The second half of the season is already one matchday old as the teams are preparing for midweek games this week. On Tuesday (20:00 CET), the teams will kick-off matchday 19, with a high quality game expected between leaders Bayern München and Schalke 04.
Bayern have not only had to deal with their first loss of the season but the fact that they were thrashed 4-1 by second placed VfL Wolfsburg. The Champions will want to hit back after four days of licking their wounds but manager Pep Guardiola is demanding that his team remain humble more than ever. “If we understand that we could lose on Tuesday too then we’re on the right track,” said the Spaniard.
Huntelaar missing after red card
But Schalke 04’s start to 2015 was a lot more positive, even if it included a piece of bad news. They beat Hannover 1-0 at home, but paid the price as striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was unnecessarily sent off. He will be a key loss in their fight for Champions League football next season. Schalke’s last four visits to the Allianz Arena have resulted in four defeats, with a goal ratio of 2:15, but will be hoping for a change in fortunes after winning their last two away games in the Bundesliga.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Bayern’s conquerors, VfL Wolfsburg, will be hoping to build on their perfect start to the second half of the season away at Eintracht Frankfurt, who surprisingly lost on matchday 18 at SC Freiburg. Freiburg, who moved up to 14th thanks to their 4-1 win, will travel to BORUSSIA-PARK to face third placed Borussia Mönchengladbach, who will be looking to maintain their place in the Champions League places. The final game on Tuesday evening will be between Hannover 96 and 1. FSV Mainz 05. Mainz will arrive at HDI Arena full of confidence after convincingly beating SC Paderborn 5-0 on Saturday, but a win shouldn’t come easily against a Hannover side who are strong at home and will be looking to bounce back from their narrow defeat to Schalke.
The action will then continue on Wednesday (20:00 CET) as the other ten teams will battle it out for vital Bundesliga points. Perhaps the most significant game of matchday 19 will be at the Signal Iduna Park, as bottom of the table Borussia Dortmund host in-form FC Augsburg. Dortmund, who had a surprisingly bad first half to their season, picked up an important point on the road against Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, but should be in for another tough game against an Augsburg side that currently occupies one of the Europa League places. 1. FC Köln are unbeaten in Stuttgart since 1996 and will be looking to take that record into their home game against VfB on Wednesday in the Cathedral city. The teams had contrasting fortunes on matchday 18, with Köln winning 2-0 away at Hamburger SV, whilst second bottom Stuttgart lost 1-0 away at Mönchengladbach.
SV Werder Bremen were arguably the biggest winners at the weekend, not in terms of scoreline but in terms of movement up the table. Viktor Skripnik’s side deservedly beat Hertha BSC 2-0 and rose to 12th in the Bundesliga table. They will travel to Hoffenheim, who lost 3-1 to Augsburg last time out, so therefore we should be in for a cracker at the WIRSOL Rhein-Neckar-Arena. The other two games to be played on Wednesday will be between SC Paderborn and Hamburger SV and Hertha BSC against Bayer Leverkusen.