The top five talking points from Bundesliga Matchday 23
Matchday 23 was not one for the faint-hearted with goals going in at a rate of knots, and plenty of twists and turns in the process.
Goals, goals, goals!
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Borussia Dortmund's thumping 6-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen was one of three games with six or more goals. Hoffenheim's clash with Ingolstadt saw just one goal fewer, with Julian Nagelsmann's men keeping up their charge for European football with a 5-2 win, while Borussia Mönchengladbach kept their recent revival going with a 4-2 win over Schalke. The weekend started with a bang as Augsburg and RB Leipzig shared four goals, while Bayern Munich's three in Cologne contributed to a record Matchday for the current season with a total of 36 goals.
Watch: Christian Pulisic delighted to be on the scoresheet in Dortmund's 6-2 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen.
Bundesliga's USA stars shine
Speaking of goals, it has already been a record season for players from the USA plying their trade in the Bundesliga. Fabian Johnson's brace for Gladbach took him to three for the season, in the company of Christian Pulisic. The BVB starlet is now officially enjoying his most prolific campaign in Germany and is just five goals shy of becoming only the second player in Bundesliga history to reach the 10-goal mark before his 19th birthday. Hamburg's Bobby Wood leads the way with four goals with Terrence Boyd, Aron Johannsson and Alfredo Morales the other sharp-eyed stars-and-stripes contributors to 13 goals – one more than in 2015/16.
Watch: Fabian Johnson on becoming a father and his man of the match performance against Schalke
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Leverkusen on the head coach hunt
Head coach Roger Schmidt claimed it was "a step in the right direction", but the 6-2 humbling at the hands of Dortmund proved to be a step too far for Leverkusen's patience as the club parted ways with the 49-year-old. Die Werkself now find themselves 11-points adrift of the top four meaning their chances of qualifying for the UEFA Champions for a fifth straight season are slim at best. The key for Bayer now is to make their next move, their best move as they look to rescue a campaign riddled with turmoil both on and off the pitch.
Aubameyang races to Dortmund record
Borussia Dortmund appear to have picked up the pace in a timely manner with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang blazing a trail in their 6-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen. We already knew that the Gabon international was fast, but he became the quickest Dortmund player ever to reach 75 Bundesliga goals with his brace against Die Werkself. He owes a debt of gratitude to Ousmane Dembele, who has set-up seven of his 21 goals this season - the most prolific make-and-take partnership in Germany's top flight. The 19-year-old French winger continued an outstanding debut season in the Bundesliga with his sixth goal and ninth assist, almost making the news Marco Reus faces four weeks on the sidelines slip off the radar as a crucial Champions League fixture with Benfica moves into view on the horizon.
Hasebe breaks long-standing Bundesliga record
A Bundesliga champion with Wolfsburg back in 2009, Makoto Hasebe has always been one of the first names on Bundesliga fans' lips when discussing the Japanese contingent in Germany's top flight. On Matchday 23, the 33-year-old etched his name even deeper into the history books by breaking Yasuhiko Okudera's record for most Bundesliga appearances made by a Japanese player which dates back to 1986. Captain of the Japan national team, Hasebe has been referred to as the glue that has held Frankfurt together in the current campaign and, while the Eagles' results have tailed off of late, this season will still go down as one of the veterans' most impressive yet.
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