Bundesliga check: Head injuries are a growing concern

This is how the 30th Bundesliga matchday went

Matchday red cards/matchday excitement

You rarely see something like that: two red cards because of the same scene for the same team. The foul of the kick-off alone was worth seeing insofar as Bochum’s Konstantinos Stafylidis scrambled away from Freiburg’s Roland Sallai in the 68th minute, using both legs one after the other. The foul was bad enough, but what is the Bochum midfielder doing? Walk off the pitch and grin like a honey cake horse. His coach Thomas Reis, on the other hand, reacted extremely angry, so angry that he, too, was thrown off the pitch. Why? Not clear. The referees felt mobbed, but Reis says: “I did the ‘wipe’. I stand by that, but I meant my player. I definitely didn’t insult anyone, at most my player.” Either way: It was the first red card for a coach.

Even worse: In Bielefeld and Hoffenheim, players with serious head injuries had to be carried off the pitch again. It’s causing more and more headaches – literally and figuratively (More on this under picture of the day).

Matchday Winner

Well, Hertha hasn’t won anything yet. Neither a flowerpot nor the golden pineapple. But if rescuer oldie Felix Magath continues like this, the Berliners will pull themselves out of the relegation swamp. Albeit in slow motion: The Berliners have taken six points from the last four games. Rescue sounds different, but the 1-0 win in Augsburg puts the not-yet-big-city club out of the high-risk zone. “Football is not always explainable,” said Hertha striker Davie Selke later. Doesn’t have to be, as long as old master Magath knows what he’s doing. For example, using a prince named Boateng to get the old lady moving.

Game day loser

Borussia Monchengladbach. When Marco Rose announced his farewell to the Rhinelanders in the middle of last season in the direction of Dortmund, a world must have collapsed around the Nordpark that had been completely fine until then. Ten years of success since then as if cut off; the famous “plug” seems to have been pulled. The newcomer to the bench, Adi Hütter, at least brought a decent business card from Frankfurt, with fans wondering about his penchant for smock-like coats. But then successful manager Max Eberl left, completely burned out, in between Bayern were kicked out of the cup, but now, four games before the end, the team is bobbing somewhere in the middle of nowhere. And now the third derby defeat against arch-rivals from Cologne in a row – something that hasn’t happened in 30 years. Under Hütter, Gladbach never developed a recognizable style or even a game idea and now many regular players will leave the club, want to leave or have to be sold due to lack of money. This is what losers look like. Quo vadis, Borussia?

You should see this gate (again).

Actually, Hertha is one of the shooting galleries in the league this season. This time, however, everything was different. The old lady not only kept her own hut clean, but also conjured up a very fine booth in the front. Shortly after the restart, the Berliners grabbed the ball, which their opponents from FC Augsburg did not know what to do with after a throw-in. Then it’s fixed. Richter and Selke play one-two. Richter plays the ball back from the baseline in the penalty area. Suat Serdar thought along, switched quickly in the six-yard box and kicked the ball into the net with a heel kick. Can you do that? Sometimes more often. Only three strikers in the league scored less often than the Hertha strikers.

Game day picture