It’s a fierce fight for the UCL places in the Bundesliga
The last round of matches in the Bundesliga only served to complicate the race for qualification to next season’s UEFA Champions League competition as some teams unexpectedly faltered to their detriment.
The results from the last matchday served to make the race fiercer than it appeared before the resumption of the Bundesliga after some months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The defending champions Bayern Munich could be the only team that won’t be embroiled in this battle unless their fortunes change for the worst.
They lead the table with a 7 points difference, and the sides below them, I daresay have proven that the points gap is insurmountable based on their inconsistencies with six games left to play.
The duo of Bayern Leverkusen and RB Leipzig have shown that they don’t have what it takes to fight for the Bundesliga title. RB Leipzig were even tipped to take the fight to Bayern and Dortmund at the early stages of the season when the Bavarian giants appeared to be getting complacent.
However, this is not the case at this stage of the season. They got an emphatic 5 nil win away from home against Mainz last week and one would have thought they were in for the fight only to draw 2 all against Hertha Berlin in the last game.
Well, Hertha Berlin have started brightly after the break. They’ve won 2 and drawn 1 of the last three games.
Bayern Leverkusen produced one of the shocking results of the last matchday after returning to Bundesliga action like a house on fire. They scored 7 goals and conceded just 2 in their last two games before the game against Wolfsburg.
However, they were thrashed 4:1 at home by a visiting Wolfsburg who appeared to have the antidote to the recent goalscoring wizardry of Kai Havertz who had scored 4 goals out of the seven.
They are now out of the UEFA Champions League places, after being replaced by Borussia Monchengladbach who have won 1, drawn 1, and lost 1, albeit on goal difference.
Borussia Dortmund could also easily go from fighting for the Bundesliga title to fighting for a place in next season’s UCL competition if they decide to become complacent as the chasing pack is hot on their heels.
The Signal Iduna Park outfit are currently second in the Bundesliga with 57 points, followed by third-place RB Leipzig who have 55 points, fourth-place Borussia Monchengladbach with 53 points and fifth-place Bayern Leverkusen with 53 points.
Strangely, none of the aforementioned teams were able to garner maximum points on the matchday as they either lost or drew.
Just 4 points separate second-place Dortmund from fifth-place Bayern Leverkusen. RB Leipzig should be better placed though and giving Bayern a run for their money having not lost in their last 9 Bundesliga games.
However, they’ve drawn 5 and won 4, and worse still have garnered just 1 win and 4 draws in their last 5 games. The race for next season’s UCL qualification is officially on in the Bundesliga with all 4 teams in good stead to qualify, although one will eventually miss out.
We wait to see the unlucky team after the next round of 6 games in the Bundesliga are done. Regardless, these sides don’t have the grit and determination it would take to wrestle the Bundesliga title away from Hansi Flick’s men presently.
