Bundesliga imbalance means title race could already over
This past weekend saw the meeting of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in a 1st vs 2nd clash between the fiercest of rivals.
Naturally, there was much to talk about before the game; Mario Gotze’s return to Dortmund following his move to Bayern, the fact that Dortmund’s back four had no Mat Hummels or Neven Subotic, and if Dortmund were to lose the game than Bundesliga title race would essentially be over.
Utilising their home advantage Jurgen Klopp’s team created a host of chances but their main hitmen Robert Lewandowski, Marco Reus and Pierre Errick Aubameyang failed to find the target. Bayern soaked up all the pressure, as they do so well, and pounced in the last quarter of the game when Dortmund leg’s became heavy. Gotze, inevitably, scored the first goal before Arjen Robben and Tomas Muller added some extra gloss to the scoreline.
The win extended Bayern’s lead at the top of the table to four points ahead of second place Bayer Leverkusen and the gap between Munich and Dortmund is now seven points. The win also means Bayern’s remarkable unbeaten record now stands at 38 games and they have only four points all season. Simply put, they are a very well oiled football machine whose imposing shadow dominates German football and is threatening to grow over all of Europe as they are favourites for this season’s Champions League.
Munich are an extremely well run football club with vast finances which allows them to outbid every other club in their division for the best players from not only Germany but they can take their pick from the finest in the rest of Europe. Leverkusen are enjoying a fantastic season but realistically they will not be able to maintain significant pressure throughout the whole season on Munich and their flaws were exposed ruthlessly by Manchester United on Wednesday night in the Champions League.
Borussia Dortmund have some fantastic players but as evidenced with the Robert Lewandowski saga, Munich will simply out price all of their rivals. Bayern’s wage bill is double that of anybody in their division and with such financial firepower other teams cannot cope. Unfortunately, with their win over Dortmund you will be hard pressed to find anybody who thinks that Munich will not retain their Bundesliga crown this season.
In the Premier League, by contrast, the title race is wide open which makes for far better viewing than the unstoppable Bayern machine destroying everything in their way. They are a fantastic team, no doubt, but all other Bundesliga teams simply have no chance.
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