Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt among teams facing a nervy last day with their managers precariously placed
N
ot the end, perhaps, but certainly the denouement. After the penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga season some big issues remain open; the confirmation of the fourth team to qualify for the Champions League, who will be the two teams to drop to the second tier and which side will get a two-legged opportunity to reprieve themselves.
Yet the German game is nothing if not reliably businesslike in getting some of next season’s key parameters set before the current exercise is done. There was no need for official announcements here, though, with the results doing the explaining for us. Or, in a few cases, the performances. There has been considerable doubt, for example, whether Kasper Hjulmand would continue as Bayer Leverkusen coach next season. Now, there is none.
His team had bought themselves what looked like a reprieve with last week’s win over RB Leipzig and when Aleix García gave Leverkusen the lead 34 seconds into Saturday’s visit to Stuttgart, it felt as if they were grabbing the moment with both hands. Instead, it was the last time it felt as if Leverkusen’s heads were above water. Ermedin Demirovic equalised before there were five minutes on the clock and from there it was a monsoon. Maximilian Mittelstädt’s penalty (the result of some confused defending) and Deniz Undav’s second-half goal led to the home side’s eventual 3-1 win, which was flattering to Leverkusen. It could have been a rout, and there was not the merest smidgeon of doubt that Stuttgart deserved to take Die Werkself’s place in the top four.
