3 things we learnt from the Bundesliga Konferenz – Bayern Munich drop points, as do Dortmund and Leipzig and Ibrahim Maza shines | OneFootball

Bundesliga Matchday 10 kicked off with Werder Bremen leaving it late to beat Wolfsburg 2-1. Saturday afternoon brought the turn of eight more teams, with five of the top six playing. 

Bayern Munich travelled to Union Berlin, Borussia Dortmund were away at Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen hosted Heidenheim, and Hoffenheim faced RB Leipzig.

So here are the three things we learnt from the Bundesliga afternoon kick-offs: 

Bayern Munich show they are not completely invincible:

After a gutsy, hard-fought win in midweek against PSG, the effects of it were seen today. Except for Leon Goretzka, everyone else played in the French capital in midweek, and they were not prepared for what Union Berlin had in store for them.

The Berliners thought they took an earlier lead through Ilyas Ansah, but the goal was ruled out for him being fractionally, and I mean like a millimetre, offside. Union would take the actual lead through Danihlo Doekhi, but Bayern would have an immediate answer for Luis Diaz. 

The Colombian had another great chance to take the lead before half-time, but in a one-on-one with Fredrick Ronnow, he missed. 

Doekhi would get his second of the game, and it looked like to had won it for Union, but Harry Kane scored in the 93rd minute to rescue a point. 

You can tell that Bayern struggled in this game following their midweek game, and it now brings to an end their 100% record in all competitions, but no dent has been made to the lead at the top of the Bundesliga because…

Dortmund and Leipzig drop points:

You knew it was happening, and I knew it was happening. Dortmund were leading Hamburg 1-0 and looked to have ground out another win and, most importantly, gain back some ground on Bayern. However, in the 97th minute, of seven additional minutes, they conceded a Ransford Königsdörffer header to draw the game. 

At the end of the day, this is what Dortmund deserved. Via FotMob, they only managed one shot on target, their goal, and were overall very wasteful.

A very strong argument can be made that Serhou Guirassy should be benched and Fabio Silva should be given a couple of starts. The Guinean only managed two shots in the opponent’s box, and he was subbed off in the 90th minute. As good as he is on his day, Guirassy hasn’t had a ‘day’ for a few games and should be rested. 

Dortmund returns to Bundesliga action after the international break against VfB Stuttgart.

While Dortmund were dropping points, so were Leipzig. Despite taking an early lead through Yan Diomande, the Saxony side were comfortably beaten by Hoffenheim 3-1 thanks to goals from Alban Hajdari, Tim Lemperle and Grischa Prömel. 

TSG keeper Oliver Baumann made five saves to keep out Leipzig, who suffered their first loss since their opening day thrashing at the hands of Bayern.

Ibrahim Maza – Welcome to the Bundesliga:

Amid the chaos that has been the early stages of Bayer Leverkusen in this Bundesliga season, Ibrahim Maza has begun to finally find his feet at the BayArena. 

In Leverkusen’s 6-0 thrashing of Heidenheim, the 19-year-old scored twice – his first Bundesliga goals. Following on from his strong performances against Paderborn in the DFB Pokal and Benfica in the Champions League. 

What is interesting about Maza’s performances is that he has been deployed as a central midfielder next to Aleix Garcia, rather than in the two attacking positions behind the striker in Leverkusen’s 3-4-2-1. Maza has played in this position before with his previous club, Hertha Berlin (via transfermarkt), but not with this much success. 

With Exequiel Palacios and Equi Fernandez injured and Robert Andrich not very good, it will be interesting to see if Maza’s future at Leverkusen is in this position. 

GGFN | Jack Meenan