THE BUNDESLIGA PREVIEW SHOW - MATCHDAY 32
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.
Headlines
Coming up on this week's show...
The title may be in the bag but nothing else is yet in the Bundesliga, at either end. The Preview Show this week turns the focus firmly on the battle for European prizes at one end – most specifically in the form of the mouth- watering face-off between direct Champions League rivals Mönchengladbach and Leverkusen – and the existential struggle at the other. We also spend time with a departing Dortmund legend, who's not Jürgen Klopp, and Hertha's Hungarian homeboy, while Köln's Japanese duo take to the water.
Japanese One-Two
A goalless draw at FC Augsburg took 1. FC Köln another precious point closer to retaining their top-flight status a year after returning as Bundesliga 2 champions. Like the club as a whole, Japanese forward Yuya Osako has been looking increasingly in his element at the higher level over the course of the campaign. With a satisfactory season ending for all concerned in sight, Osako and his compatriot and clubmate Kazuki Nagasawa enjoyed a bit of well-earned down-time, getting a different angle on their Cologne home-from- home with an excursion on the Rhine.
Farewell
After twelve-and-a-half years on the books at Borussia Dortmund, Sebastian Kehl is calling it a day. A three-time league champion with die Schwarz- Gelben and their long-time captain, until passing the armband on to Mats Hummels this season, Kehl has battled back time and again from career- threatening injuries. He also experienced many another mid-naughties on- and off-field low with the then-troubled Bundesliga giant, before Jürgen Klopp began moving things in the right direction again from 2008 onwards. With the coach also set to take his leave of BVB this summer, the 35-year-old midfield stalwart would love nothing better than to seal Klopp's tenure, and his own distinguished career, with one final title in Berlin.
A Closer Look
The Matchday 32 meeting of Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer 04 Leverkusen could go a long way to resolving who gets one of those coveted Champions League group phase tickets. Two points separate the third-place Foals from their visiting pursuers going into Saturday's contest of the division's most in-form sides right now. Gladbach have lost just once this year while Leverkusen have won eight of their last nine games, including a 2-0 victory over Bayern last time out. Oliver Neuville spent five years on the books at Bayer, followed by six in Mönchengladbach, coincidentally bagging 42 league goals for both clubs. As such, he seems like the ideal person to quiz on this top-end six-pointer.
All this, and much, much more on this week's edition of the Bundesliga Preview Show
