Bundesliga: RB Leipzig win yet again beating Darmstadt 2-0 to stay second and sit two points behind Bayern Munich who dispatched Augsburg 3-1 away from home
Borussia Dortmund and Schalke played out a 0-0 draw in an uninspiring first Revierderby of the season as both sides continue to struggle in the Bundesliga
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FORMER Nottingham Forrest winger Oliver Burke continues to settle in well at RB Leipzig coming off the bench to set up the second in a 2-0 win over Darmstadt.
Although the Scottish international has been used sparingly by Ralph Hasenhüttl this season he has played his part in a comprehensive and dynamic gang of young forwards that have scored 17 goals in nine games.
The win also kept the promoted side undefeated and second in the table, just two points behind Bayern.
The ever-changing landscape of the German Bundesliga was clear for all to see this weekend when Borussia Dortmund and Schalke met in the first Revierderby of the season on Saturday evening.
Considered by most to be the fiercest derby in the German top division, both sides met with clear intent on disrupting their local rival’s current campaign.
Yet where Dortmund may have considered themselves strong favourites for such a tie a few months ago, current form suggested that their Royal Blue opponents were in fact more likely to take something from the game.
Indeed, it was the clever tactics of Markus Weinzierl that saw Schalke get the better of an injury-stricken Dortmund team in the first half only to then cement their defensive standing and see out a goalless game and take a point.
Although the match may have lacked the goals and entertainment of a typical Bundesliga tie, it did well to show where both Ruhr teams currently stand.
Schalke may still sit twelfth and Dortmund sixth, but its Thomas Tuchel’s team that has just one win in their last five and look concerningly short in personnel and fortune.
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Meanwhile in Bavaria Bayern Munich kept things ticking along by picking up all three points in a 3-1 win over Augsburg to mirror an identical result against the Bunedsliga side in the DFB Pokal just three days before.
In what was a truly routine win for the German champions the only notable tale from the game came from someone who in fact wasn’t playing: Thomas Müller.
Indeed, the German forward was emitted from Carlo Ancelotti’s side for a second week running as the Italian coach instead opted for traditional wingers in Arjen Robben and Douglas Costa.
Is Müller still a starter under the new Bayern coach?
It seems less and less likely as the season tumbles on.
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Elsewhere, Hoffenheim kept their own undefeated run intact with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin on Sunday. Although Sandro Wagner & Co. should have perhaps scored another two or three, their coach Julian Nagelsmann surely won’t mind.
As the youngest coach in Bundesliga history, the 29-year- old’s meteoric rise continues without fault with another win to see his team move in to third in the table.
It won’t be long before bigger clubs from Germany and England begin to sniff around for not only the club’s towering forward but the man on the sidelines too.
Fellow dark horses FC Köln also kept up their end of the deal too, with a 3-0 win over troubled Hamburg.
To no great surprise it was towering striker Anthony Modeste who came to the home side’s rescue after a dismal first half with three goals.
The French striker now has 19 Bundesliga goals in 2016 putting him behind only Robert Lewandowski in that particular chart.
RESULTS
Gladbach 0-0 Frankfurt
Wolfsburg 1-2 Leverkusen
Werder Bremen 1-3 Freiburg
Mainz 2-0 Ingolstadt
Darmstadt 0-2 RB Leipzig
Augsburg 1-3 Bayern Munich
Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Schalke
Hoffenheim 1-0 Hertha Berlin
FC Köln 3-0 Hamburg