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Berlin (AP) - A trainer under pressure, a 17-year-old in focus - and a goalkeeper against his ex-club: six games, six heads to watch out for in the Saturday Bundesliga games.
Bayer Leverkusen - VfL Wolfsburg (3:30 p.m.)
FLORIAN WIRTZ: The only 17-year-old offensive player confirmed his excellent development in his first appearance in the calendar year 2021.
With the winning goal to make it 2-1 on the previous day against Borussia Dortmund, he improved the situation in the battle for the Champions League places for Bayer Leverkusen considerably.
Even more: Wirtz is already linked to a piece of the Bayer success story this season.
In the three previous competitive games in 2021, the exceptional talent, who had already shown some convincing appearances in 2020, was missing.
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Without Wirtz, Bayer got just one point in the games in Frankfurt (1: 2), against Bremen (1: 1) and at Union Berlin (0: 1).
With Wirtz, who had only returned to training two days before the Dortmund match after the break due to an overload in his knee, the negative development was promptly stopped.
His absence should “not be an excuse,” Bayer coach Peter Bosz recently said.
Nevertheless, he is happy when the player, who was born in Pulheim near Cologne, is available to him.
Wirtz was part of the starting line-up in 13 of 14 first half games in the Bundesliga season - and should keep the works club on course for the Champions League in the second half of the season.
SC Freiburg - VfB Stuttgart (3.30 p.m.)
NILS PETERSEN: Almost exactly a year ago, Petersen (32) replaced national coach Joachim Löw as the record scorer of SC Freiburg, and now he's also the record joker in Europe's five top leagues.
His goal in the 2-2 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt was Petersen's 29th as a substitute.
Most recently, he sat on the bench more often because Freiburg's newcomer Ermedin Demirovic had a good run.
But when coach Streich needs him, Petersen is usually there.
He has been involved in nine goals against VfB Stuttgart so far, more than any other Bundesliga club.
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1. FSV Mainz 05 - RB Leipzig (3.30 p.m.)
DAYOT UPAMECANO: Since his sensational appearance in the Champions League quarter-finals against Atlético Madrid, Dayot Upamecano has been hunted by top European teams.
Now Bayern are there too.
The 22-year-old head of defense at RB Leipzig has an exit clause of around 45 million euros in his contract, which runs until 2023.
Despite the advance from Munich, they are not restless in Leipzig.
“We know about Upamecano's contractual situation, we know that we would of course like to keep him.
But we also know what the mechanisms are like in football.
If they wanted to make us restless, then that didn't work, ”said RB coach Julian Nagelsmann.
He also relies on the strengths of the French in Mainz.
FC Augsburg - 1. FC Union Berlin (3:30 p.m.)
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RAFAL GIKIEWICZ: Somehow Gikiewicz is still a Union.
The loud keeper of FC Augsburg wears a Berlin club tattoo on his left forearm.
His goal against the ex-club is clear: three points.
For the FCA.
Gikiewicz has been playing in Fuggerstadt since last summer, but Andreas Luthe took the opposite route - even after the transfer from Gikiewicz.
The so level-headed 33-year-old is also a regular goalkeeper and gives coach Urs Fischer no reason to put challenger Loris Karius between the posts.
Arminia Bielefeld - Eintracht Frankfurt (3.30 p.m.)
LUKA JOVIC: Eintracht Frankfurt hopes that Luka Jovic's return campaign will pay off at the end of the season with the European Cup entry.
At the start on Main, the striker, who had been on loan from Real Madrid until the end of the season, provided a brace for the win against FC Schalke 04, but did not score at SC Freiburg (2-2).
You have to leave "the church in the village", said Eintracht coach Adi Hütter, for whom the 23-year-old Serb's class is out of the question.
Against Schalke he has already shown "what he can do".
Hütter still left it open whether Jovic will get his first starting eleven on Saturday at Arminia Bielefeld on the side of André Silva.
Hütter has no doubt that Silva and Jovic will be “an absolute top striker duo in the Bundesliga”.
Hertha BSC - Werder Bremen (6.30 p.m.)
BRUNO LABBADIA: It's getting tighter for the Hertha coach.
The course correction announced for January combined with a significant improvement in the table failed with four points in the previous four games and rank 14.
The 54-year-old knows about his situation.
Something like that is not new to him: “First of all, it's about the situation and less about me.
We can all read the table and know that we are under increasing pressure because of the results.
That is normal."
With table neighbors SV Werder, who also only managed to fight for four points in January, a former club in Labbadia's active career plays on the other side in the first month of the year.
Against Bielefeld (0: 1) and Cologne (0: 0), the goalless team failed to score for 280 minutes.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210122-99-136504 / 2
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