Bayern Munich’s lead atop the Bundesliga was cut to six points in the first weekend back from the winter break after the Covid-hit champions suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at home to struggling Borussia Monchengladbach.
Meanwhile, second-placed Borussia Dortmund staged a very late comeback from two goals down to beat Eintracht Frankfurt.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim continued their impressive climb up the table, while Domenico Tedesco’s RB Leipzig started the new year on the right foot with an impressive home win.
Read on below as SBOTOP shares its four key takeaways from the first round of Bundesliga matches in 2022.
Bayern unable to overcome Covid crunch
Bayern Munich are clearly the best team in the Bundesliga with the deepest and most talented squad. As a result, the Bundesliga 2022 odds have them as overwhelming favourites to claim their 10th straight title.
However, not even they could withstand the absolute wave of Covid and injuries that hit them hard upon returning from the winter break.
With so many absentees in defence and midfield, coach Julian Nagelsmann was forced to field a significantly makeshift lineup against Borussia Monchengladbach, with midfielders Joshua Kimmich – playing in his first game back after his tough bout with Covid – and Marcel Sabitzer playing as full-backs.
To Bayern’s credit, they still played reasonably well even with all their absentees. Robert Lewandowski scored his 20th goal of the season to give them the early lead. He then hit the woodwork twice as they went in search of an equaliser after going 2-1 down.
Despite their home defeat, there should be no cause for concern in Bavaria. Bayern are still quite clearly in control of the Bundesliga title race, and they should be back to their best once their players return after this Covid outbreak.
Dortmund leave it late again
Borussia Dortmund picked up where they left off from last year in terms of scoring late goals. They scored three times in the last 20 minutes – including twice in the last three – as they came from two goals down to win 3-2 against Eintracht Frankfurt away from home.
Over their last four Bundesliga games, Dortmund have now scored six goals in the 83rd minute or later. They picked up two wins, a draw, and a loss in those four games and are now just six points behind leaders Bayern after their late win.
BVB Marco Rose still doesn’t seem to have too many answers for Dortmund’s leaky defence, though. They have now conceded 28 goals in 18 games this season, which is subpar for a team of their quality.
But as long as Erling Haaland is healthy and playing, Dortmund are always a threat to simply outscore their opposition. It won’t be enough to overcome Bayern, but it will at least be quite entertaining to watch.
Hoffenheim continue their climb
Speaking of picking up where they left off, Hoffenheim extended their impressive unbeaten run to seven games as they came from behind to beat relegation-threatened Augsburg 3-1 at home.
Hoffenheim have won five of their last seven games with two draws, a terrific run which has seen them climb up to third in the league after both Freiburg and Bayer Leverkusen were held to 2-2 draws.
In just his second season in charge, Sebastian Hoeness is moulding this Hoffenheim side into quite a formidable unit even with the lack of star names.
Like Dortmund, Hoffenheim need to shore things up at the back; they have kept just one clean sheet during their current unbeaten streak. But this is the aggressive style Hoeness has chosen to play, and it is certainly leading to some impressive Bundesliga 2022 results thus far.
Red Bulls make roaring start to new year
RB Leipzig got their 2022 off to a fine start by thrashing Mainz 4-1 at home. The trio of Andre Silva, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Christopher Nkunku starred to give new coach Domenico Tedesco his second 4-1 win in four games in charge.
Tedesco still has some work to do to get eighth-placed Leipzig back competing for the European spots, but the talent is clearly there at his disposal.
Nkunku has been outstanding all season long, with eight goals and seven assists in 18 Bundesliga appearances. Meanwhile, Silva is returning to top form and has already scored four goals in Tedesco’s four games in charge.
Getting this Leipzig side to play at or close to their best more consistently from week to week will be Tedesco’s main challenge moving forward. If he succeeds, though, then the young Red Bulls will be a force to be reckoned with during the second half of the season.
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