If the opening two rounds of Bundesliga matches have whetted the appetite just a little, there is plenty more on its way over the coming week to ensure the fans’ appetite for more is satisfied.
With eight-goal thrillers, twists, turns and comebacks dominating the landscape over the opening two matchdays, Bundesliga fans will be delighted to hear that, just a few days after Matchday 3, there will be a second serving of German top-flight action in midweek: The first Englische Woche of the campaign is on the agenda, with all-you-can eat Bundesliga football set to tantalise those tastebuds.
First, a quick recap: FC Bayern München have hit the ground running in true record champions style with two wins from two, Robert Lewandowski has resumed his goal-getting habits with four of their eight goals and Manuel Neuer has yet to concede a goal.
Photo Credit: Bundesliga
Lewandowski is not alone at the top of the goalscoring charts, however, with Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s Joel Pohjanpalo providing company thanks to his Matchday 2 hat-trick: with four goals in his first 30 minutes of Bundesliga football, that is quite a start to life in the top flight for the Finn, who is not the only arrival from Bundesliga 2 to have settled in swiftly to his new surroundings.
Pohjanpalo has certainly cut a good figure in a Leverkusen shirt, even if he has only donned it for half an hour thus far. He can expect a greater slice of the action when Leverkusen travel to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, with eyes also trained on the Mexican adversaries Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez and Marco Fabian. Chicharito made his first start of the season in the 3-1 win over Hamburg and the 28-year-old warmed up well with an assist for the prolific Finn in what has the makings of a dream partnership for Die Werkself.
USMNT international Bobby Wood has netted in both of Hamburger SV’s opening matches, while Mark Uth and Pablo de Blasis both scored twice on Matchday 2. With such a stall set out, the next week can be nothing but exciting, so sit back and relish the mouth-watering action coming up.
Photo Credit: Bundesliga
Moving on to midweek, Andre Schürrle will make a swift return to his former club as Borussia Dortmund pay VfL Wolfsburg a visit, eager to pick up the pace again immediately after their Matchday 2 defeat to RB Leipzig. Picking up points is also the priority for Schalke, who have yet to register any under Markus Weinzierl.
The Royal Blues travel travel to second-placed Hertha Berlin on Sunday keen to avoid a third successive defeat. Three days later, Weinzierl’s side have an equally challenging encounter against a 1. FC Köln side who have underlined already how hard they are to crack with an efficient four points: fruit of just two goals scored and none conceded.
All the while, millions will be descending on the Bavarian city of Munich over the coming weeks, with the world famous Oktoberfest beer festival opening its gates only hours before the Allianz Arena fills up for Bayern’s clash with FC Ingolstadt 04. If just one home game during the Oktoberfest were not enough, Carlo Ancelotti’s men host their current closest challengers Hertha Berlin just four days later.
Photo Credit: Bundesliga
With such a strong record during the festivities, where on average over 6.5 million litres of beer, 112 oxen and 48 calves are consumed, Bayern will be looking to pay their traditional annual visit to the ‘Wiesn’ with two more wins and six further points in the bank.
The action is therefore set to continue apace, and it will not be bite-size either. A substantial double dose of Bundesliga action should fill a small hole – for the time being at least.
