Bundesliga Matchday 33 Preview: The penultimate week

Well, that was something! But enough about last week. Bayern inched closer to the title, FC Köln will rejoin the top flight next season, and nobody evidently wants to finish fourth even though there’s no qualifying round to go through in next season’s Champions League for that spot. Welcome to Matchday 33 and the penultimate week of the season.

All games apart from one kickoff simultaneously at 8:30am CT. Because of Frankfurt’s participation in the Europa League (that came to an end on Thursday), they will take on Mainz on Sunday at 11am CT.

TITLE RACE:

Bayern Munich (74 points, +52 GD)
Borussia Dortmund (70, +34)

FROZEN

RB Leipzig (65, +35)

Leipzig’s 3-3 draw with Mainz last week officially ended their title hopes, but they can extend the title race to the final day if they deny victory to Bayern and Dortmund defeat Fortuna Dusseldorf. Bayern’s Franck Ribery, who is leaving the club at the end of the season, is looking for his record ninth Bundesliga title.

BVB essentially have to win and hope Leipzig can do them a favour at Red Bull Arena (in Leipzig). Their inferior goal difference won’t allow them a draw. Marco Reus is still suspended and Jadon Sancho is a doubt. Fortuna have taken four points from their last three matches despite nothing to play for in tenth.

BATTLE FOR EUROPE:

Eintracht Frankfurt (54, +18)
Bayer Leverkusen (54, +13)
Borussia Mönchengladbach (52, +8)
VfL Wolfsburg (52, +8)
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (51, +21)
Werder Bremen (47, +7)

Frankfurt will know what they need to clinch fourth after Saturday’s matches. This will now be their only way to the Champions League after falling to Chelsea on penalties on Thursday. Bayer Leverkusen caught up with them on points after Die Werkself thrashed the Eagles, 6-1, last week. Mainz will not be an easy proposition as they came from 2-0 and 3-1 down to get a 3-3 draw against Leipzig.

Peter Bosz should get coach of the year consideration from turning a dormant Werkself in ninth at the break to Champions League contention in the Ruckrunde with 30 out of a possible 45 points taken. They will take on a Schalke team who secured safety last week against Augsburg.

Gladbach need a win at Nürnberg (more on them later) to stay in Champions League contention as does Wolfsburg who are at Stuttgart (more on them later) or at least match the results Frankfurt and Leverkusen get this weekend. The same holds true for Hoffenheim as they host a Werder Bremen team who need the win to keep their Europa League hopes alive. The Green-Whites also need at least one of Gladbach or Wolfsburg not to win.

SAFE AND SOUND:

Fortuna Dusseldorf (41, -16)
Hertha Berlin (40, -5)
Mainz 05 (37, -15)
SC Freiburg (33, -16)
FC Augsburg (32, -12)
FC Schalke (31, -18)

BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL

VfB Stuttgart (24, -41)
FC Nürnberg (19, -34)
Hannover 96 (18, -42)

Stuttgart can assure themselves a place in the relegation playoff with a win or if both Nürnberg and Hannover fail to win. A draw for Stuttgart relegates Hannover. A loss for Stuttgart to Wolfsburg and a win for either Nürnberg or Hannover would take the race to avoid the automatic drop to the final day.

BATTLE FOR PROMOTION:

FC Köln (62, +39) (promoted)
SC Paderborn (54, +25)
FC Union Berlin (53, +18)
Hamburg SV (53, +3)
FC Heidenheim 1846 (49, +7)
FC St. Pauli (48, -6)

The top two in the Zweite will go up automatically while the third place team will enter a playoff against the team third from bottom in the top flight which is a home-and-home encounter.

FC Köln clinched promotion and the Bundesliga 2 title after victory at Fürth and the six teams directly below them all lost. SC Paderborn host Hamburg in the match on Sunday. The former will gain automatic promotion with a win and if Union falls to relegation-threatened FC Mädgeburg. The latter’s hopes of automatic promotion would be over if they lose, but are still in strong contention for the playoff against 16th place in the top flight.

Heidenheim and St. Pauli can only hope to get into the playoff and need both Union and Hamburg to lose and essentially need to win themselves. Heidenheim is away to bottom-side Duisburg who are trying to avoid the drop into 3. Liga while St. Pauli host Bochum.

FIXTURE LISTS (All matches Saturday at 8:30am CT):

BUNDESLIGA:

Saturday, May 11th:

RB Leipzig vs. Bayern Munich

Borussia Dortmund vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf

VfB Stuttgart vs. VfL Wolfsburg

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Schalke

Hoffenheim vs. Werder Bremen

FC Augsburg vs. Hertha Berlin

Hannover 96 vs. SC Freiburg

FC Nürnberg vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach

Sunday, May 12th: