Three things we learnt from the Bundesliga afternoon kick-offs: RB Leipzig, the race for Europe and who can win the league with only academy players? | OneFootball

No Bundesliga games on Friday evening as it was Good Friday (xEaster Jokes: 2.5), a Ruhestag (a holiday), so we had a bumper Bundesliga Saturday which shook up the race for Europe.

The results:

Heidenheim 0-4 Bayern Munich

Mainz 2-2 Wolfsburg

Freiburg 3-2 Hoffenheim

RB Leipzig 1-1 Holstein Kiel

Werder Bremen 1-0 Bochum

Here is what we learnt:

RB Leipzig flirt with danger:

Leipzig is a lot like Judas, enough said.

The Saxony side got lucky today. They played very poorly against a Kiel side who are fighting relegation and only moved back into the Champions League places after Mainz conceded a late equaliser. If they continue to play like this and with their final four games being against Frankfurt, Bayern, Bremen and Stuttgart, there is a real possibility that they do not make it into four.

Leipzig find themselves in a bit of a conundrum. As well as needing a new head coach, several players will likely leave in the summer, but very few of these players have actually shown they are ready for the next step in their careers.

Benjamin Seško, for example. Moving to the Premier League is a recipe for disaster for his career as he is simply not ready, and whoever does buy him in the summer will have significantly overpaid if they expect an immediate impact.

The race for Europe is the only thing left to play for:

With wins for Freiburg and Bremen as well as draws for Mainz and Leipzig. The race for Europe is wide open still. Seven teams have the chance of qualifying for Europe, while Stuttgart can throw a spanner in the works if they beat Arminia Bielefeld in the DFB-Pokal final.

As we are focusing on today, Bremen have risen out of nowhere (a bit like Jesus, allegedly). In the middle of the season, they hit a bit of a slump that seemed like they had lost touch with the race for European places. But with the help of two bearded men from Fife and Dortmund, they are now only four points from a Champions League spot.

Since returning to the Bundesliga in 2022, Bremen have made steady progress in stabilising themselves in the league and can now look to progress further up the league and soon begin challenging for Europe more often.

Who can win the league with only academy players?

After Nelson Weiper (Mainz) and Johan Mazambi (Freiburg) both assisted for their clubs, it has inspired me to make this thought experiment.

I am going to cherry pick (as I do not have the time, nor the effort to do every single team), several teams, and I will create an 11 for each of them of players to have played in their academy and are currently in either the top five leagues or the 2.Bundesliga, then a judgment by you and me can be made on who you think would win in this league, the assumption will be every player in their prime.

The teams are: Bayern, Dortmund, Schalke, Koln, Stuttgart, Mainz, Freiburg, Hertha.

No restrictions on formations either, but nothing silly. Only active players, obviously, and the transfer value from transfermarkt may play a role. If a player had played for more than one club in the list (e.g Antonio Rüdiger) the club whose first team he played, he will be assigned to, in this case, Stuttgart over Dortmund.

Bayern: Christian Frütchl, Josip Stanisic, Mats Hummels, Marco Friedl, David Alaba, Angelo Stiller, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Jamal Musiala, Thomas Müller, Paul Wanner, Joshua Zirkzee

Dortmund: Daniel Heuer Fernandes, Ansgar Knauff, Nmandi Collins,Amos Pieper,Tom Rothe, Orel Mangala, Patrick Osterhage, Christian Pulisic, Marco Reus, Mario Götze, Marvin Ducksch

Schalke: Manuel Neuer, Thilo Kehrer, Malick Thiaw, Marvin Friedrich, Sead Kolasinac, Weston McKennie, Max Meyer,  Assan Ouedraogo, Ilkay Gündgoan, Leroy Sané, Julian Draxler

Köln: Jonas Urbig, Jann Thielmann, Yann-Aurel Bisseck, Mitchell Weiser, Max Finkgräfe, Sahil Özcan, Yannick Gerhardt, Mark Uth, Lukas Podolski, Damian Downs, Tim Lemperle

Stuttgart: Sven Ulreich, Jeremy Toljan, Ermin Bickacic, Antonio Rüdiger, Philipp Mwene, Rani Khedira, Joshua Kimmich, Serge Gnabry, Kevin Stöger, Timo Werner, Davie Selke (clutching at straws this one)

Mainz: Robin Zentner, Ridle Baku, Stefan Bell, Niklas Tauer, Roman Neustäder Leandro Barreiro, Suat Serdar, Brajan Gruda, Jonathan Burkardt, Paul Nebel, Nelson Weiper

Hertha: Marius Gersbeck, Marton Dardai, Linus Gechter, John Brooks, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Robert Andrich, Pascal Klemens, Ibrahim Maza, Bence Dardai, Ransdord Königsdorffer, Jessic Ngankam

Freiburg: Noah Atubolu, Jonathan Schmid, Max Rosenfelder, Matthias Gunter, Nico Schlotterbeck, Christian Günter, Nicolas Höfler, Yannick Keitel, Johan Mazambi, Kevin Schade, Noah Weißhaupt

Now, looking at all these teams, there is one clear winner. Bayern. I think an argument can also be made for Schalke putting up a good challenge for the hypothetical title. Other players who are no longer active could take some of these teams to ever greater levels, Sami Khedira and Mario Gomez for Stuttgart, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger for Bayern, Mesut Özil for Schalke.

That was a lot of effort for a thought experiment that was decided by the first team.

Now if we did an all time one of these…probably Bayern again.

GGFN | Jack Meenan