Bundesliga Preview Show - Matchday 24
Cologne - The Bundesliga Preview Show is the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga's weekly TV programme, offering a global audience a unique perspective on Germany's top flight throughout the season. We have in-depth previews of the upcoming league action, exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes reports, the best goals from the latest league encounters and much more besides.
Bayern Report
Coming up on the Bundesliga Preview Show this week...
Having hit Hamburger SV and SC Paderborn for eight and six respectively, FC Bayern München marked their 115th anniversary on Saturday with an ultimately comfortable 4-1 home victory over 1. FC Köln to take their three-game goals tally up to 18, a pretty spectacular return even by their own exacting standards.
Arjen Robben hit the net yet again to remain out in front at the top of the individual scoring chart on 17 while Robert Lewandowski, also on target against the Billy Goats, is quietly working his way up the rankings as well. The Polish centre-forward has bagged four goals in the last three games and eleven all-told so far in his debut season in Munich, which appears to be heading inexorably towards another double-quick-time title wrap for the record champs.
BVB Report
The victory continued the momentum that Dortmund are building since beginning 2015 with a hugely disappointing home defeat to FC Augsburg. They have now recorded four league wins on the spin and, looking much more like their usual selves, the Schwarz-Gelben are up to tenth in the standings, just eight points shy of the UEFA Champions League qualifying slot. A top-four place is suddenly looking a much more feasible target than it did a few short weeks ago.
Next up, however, is a trip to a side who, their own struggles notwithstanding, have caused BVB more than their share of headaches in recent years - Hamburger SV. By stretching that current winning streak to five, Jürgen Klopp's charges can go a long way towards shelving the notion that Hamburg are becoming something of a bogey team for them.
Rising Stars
The Bundesliga young gun in the spotlight this week is 19-year old Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Marc Stendera. A shade under 17 years and four months old when he made his Bundesliga debut for the Eagles (in a 1-0 home loss to Bayern), Stendera is now a key creative component of Thomas Schaaf's team.
A member of Germany's European championship-winning U-19 side last summer, despite having missed almost the entire 2013/14 season with a cruciate ligament injury, the skilful attacking talent is now making up for lost time and well on the way to joining the latest ranks of Bundesliga breakthrough stars.
All this, and much, much more on this week's edition of the Bundesliga Preview Show
