The third round of Bundesliga fixtures has thrown up even more interesting topics for discussion, none bigger than Bayern Munich suddenly looking mortal again. The reigning European champions just barely beat Hertha Berlin at home over the weekend as they continue to look unconvincing of late.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund youngster Gio Reyna is quickly showing that he is indeed the real deal — and potentially this season’s breakout star — after another impressive performance in BVB’s win against Freiburg.
RB Leipzig are also looking good early on and are currently of top the table despite losing talisman Timo Werner over the summer.
Read on below as SBOTOP breaks down all of these big takeaways from Bundesliga Matchday 3 in greater detail.
Bayern Munich suddenly looking vulnerable
After their shock 4-1 loss to Hoffenheim last week, Bayern Munich just barely avoided a second bad Bundesliga result in a row as they battled hard to beat Hertha Berlin 4-3 at home.
Robert Lewandowski came to Bayern’s rescue as he scored four times — including the winner three minutes into stoppage time — to seal the dramatic victory for the Bavarians.
Clearly, there are some issues Hansi Flick must sort out at the back. Conceding seven goals over two games is just not good enough for the Bundesliga champions.
Of course, it should be taken into account that Bayern have also had to play two Super Cup matches — UEFA and German — which have added to their fatigue in the last two league games. As a result, Flick has already had to dig deep into his squad depth by calling upon youngsters such as Chris Richards and Jamal Musiala.
However, the new Champions League season will be starting soon and Bayern will be playing multiple games a week for the foreseeable future.
The Bundesliga 2020 odds to win the title are still heavily in Bayern’s favour. But unless they sort out their current issues after the international break, they figure to be a much more vulnerable team in this campaign compared to the one that stormed to a 23-match winning streak last season.
Gio Reyna: the next big thing in Bundesliga
It’s only been a few games, but it’s becoming clear that Dortmund’s Gio Reyna is set to be the Bundesliga’s breakout star this season.
After his impressive showing in their win over Borussia Monchengladbach, Reyna pulled the strings for BVB, who were without Jadon Sancho, as they thrashed Freiburg 4-0. The 17-year-old American supplied the assist for three of the goals, the youngest player to do so since the Bundesliga began collecting data in 1992.
Reyna now has a goal and three assists in just three games this season. For context, Sancho had a goal and four assists in 12 games as a 17-year-old. Meanwhile, fellow American wunderkind Christian Pulisic had three goals and seven assists in 29 appearances when he was 17.
Reyna figures to play a similar amount of games to Pulisic this season and has the potential to post much better numbers. Lucien Favre clearly thinks he’s good enough to play, and he’s right. At just 17, he already plays with the intelligence of a much older player.
Barring any unforeseen injury, Reyna looks set to light up the league and provide a number of Bundesliga 2020 highlights with Dortmund this year.
RB Leipzig adjusting well to life without Werner
RB Leipzig are looking quite fine without Timo Werner. Despite selling their star striker to Chelsea this summer, Leipzig find themselves at the top of the Bundesliga table through three rounds with two wins and a draw.
Granted, two of their wins have been against two of the worst teams in the league in Mainz and Schalke. But still, they beat those two teams quite convincingly, which is notable. They didn’t even need any main attacking player to score in their 4-0 thrashing of Schalke as they got goals from four defenders and an own-goal.
Leipzig’s replacement for Werner, Alexander Sorloth, hasn’t even gotten up to speed yet with his new club. And when he does, he will add another dimension to the Leipzig attack.
It’s once again a testament to the brilliance of Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann that he’s maximising all the talent he has at his disposal.
Challenging Bayern for the title would likely be a step too far for the Red Bulls, but with Dortmund not that much stronger this season, second place is there for the taking.
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