Photocredit: thedrum.com
The second half of the Bundesliga season will be taking off today and this is a league for solid football fans to get excited about. With Dortmund's purchase of Erling-Braut Haaland and a game between top 5 sides Schalke and Monchengladbach, it's fair to say it's getting off to a great start. Of the major European Leagues, this is the one with the most interest dimension as far as the race for the title. The top 5 are all separated by just 7 points, which is half the points that separate Liverpool from 2nd place Leicester in the Premier League. Historically the premier league is the best one simply because it usually used to be the most competitive, but Liverpool have only failed to win a single game through 21 games this season and all but have it locked up. Never has there been so little intrigue going into a Liverpool-United game. Never have I gotten so bored of the premier league so early. That's typically what the Bundesliga is like. But it's the other way around this year.
RB Leipzig, Bayern, and Borrusia Dortmund are the three teams who all have a genuine shout at winning the league this year. Schalke and Monchengladbach have fought valiantly but it's hard to believe they can keep this up for the whole second half of the season. Dortmund should step up a level or two with their acquisition of the Norwegian striker while Leipzig and Munich will be looking to hold firm, particularly Leipzig, who are in first as it stands. This would be the title that makes Julian Nagelsmann known to all the biggest clubs on the planet. At his age, the sky is the limit and he would already have accomplished something major in winning the Bundesliga with a club other than Bayern. Bayern when it's all said and done is really a thankless job because you simply did what was expected to win the Bundesliga. You're a flop if you don't win. But their coach was already fired and they couldn't get anyone to want it as top coaches probably know all to well that this is a season Bayern can be taken down.
Expect this to go down to the wire but with only additions with the exception of Julian Weigl, expect Dortmund to be the favorite for the second half with all the fanfare of their new striker who really appeared to be in a lot of ways what they were missing. They do have a 7 point gap to cover against Leipzig however so it won't be an easy task for sure. Not to mention Bayern is still Bayern.