Chris Howie 

The Bundesliga is back on beIN SPORTS. Follow all the action over the weekend on beIN CONNECT & HD 11. We take a look at the three sides hoping to lift the title, come the end of the season. 

Bayern Munich

Who else? Having won 7 Bundesliga titles in a row, anything other than an 8th consecutive title win this season will be viewed as a failure for the Bayern. Currently sitting in first place and four points clear of Dortmund, they travel to Bundesliga minnows Union Berlin on Sunday for the 1900 kick-off, where they’ll be hoping not to have a performance similar to the kind they produced during their 2-2 draw with Augsburg back in October. 

Even with the two-month break in play, the reality is they shouldn’t do. Since replacing Niko Kovac with Hansi Flick, Bayern Munich aren’t the same tentative side they were in the first few months of the season. Under Flick, the Bavarians have managed to recapture the swagger that seemed to have deserted them under Kovac (even if he did bring them a domestic double in his first season) and are reaching levels of play on a par with the Guardiola side of 2014.

Bayern has a crop of stars that will draw audiences in from around the world. Robert Lewandowski will want to add some more goals to his frankly ludicrous 25 goals in 23 league appearances, but alongside him, the emergence of Serge Gnabry and Alphonso Davies has been equally positive for the Bavarians. Furthermore, with the rumoured arrivals of Leroy Sane and Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz, the foreseeable future could continue to be dominated by Bayern. 

Borussia Dortmund 

Having last won the league in 2011/12 under Jurgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund have endured a small rollercoaster of fortunes in the 8 years since last lifting the Bundesliga trophy. Thomas Tuchel, the man who replaced Klopp in 2015 initially did well but was dismissed in 2017 for allegedly falling out with senior management. The two subsequent replacements – Peter Bosz and Peter Stoger weren’t suitable for the job.

The current manager, Lucien Favre, had a spectacular campaign with Dortmund last year and looked set to with the Bundesliga, only for them to crumble under the pressure and let a rather ordinary Bayern Munich pip them to the post. 

The defence was the issue for Dortmund then and with the return of Mats Hummels, it has only been half addressed. Instead, the forward line has once again been fine-tuned, most notably with the acquisition of Erling Braut-Haaland who has hit the ground running for Dortmund, scoring 9 goals in 8 games. Behind him, the canny signings of Julian Brandt and Thorgan Hazard have given English starlet, Jadon Sancho some healthy competition.  

With nine games left of the Bundesliga, we may be witnessing the beginning of the end Jadon Sancho’s time at Dortmund, who along with Achraf Hakimi look set to depart in the transfer window. With a team replete of attacking potential, if there was ever a time for Dortmund to wrestle back the the Meisterschale from Bayern’s hands – it would be now.

RB Leipzig  

They may be the most hated club in Germany but RB Leipzig has plenty of qualities for the neutral to enjoy. Julian Nageslmann – the young coaching prodigy in the Bundesliga has steered Leipzig to third and 5 points off of the leaders. Whilst some feel that the Bundesliga may be slightly out of their reach, they still have a part to play in how the season pans out. 

The 0-0 draw with Bayern Munich back in February was full of attacking intent. Were it not for some errant finishing from the usual reliable Timo Wener, Leipzig would have left the Allianz Arena with all three points. Instead, they had to settle for a point – nevertheless, it was the first time in four visits to Bayern they were able to. Progress is being made and all eyes will be on the reverse fixture. 

Freiburg will travel to the Red Bull Arena on Saturday sitting eighth in the table and chasing European qualification. Whether ‘RasenBallsport’ can carry on the impressive form which saw them beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 on aggregate in the Champions League is debatable, not just because their last game was on March 10th but because their domestic form prior, produced two back to back draws which saw them drop from second place to third. 

The issue for RB is that they are still overly reliant on Timo Werner – who with 21 Bundesliga goals to his name is being coveted by Europe’s biggest clubs, most notably Liverpool. Behind Werner; Marcel Sabitzer, Emil Forsberg and loan players Patrik Schik and Christopher Nkunku are chipping in reliably with some goals, but with none having broken double figures – the burden of a title push may be too great on Leipzig’s no.11.