00 p.m. GMT) SC Paderborn - Eintracht Frankfurt
© 2019 AFP