After RB Leipzig was held to a 1-1 draw by Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich now has the advantage in the Bundesliga title race. The fight for the Bundesliga title in recent seasons has been a one-horse race, with Bayern Munich taking all before them and often having the title already secured with games remaining.
However, this season, with Bayern’s defensive fragilities, the waters have been choppy at best during times this campaign. After navigating through their troubled period, Bayern found themselves in one all might fight to retain their league title.
Their staying power has been incredible this season. At one stage, Bayern Leverkusen, Wolfsburg, Borussia Dortmund, and Eintracht Frankfurt were all within three or four points of the leaders with Leverkusen even sitting top at various stages before Christmas.
Fast forward to the middle of March and Bayern are 18 points clear of Leverkusen in sixth, 16 points clear of Dortmund in fifth, 14 clear of Frankfurt in fourth, and 10 clear of Wolfsburg in third.
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Throughout the last couple of months, two sides have broken away from the pack in Die Roten and RB Leipzig. Julian Nagelsmann’s side has done well to keep pace with Die Roten for the majority of the campaign.
Before late heroics from Leon Goretzka and Robert Lewandowski against Dortmund last week, Rekordmeister’s lead over Leipzig was nothing as at the time they were level on points.
However now Hansi Flick’s side has their sights firmly on the title and is now odds on to retain it, even with nine matchdays to go. Leipzig’s only hope is that they win the head-to-head clash against Die Roten and win remaining league games with Bayern dropping points to other teams.
After their 3-1 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday thanks to goals from gun midfielder Leon Goretzka, Lewy again and Serge Gnabry, Die Roten put the pressure firmly on Leipzig to secure three points on Sunday when they faced fifth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
It's getting tight down there 😬#BLMatchday pic.twitter.com/gYXag29Zo5
— Bundesliga English (@Bundesliga_EN) March 14, 2021
After an Emil Forsberg strike, his sixth of the campaign, just two minutes into the second half it appeared Leipzig were on their way to keep pace with the league leaders. However, after some neat build-up play from Frankfurt, the ball found its way to Daichi Kamada who shot with the outside of his foot to volley home to bring his side level.
Leipzig had the best home record and best defensive record in the division now firmly had the pressure gauge turned up a notch by the visitors. Leipzig went in search of a goal that never came as the defending champions now holds the advantage in the title race.
In reality for RB Leipzig, their encounter with Die Roten on April 4 now has to be a game in which they secure three points. Not only that, Julian Nagelsmann’s side will have to beat Arminia Bielefeld before they clash with the league leaders.
The last thing you want to do is hand Rekordmeister any kind of advantage in the title race and on Sunday, Leipzig did just that.