Bundesliga: Panicked Bayern Brave the Red Bulls

Bayern Munich vs RB Leipzig

Bayern Munich, as well as RB Leipzig, are out for vengeance in the Bundesliga after falling short during their respective Champions League ties.

Despite their recent struggles, Bayern are still the Bundesliga 2024 betting odds favourites to come out of this match with three points. But it won’t be a walk in the park for the Bavarians whatsoever, as they continue to battle with internal struggles and shortcomings on the field.

Meanwhile, Marco Rose’s Red Bulls have been on a hot streak in the top flight, unbeaten in their last three Bundesliga matches. The main catalyst for their recent success is the brilliance of their forward, Loïs Openda, who is looking to extend his scoring streak to six top-flight games against Bayern Munich.

Talking Points

Tuchel sacked at Bayern Munich

The dominoes have started falling in Munich, and Bayern has officially pressed the panic button. The winningest Bundesliga outfit has uncharacteristically been struggling in the past few weeks across all competitions, but their shortcomings are magnified by their back-to-back losses in the German top flight.

The past few weeks have exposed the mighty Bavarians and proved that they’re mere mortals. After losing three games in a row across all competitions, Bayern decided to sack head coach Thomas Tuchel.

The 50-year-old was appointed as the head coach for Bayern Munich, and he immediately led the Bavarians to their 11^th-straight Bundesliga title, in dramatic fashion, I may add. Tuchel dodged a bullet there, winning the Meisterschale just by goal difference over their archrivals, Borussia Dortmund.

This season, Tuchel isn’t as lucky, as his outfit is now eight points behind the spotless Leverkusen and has been without league points since their win over M’gladbach on February 7.

They suffered a humbling 3-0 clean sheet defeat against Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen, which was their first cause of worry, but when Bayern fell 3-2 to 11^th-placed Bochum, they knew they needed to mitigate the damages as soon as possible.

Hence, Thomas Tuchel will depart from the club but will captain the ship until the end of the season. “We have agreed that we will end our working relationship at the end of this season,” Tuchel stated. “Until then, I will of course continue to do everything I can with my coaching staff to achieve maximum success.”

Luckily for Bayern, there’s still a lot of football to be played until the season ends. As long as the Bayern players finish the season with championship poise, and as long as Harry Kane continues to deliver Bundesliga 2024 highlights, it will be foolish to count Bayern Munich out of the title race.

It’s been all Openda for Leipzig

Loïs Openda is ramping up at the most opportune time for Marco Rose and the rest of RB Leipzig. His goal against M’gladbach last week extends his scoring streak to five Bundesliga matches. And it looks like his leadership in the final third has rubbed on the rest of his teammates as the outfit from Leipzig successfully ended their slump and are now on a three-game unbeaten streak.

In five match days, Openda now finds himself in the third spot in the Bundesliga Golden Boot race with 16 goals to his name. The only players ahead of him are Serhou Guirassy with 18 goals and England captain Harry Kane with 25.

With Xavi Simons to back him up, Openda can lead Leipzig’s final third to successful outings, and the football world should expect Simons and Openda to take advantage of the fact that their next opponents, Bayern Munich, are in disarray.

A win against Bayern could leapfrog the Red Bulls past Dortmund in the league standings and regain their Champions League aspirations.

History

Bayern Munich have bossed their head-to-head matchups against RB Leipzig, winning nine of their 19 games across multiple competitions since 2016.

Their last clash ended in a 2-2 draw at Red Bull Arena, but Leipzig have won two of their last three ties.

In recent form, the Red Bulls are on a three-game unbeaten streak and have closed the gap to Dortmund by just one point. They fell short against Real Madrid 1-0 in their Champions League clash, but they aim to continue their strong run in the top flight.

Meanwhile, the defending champions are in a slump, losing their last two top-flight matches against Leverkusen and Bochum. Not to mention, they also lost the first leg of their Round of 16 Champions League bout against the Italian outfit Lazio 1-0.

Betting Tip

SBOTOP has Tuchel’s Bayern Munich as the favourites to win at 1.64, while Leipzig are the underdogs at 4.10 with a draw price of 4.04. Personally, I would go for either Leipzig or a draw, simply because Bayern are currently disordered and Leipzig are on a hot streak.

But no matter what form they display as a team, the individual performances of Harry Kane and Lois Openda are too polarizing not to go unnoticed. Which is why my betting tip for this match is total goals over 3.50 at 2.12.

This match will showcase two of the top three goal scorers in the Bundesliga this season, so expect tons of goals and highlights. Also, they’ve finished six of their last seven head-to-heads with an aggregate of three or more goals, so ending the game with a high score line isn’t alien for these outfits.

 

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