4 DAYS AGO - A big European win and a disappointing domestic draw this week sums up Dortmund, who remain in an identity crisisOn a night like Tuesday, Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park really is every bit as special as they say, maybe even more so. It is a formidable tidal wave of unfettered emotion, impossible to fairly explain if you aren’t in it and futile to resist if you are.After the drunken revelry of that Champions League win over Atlético Madrid a reality check might have been needed, and my goodness this was it. True, they came close to being the first team to beat Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga this season, but Josip Stanisic’s header in the seventh minute of stoppage time salvaging a draw for the newly-crowned champions, with Xabi Alonso releasing his inner Mourinho to charge down the touchline and join the bundle in front of the celebrating away fans. Continue reading... Collapse

16/04/2024 - Club say midfielder went home after being left out of team ‘We won’t tolerate Naby’s behaviour,’ says head of footballWerder Bremen have suspended Naby Keïta for the rest of the season and imposed a “substantial” fine after accusing him of walking out of Sunday’s Bundesliga fixture with Bayer Leverkusen.The 29-year-old former Liverpool midfielder did not feature in a 5-0 defeat at the BayArena, with his club saying he had chosen “not to travel to the ground with the team and decided to go home instead” after discovering he was not in the starting lineup. Continue reading... Collapse

14/04/2024 - The seats began to empty with around 10 minutes remaining. First a few, then in their dozens, and then in their hundreds and thousands: Bayer Leverkusen fans pouring down the steps, massing behind the advertising hoardings, separated from the pitch only by a thin yellow string of ­stewards. Waiting for their time. Waiting for the moment when they could no longer be held back.“Ihr werdet nie deutscher Meister!” rival fans always used to sing as a taunt to their Leverkusen counterparts. You will never be German champions! Over the long years of no, the long years of nearly, the five runners-up finishes, the six third places, the splutters and the collapses, perhaps even Leverkusen fans began to believe it too. Now, as the minutes ticked away, and with a delicious irony, they sang those same words to themselves: a requiem to the old Bayer 04 being buried, a hymn to the new one being born. Continue reading... Collapse

13/04/2024 - Tuchel’s side win 2-0 but lose Coman for Arsenal gameJuventus out of Serie A title race after draw with TorinoBayern Munich struck twice in the second half to earn a 2-0 win over Cologne and bounce back from two straight league losses, delaying Bayer Leverkusen the title for 24 hours at least. Xabi Alonso’s side are 13 points ahead and poised to wrap up their first championship with a win over Werder Bremen on Sunday.Bayern’s only hope of silverware this season rests with the Champions League and they host Arsenal on Wednesday in their quarter-final second leg, after the 2-2 draw in London last Tuesday. They suffered a serious injury blow against Cologne, however, with the winger Kingsley Coman taken off in the 50th minute and ruled out for several weeks with an adductor muscle injury. Continue reading... Collapse

03/04/2024 - Saarbrücken lose 2-0 to local rivals in DFB-Pokal semi-finalKaiserslautern to play Leverkusen or Düsseldorf in finalLowly Saarbrücken’s giant-killing run in the DFB-Pokal, which had accounted for the likes of Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt, was finally brought to an end by Kaiserslautern in the semi-finals of the German cup competition.The exploits of the third-tier club from the town on the French border had become one of the stories of the season after a stunning second-round victory over Bayern was followed by wins over Eintracht in the last 16 and Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final eight. Continue reading... Collapse

17/03/2024 - Xabi Alonso’s side reopen 10-point gap over Bayern with 3-2 winJuan Jesus earns Napoli point; Kylian Mbappé hits PSG hat-trickBayer Leverkusen held on to win 3-2 at Freiburg to reopen their 10-point lead over Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga table.Florian Wirtz put the visitors, who are unbeaten across all competitions this season, in front after two minutes with a scintillating solo run but Ritsu Doan’s clever shot in the 10th minute drew Freiburg level. Continue reading... Collapse

09/03/2024 - Bayern Munich demolish Mainz 8-1 to cut gap at the topAtlético Madrid beaten by relegation-threatened CádizHarry Kane scored a hat-trick in Bayern Munich’s 8-1 demolition of Mainz on Saturday to set a Bundesliga record as the champions cut the gap on leaders Bayer Leverkusen to seven points.Kane opened his account in 13th minute, tapping in from close range as Bayern looked to end a run of one win in their last four league games. They added another through Leon Goretzka after Kane’s effort bounced off the post seven minutes later. Continue reading... Collapse

02/03/2024 - Vinícius scores twice as Real battle back from 2-0 downBorussia Dortmund stay fourth in Bundesliga after winJude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle having been denied a late winner in Real Madrid’s 2-2 draw at Valencia.The England midfielder, making his return from injury, thought he had headed home a cross deep into stoppage time at the Mestalla but the referee had already blown for full time. Real players surrounded the official in a chaotic aftermath and Bellingham was shown the red card for protesting before the players left the field. Continue reading... Collapse

26/02/2024 - The low-budget charms of Frank Schmidt’s team have been one of the surprise packages of the Bundesliga seasonAt the place where most of German football’s recent fairytales have been made, another one continued. Union Berlin’s role in the newest edition of the Bundesliga storybook has changed, however. The upstarts who do things their own way have not only had to get used to Champions League nights and signing international players but, far too often, to receiving the sort of bloodied noses that they used to give out in the not-too-distant past.This season’s rub-your-eyes-and-you-still-won’t-believe-it team of German football are Heidenheim, though even they had to bow to the enduring power of Köpenick after what was a “very, very intense” Saturday afternoon as described by their captain, Patrick Mainka. “This stadium is crazy,” he said of the Alten Försterei. “Everything is against you.” On top of that, his team conceded two goals in double quick time at the end of the first half to Collapse