There was a chilling message delivered by Bayern Munich the night after Halloween: even with a second-choice side, they dismissed Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday night, winning 3-0 and remaining five points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.
Not a classic, truthfully it was over by half-time, but it was a win built on — perhaps — the pass of the season by Tom Bischof, who found a perfect angle to expose Jarell Quansah and send Serge Gnabry running away to score the game’s first goal. As assists go, it was a work of art — shaped and weighted perfectly, allowing Gnabry to accelerate away without ever checking his stride.
Watch out for Bischof; he played as a full-back on Saturday, but he’s a cultured central midfielder, who has already played for Germany and who — as everybody knows by now — can do almost anything with his left foot.
He’s in a fortuitous situation. Bischof joined Bayern on a free transfer this summer after his Hoffenheim contract expired. It meant he did not arrive with the pressure of a big fee weighing upon him. And as a young player from outside the club’s academy, his entry into the first team has not attracted the sort of clamour that surrounded Aleksandar Pavlovic or Lennart Karl. For a young Germany international to join Bayern and still fly under the radar is rare, and yet that’s almost what’s happening.
What next? It’s still not entirely clear what position Bischof will play over the long term. He’s artistic and creative with the ball, which makes him suited to an attacking midfield role. But he also has a combative nature that means that he can be used as a No 8, as well as the capacity to control the rhythm of a game, potentially from further back.
Being so versatile should allow Bischof to compete for different roles over time — and to get plenty of minutes during this formative period. Expect a really interesting, productive career to grow out of it.
Bischof is not centre stage of the Bundesliga Briefing this week though, that’s Borussia Monchengladbach. They finally, finally won a game. Heading to St. Pauli’s Millerntor-Stadion on Saturday, Gladbach had not won in the league since March. They have suffered all sorts of indignities this season. Head coach Gerardo Seoane was sacked after taking one point from the first three games. In the fourth match, they found themselves 5-0 down at half-time against Eintracht Frankfurt (before losing 6-4), and sports director Roland Virkus was forced to resign shortly after.
Virkus was replaced by Rouven Schroder, previously managing director for sport at Red Bull Salzburg, and he has been generally supportive of interim head coach Eugen Polanski, who — despite some dreadful results and performances — is being given an extended opportunity to earn the job full-time.
Those chances are now considerably higher after thrashing St. Pauli 4-0. It was the first Bundesliga win of Polanski’s senior coaching career and, for the first time in months, Gladbach looked like a properly balanced side. St. Pauli are in crisis and their own head coach, Alexander Blessin, is coming under increasing pressure, but this was a game that Gladbach absolutely had to win, which they did with real conviction.
Elsewhere, Heidenheim held on for a valuable 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz and Werder Bremen drew 1-1, and on Sunday, Koln beat Hamburg 4-1 after some very contentious refereeing.
Hamburg had two goals disallowed — one correctly, one more debatably — and two players sent off. Immanuel Pherai was given a second yellow card after stumbling and falling into an opponent. That was extremely harsh. And then Fabio Vieira, who had already been sent off once this season, was shown a second yellow after complaining that Marvin Schwaebe, the Koln goalkeeper, was wasting time.
Former Bundesliga referee Manuel Grafe was damning in his assessment on social media, accusing official Daniel Schlager of “being over emotional”, “getting carried away”, and “drawing attention to himself in a way that was unacceptable”.
#Bundesliga #Schiedsrichter #VAR
Fazit Ref:
– Aberkennung final 1:2 korrekt
-1. G/R korrekt
-2. G/R völlig überzogen/sich als Ref emotionalisieren lassen, was nicht geht
-> so das Spiel final entschieden&gesamten Fokus völlig unnötig auf sich zu gezogen..https://t.co/rw30m1QKEk— Manuel Gräfe (@graefe_manuel) November 2, 2025
Koln played well and deserved their win, but both red cards — within minutes of each other — happened when the game was nicely poised at 2-1.
“It could have turned into a really cool game in the final stages if those external factors hadn’t ensured that it was decided in a different way,” said Hamburg head coach Merlin Polzin in his press conference, taking issue with Herr Schlager’s main character energy.
More positively, RB Leipzig also beat Stuttgart this weekend, to further underline their improvement under Ole Werner. Assan Ouedraogo had another excellent game in midfield — he’s a mighty talent — and Yan Diomande had his best game since joining from Leganes in the summer.
Internally, Leipzig are incredibly excited by Diomande, believing he can be a €100million player in the future. On the evidence of his Stuttgart performance, during which he forced an own goal from Jeff Chabot and (brilliantly) scored himself, his reputation is likely to grow very quickly.
Development is never linear but, with skill, speed and wonderful attacking instincts, Diomande has everything he needs to succeed and live up to that billing.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim’s improvement under Christian Ilzer continues. They won their third straight game, beating Wolfsburg 2-3 at the Volkswagen Arena. Ilzer came close to losing his job over the summer, just a few months into his tenure, and Hoffenheim were among the relegation contenders when this season began. But they find themselves sixth and improving by the week.
Former West Ham full-back Vladimir Coufal has been one of the best free-agent signings in the division. Fisnik Asllani, a 23-year-old Kosovo international forward, has been a revelation since returning from Elversberg on loan, scoring five goals in six starts. Ivorian winger Bazoumana Toure (19) is becoming an intriguing counter-attacking player; his work off the ball has really developed under Ilzer.
Hoffenheim’s broader recruitment over the summer was astute. Anton Stach was sold to Leeds United for €20m, but with that money the club signed Leon Avdullahu (Basel), Albian Hajdari (Lugano) and Wouter Burger (Stoke City), who are all under 24, all started on Sunday and have made 24 Bundesliga appearances between them this season. Tim Lemperle (23), joined on a free transfer from Koln and is also part of the overhaul.
To some, Hoffenheim are an aberration. The place itself is a village which is home to a few thousand people, and back in 1989, the team had just been relegated to the eighth tier of West German football.
Most likely, they would still be there, were it not for Dietmar Hopp, the founder of software company SAP.
Hopp played for the club as a child. As an adult — and a billionaire — he has been their benefactor, taking them all the way to the Bundesliga.
It’s been quite a journey in between. Actually, between 2000 and 2005, they were coached by a young Hansi Flick. Long before winning a treble with Bayern and coaching Germany and Barcelona, Flick — then in his thirties — won Hoffenheim promotion from the fourth tier of German football in 2001. In 2008, many millions of euros later, Ralf Rangnick would coach them to promotion to the Bundesliga, before Julian Nagelsmann led them to a record third-place finish in 2018.
Not that that has bought the club much affection. When German football’s 50+1 rule was introduced in 1998, exemptions were afforded to Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg on account of relationships with a single investor (Bayer AG and Volkswagen, respectively) that had lasted 20 years or more.
In 2014, in recognition of Hopp’s long-term patronage, Hoffenheim became the third club to be granted an exemption, making them (and Hopp) the focus of protests ever since. In 2023, a share transfer from Hopp back to the members made the club compliant with 50+1, but Hoffenheim still occupy a strange place in German football.
Ideologically so, but literally too. Hoffenheim do not actually play in Hoffenheim. Rather, their PreZero Arena is on the outskirts of Sinsheim, which is a few miles away, and anyone who has been there will tell you what an odd away day it is.
For now, though, having avoided the relegation playoff last season by just three points, they sit in an unlikely European place. An underdog story? No, but a dramatic turnaround all the same and Ilzer is doing a fine job.
And the tennis balls are back!
The opening stages of Augsburg against Borussia Dortmund were disrupted on Friday night, as Dortmund fans in the gaesteblock protested their kickoff time.
Beim Spiel zwischen dem #BVB und dem #FCA stehen zu Beginn die beiden Fan-Lager im Mittelpunkt. Das steckt dahinter.https://t.co/bhyMxJXNh6
— Funke Sport (@FunkeSport) October 31, 2025
The Friday 8.30pm slot has never been popular and in many instances with good reason, given what it asks of travelling supporters. Dortmund to Augsburg on the train takes at least five hours — if Deutsche Bahn is running on time — and the journey back (leaving after midnight) would have been closer to seven.
Fan power matters here, too. As part of a previous broadcasting rights package that ran from 2017 to 2021, the Bundesliga agreed to five Monday night games each season. That was even less popular and was abandoned in November 2018, after protests involving tennis balls, confetti, banners and even boycotts forced a climbdown. The league had to honour the terms of the signed deal, but discontinued Monday night games from 2021 onwards.
Germany likes its football on a Saturday.
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