On Sunday, May 17, the Matchday two in German Bundesliga which resumed on Saturday, May 16, went down. On the Matchday two, two fixtures were played – the table-toppers Bayern Munich paid a visit to Union Berlin while Mainz visited Cologne.
Bundesliga, like other major leagues in Europe, was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, there were at least 9 matches left for each club in the league to play. Bayern that has been topping the league table with just 4 points could not be declared champions, hence, all the clubs agreed to complete the season since German government has given them the permission to do so.
For restarting the 2019-2020 season on Saturday, Bundesliga became the first major league in Europe to return to the playing field amid the dreaded coronavirus pandemic.
When Bayern went against Union Berlin on Sunday, Bayern came with the understanding that if they fail to win, they would relinquish their number one position to Borussia Dortmund who won their match on Saturday.
Fortunately for Bayern, their host approached the game cautiously as they decided to leave the club’s top scorer, Sebastian Andersson, on the bench only to bring him on in the last 15 minutes. It was too late for him to make any meaningful impact as Bayern doubled their lead in less than 11 minutes to the end of the match.
Talking about goals, the highest goalscorer in the league, Robert Lewandowski, opened Bayern’s goals account from the penalty spot in the 40th minute, taking his goal tally in the league this season to 26. The host was able to soak in the pressure until the 80th minute when Benjamin Pavard headed in a fine cross from Goretzka. The match would have ended three goals to nothing if VAR has not disallowed Thomas Muller’s goal which was counted as offside.
The win leaves Bayern Munich with 58 points, 4 points clear the second-placed Dortmund. While Union Berlin is left to keep trying to avoid relegation as the match left them with 30 points and in the 12 positions on the league table.
Bundesliga: Taiwo Awoniyi started Mainz’s comeback
In the second match of the day, visiting Mainz gave Cologne a stunner as the club came back from 2 goals to force the match to a 2-2 draw.
The goals bank for the match opened in the 6th minute when Mark Uth converted a penalty. After the goal, Mainz continued to attempt to get back into the game which opened their defence for the second goal through Florian Kainz’s header.
It was until after the one hour mark that Nigerian forward Taiwo Awoniyi’s strike helped Mainz to get one goal back. In the 72nd minute, Kunde Malong completes the comeback with a solo effort.
As it stands, Mainz will continue to dream of a way out of the relegation zone where they are sitting in the 15 positions with 27 points. While FC Cologne will hope to improve as their 33 points which have placed them in the 10th position does not guarantee anything.
