Bayern defeat Mainz, but Leverkusen keep title race alive
Bayern Munich defeated Mainz 3-0 on Saturday, but the Bundesliga title race will go on as defending champions Bayer Leverkusen won 2-0 against Augsburg.
Bayern had the first chance to wrap up their 34th national title - 33rd in the Bundesliga era - this weekend, but needed Leverkusen to drop points at home.
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The gap between the teams remained eight points with three games left and the Bavarians will now take the trophy next weekend if they avoid defeat at RB Leipzig.
Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, took advantage of Mainz's defeat and entered the European places with a 3-2 win in stoppage time at Hoffenheim.
Elsewhere, lowly Holstein Kiel claimed a sensational 4-3 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Freiburg defeated 10-man VfL Wolfsburg 1-0.
Later on Saturday, Eintracht Frankfurt host Leipzig.
Bayern's title party must wait
After winning 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles between 2013 and 2023, Bayern were dethroned last season by Leverkusen. They look set to reclaim the crown, but the title party will have to wait at least until next weekend.
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The Bavarians went ahead against Mainz through Leroy Sané in the 27th minute.
Things got a little clumsy in the box after Sané received a pass from Konrad Laimer, but he managed to dribble the defenders and find the net.
Michael Olise doubled their lead in the 39th, with a beautiful footwork to beat the defender before slotting the ball into the net.
Sané got close to a brace in the 62nd, but was denied by the post, before Eric Dier's header completed the win in the 84th.
Bayern icon Thomas Müller came on shortly before Dier's goal to make his 500th Bundesliga appearance. The 35-year-old is likely on his farewell tour in the league as his contract with Bayern expires this summer and he won't receive a new deal.
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Leverkusen won't go down without a fight
The defending champions showed that they will fight until the last moment when they took the lead against Augsburg in the 13th minute - when the Bayern v Mainz game was still 0-0.
In a lethal counter-attack, Nathan Tella received the ball from Florian Wirtz and served Patrik Schik, who smashed it home from outside the box.
Shortly before the break, a cleared ball was worked to Emiliano Buendia, who found a shooting angle to hit the far corner.
Augsburg were never a real threat as Leverkusen just controlled the game in the second half.
Dortmund claim dramatic win
Dortmund needed a stoppage-time goal from Waldemar Anton to take an important victory in the fight for the Champions League at Hoffenheim.
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The guests went ahead in the 20th minute after a lengthy video review confirmed Serhou Guirassy's goal, but the forward had a penalty saved by Oliver Baumann in the 34th.
Adam Hlozek levelled for Hoffenheim in the 61st, but Dortmund retook the lead through Julian Brandt in the 74th.
The game was not over yet, as the hosts hit back and Pavel Kaderabek thought he had snatched at least a point for Hoffenheim in the first minute of stoppage-time.
But it was Anton who had the final word after receiving the ball from Guirassy.
Goalkeeper Baumann was injured as he tried to block Guirassy and Hoffenheim wanted the goal ruled out, but video review confirmed Dortmund's win.
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Drama also in Kiel
Relegated-threatened Kiel took a 2-0 lead against Gladbach in the first 23 minutes thanks to Shuto Machino and Alexander Bernhardsson.
Second-half goals from Tomas Cvancara and Alassane Plea equalized the score, before Kiel went again ahead in the 76th through Armin Gigovic.
Gladbach once more levelled as Franck Honorat found the net in the 86th, but Machino completed the hard-fought and crucial win for Kiel in stoppage time.
Kiel are still in the drop zone, but moved up to 17th and are three points from the play-off spot.
Munich's Thomas mueller celebrates after the German Bundsliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FSV Mainz 05 at Allianz Arena. Peter Kneffel/dpa
Munich's Kingsley Coman (L) and Mainz's Danny da Costa battle for the ball during the German Bundsliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FSV Mainz 05 at Allianz Arena. Peter Kneffel/dpa
Munich's Michael Olise, Harry Kane and Joshua Kimmich react during the German Bundsliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FSV Mainz 05 at Allianz Arena. Daniel Löb/dpa
Munich's Leroy Sane (L) and Mainz's Nadiem Amiri battle for the ball during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and FSV Mainz 05 at Allianz Arena. Peter Kneffel/dpa
Leverkusen's Emiliano Buendia celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and FC Augsburg at BayArena. Federico Gambarini/dpa
Leverkusen's Emiliano Buendia celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and FC Augsburg at BayArena. Federico Gambarini/dpa
Leverkusen's Emiliano Buendia celebrates scoring his side's second goal with his teammates during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer Leverkusen and FC Augsburg at BayArena. Federico Gambarini/dpa
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Premier League Soccer: Livestream Aston Villa vs. Newcastle From Anywhere
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And his star striker Alexander Isak's effort to force through a move to Liverpool means the Swedish international is unlikely to play for the Geordies again. Aston Villa takes on Newcastle United on Saturday, Aug. 16, at Villa Park in Birmingham, with kickoff set for 12:30 p.m. BST. That makes it a 7:30 p.m. ET or 4:30 a.m. PT start in the US and Canada, and a 9:30 p.m. AEST kickoff in Australia on Saturday morning. Anthony Elanga is set to make his first EPL appearance for Newcastle today following his $71 million move from Nottingham to watch Aston Villa vs. Newcastle in the US without cable This match at Villa Park will be broadcast on USA Network, which you can access as part of your cable package or at the NBC Sports website with a valid login. It can also be streamed via Sling TV and other, more expensive streaming TV services. 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Yahoo
4 hours ago
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Bundesliga 2025/26 Tactical Previews: Bayer 04 Leverkusen
The seventh installment of our 18 Bundesliga tactical previews to be released on Get German Football News happens to be the first section that actually incorporates a DFB-Pokal scout. From this point forward, the tactics of the Bundesliga teams in the opening round of the German domestic cup will be taken into account. Some squads require more examination. In the case of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, there really wasn't much of a choice. Training camp proved woefully insufficient to figure out what new trainer Erik ten Hag hopes to accomplish here. Leverkusen were able to win their first round tie against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach and analysis of the victory is incorporated below. Die Werkself are also the first team with top-four prospects that we'll be reviewing. The question as to whether Germany's red company team can hope to hold onto their Champions League status isn't really answered and can't hope to be answered for quite some time. If there's a conclusion to be drawn, however, one might say that Leverkusen aren't really as totally blown apart as one might assume. They can still contend. Bayer 04 Leverkusen This piece and subsequent ones will focus more on the specific players who demonstrate promise than covering the wholesale changes made over the course of the summer. As the sardonic tone of the first section makes evident, no one not living under a rock isn't aware that Leverkusen are engaged in a massive rebuilding project. We've little choice but to rush through that part of the template in order to get to the more interesting stuff. Major personnel shifts, Leverkusen Estimated Summer Transfer Balance = +€92.5m Phrew. Must we really? It takes decidedly less time to list the players who remained with Leverkusen than to spend precious energy discussing all who left. Moreover, there's still plenty of footballers who may be on the way out. Amine Adli (probably going) and Alejandro Grimaldo (probably staying) might yet change their minds. Piero Hincapie, Patrik Schick, Victor Boniface, Jonas Hofmann, Exequiel Palacios, Nathan Tella and Aleix Garcia can lodge transfer requests at any time. This is beyond ridiculous! Never before have any Bundesliga watchers witnessed a team get gutted so thoroughly. Perhaps it just suffices to say that the entire spine of this team is gone. Having lost their best attacker (Florian Wirtz), their best defender (Jonathan Tah), and their midfield talisman (Granit Xhaka), one simply needs to forget the nearly three seasons that constituted Xabi Alonso's tenure. No more Jeremie Frimpong or (former captain) Lukas Hradecky either. And the newcomers? Double phrew. We'll get to them in an extended versions of the sections below. What impression they make and how Erik ten Hag might make use of them Notes from camp, Leverkusen Ten Hag has done his level best to fashion something coherent out of this loose conflagration. There remains little positive to report from the company club's ill-fated 'foray in Rio'. The team performed much better in subsequent friendlies. The new Dutch trainer was said to prefer to build the team around a 4-3-3 formation, but found himself forced to try and keep some semblance of Xabi's 3-4-3 together in order to preserve squad cohesion. That's precisely what we saw in a 2-0 win over Bochum. It got the job done, albeit in pretty sloppy fashion. New defensive additions Jarell Quansah and Axel Tape impressed in a 2-1 win over Fortuna Sittard. Quansah even scored in his debut with his new club. Leverkusen's designated Florian Wirtz replacement Ibrahim Maza has his moments in space. The 3-4-3 looked coordinated on the press in the first half, steadily losing its shape as the subs began piling on in the second 45. Palacios, Robert Andrich, and intriguing new young attacking addition Christian Kofane scored in the next test fixture, a 3-0 win over Pisa. Grimaldo was very much the star-of-the-show in that one. Some readers may have had a chance to check out the final Chelsea friendly directly. New first choice keeper Mark Flekken proved the only bright spot in that 0-2 defeat. Ten Hag tried out some weird 3-4-1-2 formation (that ended up looking like a 5-2-2-1 most of the time in that one. Hopefully, we've seen the last of that travesty. As promised, we'll get to the Pokal performance in greater depth below. There was plenty of anxiety about this team's prospects after they officially broke camp, but many concerns were resolved. Winners from camp, Leverkusen Ibrahim Maza, ATTM Obviously, the Berlin native isn't Flo Wirtz. Watching him perform in the friendlies and later in the Pokal, however, one certainly can sense some similarities. The 19-year-old possesses a solid feel for the half-spaces on the second attacking axis and cuts fast inside the lanes. He's decent at drawing coverage with clever touches and sending the right kinds of balls through the channels. The German national team may very well have missed out on something special with this teenage talent. With Jamal Musiala out long-term, one wouldn't mind seeing him play alongside Wirtz behind the lead striker on the DFB selection. Robert Andrich, CM The newly appointed Leverkusen captain will have to truly step up his game in order to fill Granit Xhaka's boots. For whatever it's worth, the Potsdam-native has always had the bite about him in the midfield duels. Naturally, he lacks Xhaka's tackling finesse and remains more prone to silly mistakes. Ten Hag nevertheless made the absolute right move in handing Andrich the armband. The now 18-times-capped German international remains a popular figure amongst German footballing enthusiasts. He's a helluva player and he had a great camp. Christian Kofane, CF Victor Boniface may wish to rethink his commitment to the club after what Kofane has shown us. A splendid goal in the pre-season and a draw of a penalty in the Pokal. The 19-year-old looks set to remain on the roster for the forthcoming campaign. Ten Hag clearly likes Kofane better. So do some German football watchers. It now becomes quite apparent why this youngster's club made his transfer so difficult. One looks forward to several years of Bundesliga football from this young lad. Boniface is likely transfer-bait now. Jarell Quansah, CF German football watchers got a chance to 'double-scout' Quansah at both the UEFA U21 European Championships and Leverkusen's camp. At his new Bundesliga club, the 22-year-old has turned in strong performances both in the center of the back-three and the right-hand-side. Simply stated, he's damn good. Excellent field vision on long passes and exceptionally strong in the air. Difficult to figure out if he should anchor the back-three or work the right slant. Probably the latter, but it's close. Alejandro Grimaldo, LWB Well. Based on his performances in both the test fixtures and the Pokal, one can at least say for certain that Grimaldo still wants to be playing for this team. One shouldn't forget that the Spaniard's stated desire to move back to his homeland someday was listed as a 'long-term goal' anyway. Perhaps the most important holdover from the Xabi Era can potentially carry this team when they need it most. He appears prepared to shoulder his fair share of the burden for the defensive midfield work left by Xhaka's absence as well. Losers from camp, Leverkusen Jonas Hofmann, RW Yikes. One can surely expect still more grousing from the disaffected German international now that Ibrahim Maza has beaten him out for a starting spot. Augsburg certainly have no need for him anymore either. What happens with the 33-year-old now remains a mystery. One can't think of a top tier side that has any potential use for Hofmann. It's almost a sad thought to picture him knocking down the door of Borussia Park in a desperate attempt to get Gladbach to take him back. No one is home, Jonas! Malik Tillman, RW Injury precluded us from getting much of a look at the former Bayern man. In all honesty, a former writer of an 'Americans in the Bundesliga' deep-scout column isn't so sure he was ever enamored with Tillman. His older brother Timothy (formerly of SpVgg Greuther Fürth and now an LAFC man) was always the more feisty footballer in the family. Malik always had a shy, shaky feel about him. His successful foreign ventures have presumably helped him mature, but that absolutely hasn't been proven on the Bundesliga level yet. Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, RW Unseen. Unneeded. Ernest Poku's acquisition seals up the right flank. If Simon Rolfes and the B04 administrative team are intelligent about matters, they also won't (as has been rumored) loan out Brazilian wingback Arthur. This totally overhyped summer transfer, which took entirely too long, should end in the Germany U18 international getting parked somewhere on loan. That was the original plan. Hopefully, they'll send the kid someplace where he can earn minutes. Tactical Scout, Leverkusen The 2023/24 German double winners got the job done at the soggy and soppy WirMachenDruckArena in Großaspach. Note that they were aided by a 45-minute-hail interruption and two late red cards that reduced opponents SG Sonnenhof to nine men late. The last two late goals in the 4-0 victory came after the two late sendings off. The final goal also came from the penalty spot. Ten Hag's men actually played a rather poor first half and were somewhat lucky not to head into the locker room down 1-2. In many respects, the two teams played on a relatively even keel until the first 66th-minute sending off. Arthur made it 2-0 in the 74th. One should note that Grimaldo's battle with illness meant that the initial XI wasn't set up properly. Lineup—Leverkusen (DFB Pokal) Nathan Tella surely didn't appreciate not only having to serve as a wingback again, but this time doing so on the left. Adli also worked on his unnatural side, though he did pick up the assist on Patrik Schick's 1-0. At the break, Grimaldo relieved Adli, Maza switched to the right, and Tella moved up on the left. That worked okay. Großaspach still rattled their favored guests and broke up play far too easily. It nevertheless matters not at the end of the day as advancement was secured. Here's what will likely see in a weeks' time Lineup—Leverkusen (Projected) Leverkusen face a stern test in their Bundesliga opener against what appears to be a very strong TSG 1899 Hoffenheim squad in one of the Saturday 15:30s. Er, do note that Germans may be skipping Leverkusen-Hoffenheim as it isn't the most culturally significant of the early offerings. It could still be a great game….that almost no one in Germany will be watching. A tip? Probably a high-scoring draw. GGFN | Peter Weis
New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
How Barcelona play: Pedri's line-breaking passes, that offside trap and how will Rashford change things?
In his first year in charge, Hansi Flick turned a Barcelona side struggling to find their identity into the ultimate entertainers. Barca won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana and also reached the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in six years, scoring 174 goals across 60 matches. Advertisement Along with the intricate passing sequences they have traditionally been known for, the Catalans embraced directness and verticality, becoming one of Europe's best counter-attacking sides. Here, The Athletic break down how this Barcelona side play the game. A key component of Barcelona's style last season was their versatility from build-up situations. Flick's side used a 4-2-3-1 formation for most of the campaign, but were fluid on the pitch. Against Borussia Dortmund, who pressed them high in the Champions League quarter-finals, midfielder Frenkie de Jong dropped in between the centre-backs, with right-back Jules Kounde staying deep while left-back Alejandro Balde moved into midfield. Robert Lewandowski and Fermin Lopez provided longer passing options into midfield, while Lamine Yamal and Raphinha (not in frame) stayed high and wide. When the ball is moved up to midfield, the TV angle pans to show the large gaps between Barcelona's attack and midfield, and between the three forwards themselves. This is a trademark of Flick's setup, which looks to create large distances between players in build-up. That gives them freedom to move into different areas of the pitch, while forcing opponents to cover bigger spaces. When up against more organised defences that allowed them to bring the ball forward without pressure, Barcelona used players operating closer together in midfield. The example below, away to Atletico Madrid, sees them adopt a 3-4-2-1 shape, with Raphinha — nominally a left-winger but regularly featuring as a No 10 — and Dani Olmo operating between the lines. Pedri is pivotal to how Barca move the ball through the thirds. As the scatterplot below shows, few players were as involved in both getting the ball into the attacking third and in stringing moves together in that part of the pitch as the 22-year-old midfielder across La Liga, the Premier League, Germany's Bundesliga and Serie A. The Spaniard did so with a variety of line-breaking passes, including switches, lobs and through balls. The map below details his most common line-breaking passes, using data from SkillCorner. Balde is equally important to their system. No other full-back in the squad has the 21-year-old's explosiveness in possession, with his 4.7 carries of 10+ meters towards the opposition goal per 90 ranking second at his position in La Liga last season. A great example of how this translates to chance creation came in the 7-1 league win against Valencia. Balde receives the ball under pressure on the left and carries it past his defender, creating a transition-like situation. Barcelona eventually find Balde again out wide on the left. Raphinha makes a clever off-the-ball run to create space for Ferran Torres to convert Balde's cross. Raphinha's runs perfectly connected Yamal's creative potential with Lewandowski's striking instincts, resulting in several beautifully worked goals, despite the three forwards typically operating some distance away from each other. Their opener against Young Boys was a fine example of the kind of goals made possible by unselfish off-ball running. For UK readers… Barcelona pass rings around Young Boys as Robert Lewandowski scores at the back post 🤩 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 1, 2024 For U.S. readers… Robert Lewandowski finishes up a brilliant team move to put Barcelona in front 💥 — CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 1, 2024 That also makes them a significant threat in transition too, with Barcelona scoring 15 times last season from fast breaks (defined by Opta as an attempt created after the defensive team quickly turn defence into attack having won the ball back in their own half). Barcelona's calling card without the ball was their offside trap, which caught opponents out a staggering 181 times in the league, 62 more than any other team across La Liga, Serie A, the Premier League and Bundesliga. They added 82 more in the Champions League, more than double the next-best team for that metric (Aston Villa with 34). They used a high defensive line that moved in sync, with Barca's defenders constantly monitoring each other. Subtle moves, such as the one below by Inigo Martinez against Benfica, were crucial in trapping opponents. The peak came when Kylian Mbappe was flagged offside eight times in the first Clasico of the season in October. The intensity required and margins at play meant Barcelona needed to be incredibly precise. As the season progressed, fatigue and injuries set in and the personnel therefore changed, making their offside trap harder to keep up. In the Champions League semi-final, Inter repeatedly used switches to get their defence to shuffle from one side to the other before targeting runs in behind in the gaps that opened up. Advertisement Barca's high press fed into the issue, too. Flick's preferred set-up often saw the two wingers press the centre-backs and Lewandowski or Torres harry the goalkeeper, with the full-backs pushing up onto the opposition's wide defenders. But when teams were able to find their holding midfielders — often marked by Pedri or De Jong — Barcelona were often caught out. De Jong sometimes struggled to press at the right moment, an issue that continued in their 5-0 Joan Gamper Trophy friendly win against Como this month. In the example below, the Dutchman is slow to push up towards Nico Paz (No 79), resulting in Barca old boy Sergi Roberto (No 8) escaping the press and switching the ball to Ivan Azon in space on the left. Barcelona's approach relies on closing down players rather than spaces. If their press from the front fails, teams can scythe through them with few passes. Barca conceded nine goals last season from sequences that began in the opposition's half and involved between three and five passes, only behind Leicester City (11) across the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A. Flick is not strictly wedded to an all-out attacking approach, though, getting his team to drop into a compact shape when defending slender leads, as seen below in their 1-0 win against Benfica with 10 men. Barcelona scored 14 goals from corners in La Liga and the Champions League last season. Their corner routines often involved one runner moving towards the near post, two to the far one and three or four players starting runs at different points to arrive in the six-yard box. Two players stayed at the edge of the box for opportunities such as the one from which Raphinha forced a Yann Sommer own goal against Inter in the Champions League semi-final. Back-post headers were a consistent theme. Dortmund, Young Boys and Crvena Zvezda were all on the receiving end of goals scored from such headers into the six-yard box. Ronald Araujo scored with one against Atalanta, too. Advertisement But as with their attacking strategy, Barcelona also relied on winning the first contact to defend set pieces, which was difficult given the limited number of tall players in their squad. They conceded seven goals from corners across La Liga and the Champions League. Their structure while defending corners involved three players in and around the near-post zone, four man-markers in the centre, one at the back post and two out near the edge of the penalty box. Inter exploited Barca's physical disadvantages with Denzel Dumfries moving late from a zonal position into the centre of the box twice in the semi-final's first leg, scoring on both occasions. They were also guilty of lapses in concentration, with Araujo at fault for this goal scored by Real Betis' Natan… … and Kounde and Lewandowski failing to follow Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy in this example after Ramy Bensebaini outmuscled Gerard Martin. Joan Garcia appears to be an improvement in goal after signing this summer from local rivals Espanyol. He prevented 7.7 non-penalty goals — the highest in La Liga — last season for an Espanyol team who finished just two points above the relegation zone. In contrast, Wojciech Szczesny prevented 0.2 goals for Barca, and team-mate Inaki Pena conceded one more than expected. Garcia has tremendous reflexes and is a commanding presence in the box. There were questions over his distribution, given Espanyol's system required him to go long 54 per cent of the time in La Liga 2024-25. But he has shown confidence in possession in pre-season and has swept up well behind the high line too. Up front, Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford offers versatility, given his ability to play across the front line. During that win over Como, he began as the centre-forward but drifted to the left, opening new avenues for Flick's attack. Advertisement In possession, Rashford's presence on the left allows Raphinha to play as a No 10, with Lopez or Olmo offering runs from midfield. His pace is an upgrade on Lewandowski, who turns 37 next week, which allows Barcelona to score goals like the one below, with the Englishman receiving from Garcia, laying the ball off and making the run to latch onto the return and set up Raphinha from the right. ⚽️ 𝐅𝐔́𝐓𝐁𝐎𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐋 ⚽️ 👟 De Joan Garcia a Raphinha ⚡️ La verticalidad de Rashford y Fermín 👀 La visión de Eric — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) August 11, 2025 Out of possession, Rashford drifting across the pitch offers balance. In the example below, he and Yamal pin the full-backs, creating gaps for Raphinha and Pedri to operate centrally. It also allows Balde to be perfectly positioned to join the attack or track back in case of a turnover. The final positive is in the return of midfielder Marc Bernal after nearly a year out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury. The 18-year-old is a natural No 6 with the ability to dictate the tempo with passes, as opposed to De Jong's ball-carrying. He also slotted nicely into Flick's man-marking system early last season. A fully-fit Gavi, who has scored four times in pre-season, provides more midfield depth too. Barcelona's biggest challenge will be how they cope with losing Inigo Martinez, who joined Al Nassr on a free transfer this month. The Spaniard was one of their best players last season and was the only left-footed centre-back in the squad, with his ranging switches towards Yamal on the right proving crucial to Flick's vertical approach. He was also a goal threat from set pieces, while his reading of crosses and partnership with Pau Cubarsi and Balde were integral to Barcelona's defence. Martinez's departure has seen Araujo, the club's second captain behind the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen, shifted to starter status, but the move will not be seamless. Araujo is at his best as a right-sided centre-back. But when Cubarsi was moved to the left while playing alongside the Uruguayan last season, he struggled to make his trademark line-breaking passes. Add in Araujo's struggles in progressing play with passes, his difficulties in defending space and questions over his suitability for Flick's high line, and Barca have a defensive problem to solve. Andreas Christensen is comfortable on the left, which offers a solution, while Martin, a left-back by trade, played there in pre-season. Overall, though, Barcelona have a deep squad with plenty of quality as they aim to build on last season's success. (Top photo of Pedri:) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
