EURO BITES: Bundesliga - Aubameyang Barcelona switch link revealed, Bayern baffled as they drop points, and Mainz prove to be hat-trick kings

Chris Leishwitz discusses the latest news from the Bundeliga including Bayern Munich becoming baffled and Barcelona’s interest in star striker.

A round-up of the latest news from the Bundesliga as Bayern Munich drop points, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang courts interest and Mainz prove to be hat-trick kings.

DORTMUND STRIKER RAISING BARCELONA DESIRES?

Despite the fact that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to score, Borussia Dortmund was never in danger of leaving points behind in Bremen. Instead, the long injured Marco Reus scored twice in the one-sided 3-1 win over Werder, which was dominated by the black-and-yellow as they reduced the gap to Bayern Munich to five points. It was in the stands were most interest in Aubameyang was happening as Bild reported that Barcelona’s general manager Ariedo Braida watched the game. The Spanish champions is reportedly interested in signing Aubameyang next summer. “I don´t care he was here. Everybody should be familiar with the contract duration,” Dortmund’s general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke said afterwards. Aubameyang’s contract runs until 2020.

BAYERN MUNICH LEFT BAFFLED AFTER DROPPING POINTS

The respect for Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga superiority has reached a new level. But it has left the German champions quite baffled after a scoreless draw against Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday. Frankfurt, actually known for its rather offensive style of play, showed the most defensive performance possible, barely entering Bayern’s half at all. “I thought there cannot be more defence than playing defensively.” skipper Philipp Lahm stated, trying to find a new expression for the opponents’ performance. Jérôme Boateng added: “I´ve never seen anything like this.” Bayern will be concerned that other teams will try to imitate Frankfurt’s way of playing now. One possible candidate is Darmstadt 98, who got drawn with Munich in the round of 16 in the DFB Cup in December.

LEVERKUSEN FURIOUS AFTER LOSS IN WOLFSBURG

Rudi Völler was outraged after the first goal during the clash between VfL Wolfsburg and Leverkusen. Within seconds, Bayer’s sporting director had left the terrace and appeared on the pitch, yelling at the fourth official on the sideline. Most spectators had seen that the deep pass eventually leading to Nicklas Bendtner’s 34th minute goal was played by Wolfsburg’s André Schürrle, causing a clear offside situation. Referee Manuel Gräfe, however, was convinced the ball came from Leverkusen’s Kevin Kampl. He later apologised for overruling his assistant who had raised his flag, asking for future video evidence in such situations. Although Leverkusen scored the equaliser six minutes later through Chicharito, Wolfsburg eventually won 2-1 thanks to a poacher’s goal from Julian Draxler 13 minutes from time. They are now third, thanks to Schalke’s 1-1 draw against Ingolstadt.

STEVENS TEACHES DEFENCE TO OFFENSIVE HOFFENHEIM

The Flying Dutchman is back. Hoffenheim is the sixth Bundesliga club for manager Huub Stevens, who has recently become a popular saviour from relegation. Almost naturally, Stevens’ first game with his new squad led him to one of his old ones – with a quite familiar result. The game in Cologne ended scoreless – quite apt when you consider the German football saying “the nil must stand” is attributed to Stevens. The 61-year-old later stated that in order to turn a losing team into a winning one, he always starts with rebuilding the defence and that was certainly evident against Cologne. Still second from bottom, Hoffenheim’s quite attack-oriented squad is in need of winning games soon, with games against Mönchengladbach and Stevens’ former team Schalke coming after duels with Frankfurt and Berlin.

MAINZ ARE THE KINGS OF THE HAT-TRICK

FSV Mainz 05 is currently the only Bundesliga team with two strikers who succeeded in scoring three goals in one Bundesliga game. After Yunus Malli led his team to a win over Hoffenheim in week 5, Yoshinori Muto’s hat-trick was good enough for a late 3-3 draw at FC Augsburg this weekend. Muto scored the first two goals of the game, and after falling behind 2-3, the Japanese national scored a third, quite controversial goal in the third minute of overtime to complete his hat-trick and secure a point. Augsburg claimed a foul right before the equaliser which kept them rooted to the foot of the table with just one win.

STUNNING CHOREOGRAPHY IN DRESDEN

In terms of sheer numbers, Dynamo Dresden fans have always been fit for the Bundesliga, despite the fact that the club has been in the lower leagues for 20 years now. Last Saturday, before the kick-off of what is called an Eastern German derby against FC Magdeburg, Dresden’s fans displayed the alleged biggest European football choreography ever. They unfurled a banner that stretched over three terraces and covered an area of 15,000 square meters. It took two years to sew it and it cost €25,000. The performance also helped in improving the fans’ reputation – Dynamo is said to have one of the most violent fan bases in Germany. Dresden won the game 3-2, leads the table by 10 points and has a good chance to play in the second tier next year.