As Saturday afternoon morphed into evening Bayern Munich showed themselves to be currently inhabiting their role as Big Bad Bayern, all but untouchable and provoked into their top gear by proper competition, as they were in the later game at rising Eintracht Frankfurt. This framed what had happened further north immediately before even more succinctly.
Even if Borussia Dortmund’s meeting with RB Leipzig had the statute of a defining match of the early part of the Bundesliga season, with second facing third, on the ground expectations were more modest in North Rhine-Westphalia. Whether it was Niko Kovac quoting his fellow former Bayern manager Giovanni Trapattoni (“if you can’t win, you can’t lose,” he reflected at full-time) or his opposite number Ole Werner talking of his “still developing” side, it felt as if a 1-1 draw was just, leaving both parties partially sated, partially frustrated.
And this is a game, to remind, that matters, and has always mattered since Leipzig’s 2016 promotion. These two clubs are chalk and cheese in outlook and what they feel they represent. If the Bundesliga is by now used to Leipzig , rather than having fully accepted the club conceptually , there is a special level of hostility that meets RB when they arrive at Signal Iduna Park. Now, settled and established in the top flight, Leipzig feel able to clap back.
On Friday morning large displays on billboards in Dortmund city centre pictured two portions of fries, one plain and one with ketchup and mayo (for the red and white of RB), annotated with the legend “Yellow alone doesn’t make you happy,” with the pun of gelb (yellow) rather than geld (money) making light of the image of Leipzig as a purely corporate project. The notices were signed “with sporting greetings, Die Roten Bullen”. After all these years RB know they will never be considered as legitimate by swathes of Bundesliga supporters, so have taken the decision to archly lean into the villain arc; a similar advertising campaign was employed in Munich ahead of their opening day visit there, joking of “finally a simple red and white jersey” being in town after some Bayern fans’ complaints about the champions’ latest kit.
That Dortmund and Leipzig are aiming at the same sort of level only adds to the needle, even if it is not the motivation behind it. Bayern’s early season fettle has only accentuated this feeling, and seeing Luis Díaz outshine even Harry Kane this weekend, with Serge Gnabry’s resurgent form making light of the continued absence of Jamal Musiala, this weekend has been a reminder of the reality of where everyone is. Leipzig started brightly and caught BVB cold with a rehearsed dead ball routine, finished by Christoph Baumgartner but designed by set-piece coach Jan Zimmerman, fired from his role with Dortmund’s under-23s in spring. Looking a bit leggy from their midweek Champions League exertions the home side equalised through an aesthetically pleasing goal of their own, with Yan Couto putting the finishing touch to the move and though “it could have gone either way” in Baumgartner’s words, the draw felt about right.
If there was a statement witing to be made here, there was nobody with a loud enough voice to quite make it. Ridle Baku spoke of his team’s progress under Werner, arguing that his side had dug in and “played like real men, which we lacked a bit last year,” but it all felt like little steps in the right direction rather than laying down any sort of gauntlet. “We’re one of the best teams in the league,” Baku continued and there is little disputing that as stands, but there is also the feeling that it won’t quite be enough this year in terms of creating a genuine battle at the top.
This game perhaps underlined just why BVB are so improved under the tutelage of Kovač, but also why there may be absolute limits to what they can achieve with him at the helm. They rode out their weariness and Leipzig’s strong spells and, in the latter stages of the game, hinted that they could be ready to step forth and win the game, particularly with the timely introductions of Pascal Groß and Jobe Bellingham. But was the belief to make an increase a tempo into a victory, or just a hope that it would? Kovac’s Dortmund can be competitive, but there is a question over whether than can really be winners. As goalkeeper Gregor Kobel suggested, the trip to Bayern after the international break will tell us plenty.
Whether they, or Leipzig, should be winners is a different question. After several years of on and off-field turbulence, maybe BVB could do with a year of simple competence, of controlling a process of steady growth; the latter aim also being that of Leipzig. For teams and clubs that regard themselves as polar opposites, they spent this weekend doing a very good impression of being in the same boat.
Quick Guide Bundesliga results
Show
Hoffenheim 0-1 Cologne, Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3 Bayern Munich, Augsburg 3-1 Wolfsburg, Borussia Dortmund 1-1 RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 Union Berlin, Werder Bremen 1-0 St Pauli, Borussia Mönchengladbach 0-0 Freiburg, Hamburg 4-0 Mainz, Stuttgart 1-0 Heidenheim
Talking points
In terms of the title race it all seemed a little academic in the light of what came next in Frankfurt, where Bayern were dazzling. Eintracht had little luck, not least in the highly debatable decision by referee Daniel Siebert and his team to disallow a potential equaliser by Jean Mattéo Bahoya, but they didn’t help themselves either, with Robin Koch’s error paving the way for Díaz to give Bayern the lead after 15 seconds. Coming days after the 5-1 thrashing at Atlético, it capped a week that has made clear just what the standards are now. “We need a different edge to us,” said sporting director Markus Krösche, “or we will be punished mercilessly.”
after newsletter promotion
Bayer Leverkusen go into the international break in fifth place, which is a decent enough spot given the upheaval thus far, and there was plenty to be taken from the 2-0 win over Union Berlin. Not just goals for Ernest Poku and teenager Christian Kofane (following a first Champions League goal with a first in the Bundesliga) but in the team’s collective work out of possession, vital against a team like Union and personified by Malik Tillman.
Up the road and just a point behind are FC Köln, given another single goal away win, this time at Hoffenheim, by a fine goal by their teenage star Said El Mala on his first start. “Said is a good boy,” said coach Lukas Kwasniok, “a street footballer who simply has God-given gifts, pace and dribbling,” while urging caution given all the excitement surrounding him. Good luck to him with dampening the hype. Köln’s ten points so far, good enough for sixth, represents the best start by a promoted side in eight years.
Fellow promoteds Hamburg also had a huge result, surprisingly hammering Mainz 4-0 after a week in which they lost standouts Warmed Omari and Fábio Vieira to injury, while young forwards also shone in Augsburg, with 18-year-old American Noahkai Banks and Mert Kömür (20) both on the mark in their much-needed 3-1 win over Wolfsburg, ending a run of four straight losses for Sandro Wagner’s team. “This must continue to be our way,” emphasised Wagner after the game. “It was great fun. Two homegrown players rewarded themselves with goals and outstanding performances today, which shows our direction.”
