Bundesliga Team of the Week: Matchday 16
A midweek dose of Bundesliga action brought no shortage of goals and drama on Matchday 16 as Robert Lewandowski continued to rewrite the Bundesliga record books, Timothy Chandler made a match-winning return for Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund got their first win since September under new boss Peter Stöger. Find out who made it into this week’s Official Fantasy Team of the Week below!
Goalkeeper
Alexander Schwolow (Freiburg, 12 points)
The 25-year-old shot-stopper did exactly what it says on the tin against Borussia Mönchengladbach as he, well, stopped shots from a potent Gladbach attack of Lars Stindl, Thorgan Hazard, Raffael and former teammate Vincenzo Grifo. All four efforts on his goal were repelled as he kept his fifth clean sheet of the season in a narrow 1-0 win which saw Christian Streich’s charges rocket up 13th place.
Defenders
Timothy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt, 14 points)
Having been an ever-present for Frankfurt before his knee injury against Dortmund in October, the USA international returned with a bang against Hamburg. If playing the full 90 minutes after 53 days out wasn’t challenging enough, the Eintracht man actually provided the assists for both goals at the Volksparkstadion. It’s the first time in his 178 Bundesliga appearances that he’s bagged a brace of assists as the Eagles soared to the top of the league’s away table ahead of Bayern.
Watch: Chandler: “We fight together!”
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Peter Pekarik (Hertha Berlin, 13 points)
The Slovakia international has been a bit-part player so far this season, but captained the Old Lady against Hannover. He led by example and helped set the capital club on their way to victory with an assist for Salomon Kalou’s opener. The skipper then set about ensuring things remained tight at the back, winning ten of the 11 challenges he contested.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund, 15 points)
The Greek colossus seems to enjoy games involving Peter Stöger as the 29-year-old got the Stöger era at BVB underway with his second-half goal. It was his second strike of the season. Who did the first come against? Stöger’s Cologne on Matchday 4. The centre-back didn’t neglect his day job either as he ensured the perfect debut night under the new Dortmund boss with the club’s first clean sheet since September.
Pavel Kaderabek (Hoffenheim, 14 points)
The Czech international rounds off a good week for full-backs on Matchday 16. The third to feature in this team, the Hoffenheim defender notched up his first assist of the campaign to set up Mark Uth’s late winner in the derby over Stuttgart. Add to that the four efforts he had on goal himself (more than anyone on the pitch) and a sixth clean sheet of the campaign for Julian Nagelsmann’s side, it all means a job well done from the 25-year-old.
Midfielders
Karim Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen, 12 points)
Lucas Alario stole the headlines with the match-winning goal, but Bellarabi was a constant menace for the Werder Bremen defence as Leverkusen extended their unbeaten record to 11 games in a row. The scorer of the Bundesliga’s quickest and 50,000th goal had as many efforts on goal as the entire Werder team (6), as well as winning 15 challenges for some extra Fantasy points.
Caiuby (Augsburg, 12 points)
The Fantasy points machine was at it again on Matchday 16 (only Robert Lewandowski has more to his name this season). The Brazilian’s strike in the 3-2 defeat at Schalke was his second in as many games and puts him on four for the campaign, equalling his Bundesliga best from 2015/16.
Salomon Kalou (Hertha Berlin, 18 points)
This Matchday’s top points scorer, the Ivorian scored his first brace in over a year as he put the Old Lady two ahead at half-time against Hannover. The 32-year-old didn’t let up there though as he continued to push for more in the 3-1 victory with four efforts on goal – more than any other Hertha player.
Watch: Kalou does his talking on the pitch!
Forwards
Nils Petersen (Freiburg, 13 points)
The Bundesliga’s highest-scoring substitute has also proven he can do it from the start in recent weeks. Five goals in the last four games, including three penalties in a row, have brought Freiburg back-to-back wins for the first time this season. Only once has Petersen bettered his total of six goals from the first half of this season (7 for Bremen in 2012/13).
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, 13 points)
The goals keep on coming for the man currently leading the scoring chart this season. Not only was his 15th goal of this Bundesliga campaign the match-winner against a stubborn Cologne defence, it means he’s scored in all eight home Bundesliga games this season (a league record) and also took the Poland international onto 166 Bundesliga goals in total. That moves him into the all-time top ten alongside former Cologne man Hannes Löhr – his status as a Bundesliga legend surely secured?
Ihlas Bebou (Hannover, 12 points)
He may have been on the losing side in Berlin, but Bebou never gave up the fight for promoted Hannover. He netted his fourth Bundesliga goal of the season to reduce the arrears to 2-1 in the second half and looked to bring his side level with his six efforts on goal, but to no avail in the end.