Here is a look at the Bundesliga Team of the Week for the first weekend round of games after Coronavirus. Not surprisingly, the team is dominated by Dortmund and Hertha Berlin, both of whom secured impressive victories over Schalke and Hoffenheim respectively. BVB blanked S04 4-0 in the RevierDerby while Hertha were 3-0 winners away at Hoffenheim
Kicker Sportmagazine’s TOTW Spieltag 26
Have you wondered which Bundesliga team gives the most minutes to youth players? A study conducted has revealed that Borussia Dortmund give the most minutes to players under the age of 22, while Union Berlin, one of the three promoted teams, give their youngsters virtually zero playing time.
The Ruhr derby teams top this table, with 22.3% of Dortmund’s playing league minutes this season going to their youngsters and 19.1%. Leipzig are third with 18.7%, but champions Bayern are well down the list with 7.4%, thus showing that the Bavarian giants prefer to rely on a well-established, experienced core. Marco Rose’s Borussia Monchengladbach give just 0.8% percent of their minutes to youth players, the lowest of any side in the current top six.
(Data as of May 2020 before Coronavirus resumption, with 25 rounds of the season completed)
The first leg of the Round of 16 Champions League ties went quite well for German sides, with all three Bundesliga sides still in the competition all registering victories.
Two teams- Leipzig and Bayern, were on the road in the first leg, with BVB having home advantage for their tie against Paris Saint Germain.
In comparison to last season’s Round of 16, when German sides struggled against English opposition, this year’s been different. Both Leipzig and Bayern claimed priceless away victories, the former winning 1:0 against Spurs and the latter beating Chelsea 3:0 at Stamford Bridge.
BVB also registered a 2:1 win primarily thanks to the brilliance of Erling Braut Haaland. PSG’s away goal gives them hope ahead of the second leg, but Dortmund will certainly not go down without a fight at Parc des Princes.
Even Leverkusen, who were there in the Champions League but dropped down to the Europa League, registered a fine 2:1 first leg win over Porto in their Round of 32 tie. Porto are normally CL regulars and no pushovers, and this makes for an enthralling second leg. There were also victories for Eintracht Frankfurt against Salzburg (4:1) and Wolfsburg over Malmo (2:1) in the same competition.
Will we see all six German sides involved in European competition currently progress to the next round?