Bundesliga Top Five, Round Nine: Sabiri fires Paderborn to first win of the season
Poor old Paderborn were looking doomed, and they probably still are doomed after collecting just four points this season. But, three of those points came in the one match at the weekend as they defeated Fortuna Dusseldorf 2-0 in what was their first victory of the campaign. Sabiri was their best player on the day, and opened the scoring just before the break with a glorious, curled effort into the top left corner from 25 yards. He was a handful for the visitors all game, winning 10/15 duels, 6/9 aerial duels, and 100% of his tackles. Defensively he was superb, too, making five ball recoveries, two interceptions, and three clearances.
Gladbach maintained their position at the top of the Bundesliga after an entertaining 4-2 win over Frankfurt, with Thuram involved in two first-half goals. Indeed, the Frenchman scored the opening goal with a calm finish at the back post after some superb work from Breel Embolo. For the next, he has been credited with an assist for Oscar Wendt, but sorry, Marcus, the ball actually reached Wendt after a tackle from Gelson Fernandes. It was a hard-working outing from Thuram, though, as he was involved in 22 duels and made eight ball recoveries from the left wing.
Bayern maintained pressure on Gladbach by beating Union Berlin 2-1 to remain within a point of the leaders. After Benjamin Paverd gave the Munich side the lead, Robert Lewandowski made it two after half-time. There was an element of luck in it for the prolific Pole as the ball bounced back to him after an attempted opposition tackle, but he took full advantage to curl a neat finish into the bottom corner. He led the line well as he tends to do, sending seven passes into the final third and having nine touches inside the Union box.
You can still be on the losing side and be the game's star performer as Terodde proved after Koln were defeated 3-1 by Mainz. The forward actually opened the scoring following an intricate move from the visitors, with him rounding it off with an emphatic turn and finish into the bottom right corner with his left foot. After winning 10/13 duels and the majority of his aerial duels, too, he was definitely unlucky to be on the losing side.
Augsburg held Wolfsburg to a 0-0 draw on Sunday and a major contributing factor to them earning a point was the defensive performance from Uduokhai. He won 6/7 duels, 3/4 aerial duels, 100% of his tackles, and made an incredible 10 clearances at the back to frustrate the hosts. A cool head was required at the back as Wolfsburg searched for a winning goal, but his composure shone as he completed 45 out of 49 attempted passes.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Bayern's 2-1 result against Union Berlin may be surprising at first glance as the champions were expected to batter the Bundesliga newcomers. That would have been the case if not for goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz (7.8), who made eight saves on the day to keep the scoreline down.
ROUND TO FORGET
Frederik Ronnow (4.5), who was FC's Player of the Day just 10 days ago, went from hero to zero for Frankfurt as he continues to deputise for Kevin Trapp. He conceded four against Gladbach.