The 2019/20 Bundesliga season had produced many special matches over the course of the campaign prior to the season getting suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. There have been shocking upsets, one-sided goal-gluts, exciting nail-biting finishes and stirring comebacks in plenty.
With the season currently on pause, SportsAdda takes a look back at five of the best matches from the 2019/20 Bundesliga season so far;
Union Berlin 3-1 Borussia Dortmund (August 2019)
Just the third matchday of the season and we got our first major upset of the season. Bundesliga debutants Union Berlin stunned title contenders Borussia Dortmund to record their first-ever win the German top-flight.
Marius Bulter had given the home team the lead against their illustrious opponents halfway through the first period, but Paco Alcacer levelled things up for Dortmund only three minutes later. Both teams went into the half-time break on level terms, but five minutes into the second-half, Bulter got into the act again, putting Union Berlin in front.
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Sebastian Andersson, who had scored Union’s first Bundesliga goal the previous week, stepped up again and made it 3-1 in the 75th minute to kill the game off and send the home supporters into pandemonium. A historic occasion for the minnows who were playing only their third Bundesliga match.
RB Leipzig 8-0 Mainz (November 2019)
It was the Timo Werner show at the Red Bull Arena on Matchday 10 as RB Leipzig hammered 1.FSV Mainz 05, with the German international getting a hat-trick of goals and a hat-trick of assists.
Julian Nagelsmann’s men were up and running inside the opening five minutes, with Marcel Sabitzer turning in a Werner cross before the German made it 2-0 at the half-hour mark. He would then turn provider for Christopher Nkunku five minutes later before strikes from Marcel Halstenberg and Yussuf Poulsen ensured Leipzig were five goals ahead by half-time.
Werner wasn’t done yet, as just three minutes after the restart, the 24-year-old got his second of the game before setting up Nordi Mukiele for Leipzig’s seventh with a fine cross only two minutes later. Having completed a hat-trick of assists, the German got his third goal of the game in the 87th minute, ending Leipzig’s four-game winless streak in Bundesliga in some style.
Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 Bayern Munich (November 2019)
Another huge upset that ended up costing Niko Kovac’s job at Bayern Munich, the heavy defeat against his former club proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the Croatian.
Jerome Boateng’s sending off just nine minutes into the game after a VAR review meant that the Bavarians would be fighting an uphill battle for the rest of the game. And Eintracht made the most of their numerical advantage, with Filip Kostic opening the scoring in the 25th minute before Djibril Sow made it 2-0.
Robert Lewandowski pulled one back for Bayern before half-time to keep his side in the game, but just four minutes after the restart, David Abraham restored Eintracht’s two-goal cushion before Martin Hinteregger made it 4-1 at the hour’s mark to put the game to bed. Goncalo Paciencia piled on the reigning champions’ misery with a late strike to complete a dominant win for the hosts.
Augsburg 3-5 Borussia Dortmund (January 2020)
This was the day on which a certain Erling Haaland announced his arrival in Bundesliga in a spectacular fashion. Dortmund had made an inauspicious start to the game, missing quite a few chances in the first half, and Florian Niederlechner’s 34th-minute strike meant the hosts went into the half-time break with their noses in front.
Only a minute after the restart, Augsburg were 2-0 up thanks to Marco Richter. Julian Brandt pulled one back for Dortmund soon after, but when Niederlechner made it 3-1 in the 55th minute, it looked like game over for Dortmund.
Then enter Erling Haaland. With his second touch after coming on for his debut, the teenage sensation scored his first Bundesliga goal to make it 3-2, before Jadon Sanho squared things up by the 61st minute. It was all Haaland from then on, scoring his second and third of the game, to complete a mind-blowing turnaround for Dortmund and becoming the second-youngest hat-trick scorer in Bundesliga.
Bayer Leverkusen 4-3 Borussia Dortmund (February 2020)
Another game in which Dortmund started poorly, but rallied back, although there would be no happy ending this time out.
Kevin Volland had put Bayer Leverkusen in front 20 minutes in, but Mats Hummels pulled it back for the visitors only two minutes later, before Emre Can scored against his former club to put Dortmund ahead. Volland would strike again before half-time to restore parity though.
Raphael Guerreiro made it 3-2 in favour of Dortmund a little after the hour mark and for a while, it seemed like the Portuguese had won it for Lucien Favre’s side. But Leon Bailey and Lars Bender struck back in successive minutes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for Leverkusen, condemning Dortmund to a heartbreaking defeat.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Hasan Bratic
