Bundesliga matchday 27 recap: Managerial sackings, close shaves, historic wins & more | OneFootball

It was another entertaining weekend of Bundesliga action as matchday 27 served up historic wins, close shaves, crucial wins, a managerial sacking, and much more. Here is your recap and all the key talking points from matchday 17 in the Bundesliga.

RB Leipzig Sack Marco Rose

RB Leipzig had the chance to move into the top four on Saturday afternoon if Marco Rose could overcome his old club, Borussia Mönchengladbach. However, the Saxons came undone (not for the first time this season) and lost the game 1-0.

As a result, Leipzig stays in sixth place, three points off fourth. In truth, the table could look a lot worse if it wasn’t for Mainz 05 and SC Freiburg, both losing.

However, Leipzig had already taken the decision on Sunday morning to sack Marco Rose.

Rose had already come close to losing his job early in the season when Leipzig were eliminated at the league phase in the Champions League and went on an abysmal run of form in October. However, RBL bosses stuck by Rose as his team finally managed to turn a corner.

Leipzig and Rose have had to deal with important injuries for most of this season, and they are not well-staffed in certain positions. On top of this, players have not been playing at the necessary level; the likes of Benjamin Seško (who is pushing for a move) have been underwhelming this season.

However, you have to question the timing of the sacking. It comes just a couple of days before Leipzig’s biggest game of the season – a DFB Pokal semi-final against VfB Stuttgart.

RBL bosses must believe that Rose has already lost the dressing room and can no longer get a tune out of his players.

As a result, Leipzig have already announced Rose’s replacement in Zsolt Löw. Löw will be in charge of Leipzig for the rest of the season and will be joined by Peter Krawietz as his assistant. Krawietz was previously assistant head coach at Liverpool under Jürgen Klopp, who is now Global Head of Soccer at Red Bull.

Löw returns to Leipzig having been assistant manager to Ralph Hasenhüttl and Ralf Rangnick from 2015-18.

FC Heidenheim’s Historic Day

FC Heidenheim’s 0-1 win away at VfL Wolfsburg wasn’t just massive for their relegation survival hopes but historic.

Last weekend was head coach Frank Schmidt’s 700th game in charge of the club. A simply remarkable achievement that started in the German non-league system and now the Bundesliga and competing in Europe.

What’s more, it was the first time this season that Heidenheim have won back-to-back games.

The win for Frank Schmidt’s side has moved them out of the automatic relegation places and into 16th. It’s now just one loss in five Bundesliga matches as Heidenheim seek to escape the drop. It further drags Bochum, St. Pauli, and TSG Hoffenheim into the frame. Bottom place Holstein Kiel now look certain to go down.

Dortmund Bounce Back

Borussia Dortmund secured an impressive three points against Champions League hopefuls Mainz 05 on Sunday (3-1).

Prior to the game, there was a feeling that should BVB fail to win, their chances of getting any form of European football next season was over.

Instead, Dortmund now have the opportunity to use this as a springboard as they look to get into the top six.

As for the game itself, it took a while for it to get going, but it suddenly burst into life with two quick Dortmund goals from Maximilian Beier and Emre Can. The first from Beier certainly came through good fortune, but the second was a towering header from Can from an equally impressive corner kick by none other than Nico Schlotterbeck.

Schlotterbeck provided set piece specialist again for Dortmund’s third, which wrapped up the tie.

Head coach Nico Kovač was full of praise for his new setpiece maestro at full-time:

“We wanted to try out another left-footer,” Kovač noted. “I decided upon Schlotti and he really did a great job in training. Plenty of people were probably wondering and rubbing their eyes in disbelief today, but the result provided answers. Especially for him. He does that really well.”

The win puts Dortmund on 38 points in 10th but just four points off RB Leipzig in 6th. The race for the European places are likely to go down to the wire. With several teams struggling for form right now, this may just be the perfect timing for Kovač’s side.

Around The Grounds

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich survived a late scare to beat St. Pauli 3-2 and ensure that they stay 6 points ahead of Bayer Leverkusen with seven games to go. Leverkusen themselves ran out 3-1 winners of Friday evening against Bochum.

Union Berlin earned a crucial three points by beating SC Freiburg on Sunday afternoon. The win moves Union to the 30-point mark and should keep them safe if they win two more games.

Werder Bremen (0-3 vs. Holstein Kiel) and Eintracht Frankfurt (1-0 vs. VfB Stuttgart) also won, while Hoffenheim and Augsburg played out a 1-1 draw.

GGFN | Jamie Allen