Bundesliga Matchday 11 Recap: Hat-tricks, comebacks, & 100% home records

Matchday 11 in the Bundesliga saw upsets, red cards, hat-tricks, and great comebacks. As the league begins to take shape ahead of the winter break, here is your Bundesliga recap of matchday 11. 

Hat-trik Schick 

Patrik Schick was the star player for Bayer Leverkusen as they came from two goals down to beat FC Heidenheim 5-2 at the BayArena. 

Xabi Alonso’s side were 0-2 down in the opening 21 minutes thanks to some lack-luster defending. The champions finally got going on the half an hour mark when Exequiel Palacios’ deflected effort found the net. Schick then got his first of the day with a delicate chip over Kevin Müller to make the scores level at the break. 

There was only going to be one winner in the second half; Schick got his second 6 minutes into the second half before completing his hat-trick with a header 20 minutes from time. Granit Xhaka’s long-range effort made it 5-2 to round-off a brilliant comeback. 

It’s an important win for B04 but possibly even more so for the Schick. Currently the only fit striker, the 28-year-old took his chance by the horns and let Alsono know that he can be the man to lead the forward line. 

Dortmund’s Perfect Record

Borussia Dortmund maintained their 100% win record at home in the Bundesliga with a dominant 4-0 over SC Freiburg. The victory sends Nuri Şahin’s side into 5th place, just two points off 3rd. 

BVB opened the scoring after just six minutes with a clever turn and finish by summer-signing Maximillian Beier.

Freiburg missed a massive chance to draw level but after that, it was all Dortmund. They eventually doubled their lead five minutes before the break thanks to Felix Nmecha, whose long-range effort wrong-footed the goalkeeper. 

Things got even worse for Freiburg when Patrick Osterhage was shown a second yellow card. The resulting free kick allowed Julian Brandt to rifle the ball into the top corner, providing him with his first Bundesliga goal this season. Jamie Gittens rounded off the scoring in the 77th minute before Freiburg went down to 9 men in the final seconds. 

Dortmund’s domestic home record will be put to the ultimate test in matchday 12 as they welcome league leaders Bayern Munich. 

Christian Ilzer’s Instant Impact 

New Hoffenheim manager Christian Ilzer got off to a winning start in an enthralling encounter with RB Leipzig which ended 4-3. 

It was The Saxons who struck first thanks to captain Willi Orban but almost instantly Hoffenheim were back level. Adam Hložek’s great footwork inside the box allowed him space to fire the ball into the roof of the net. 

Leipzig took a leaf out of Hoffenheim’s book and they themselves struck back two minutes later to make it 1-2; it was already a game where the defences were not at the races. 

Hoffenheim found themselves level again five minutes into the second half when Tom Bischof’s freekick hit the post and went in. That was a first senior goal for the 19-year-old as well as TSG’s first set piece goal of the campaign. 

You felt it wasn’t going to be TSG’s game when with just over 20 minutes to go Stanley Nsoki turned the ball into his own net. 

However, two goals in the space of 4 minutes (82nd & 86th) from Hložek and Jacob Brunn Larsen secured a winning start for their new Austrian head coach. 

The win puts Hoffenheim into 13th with 8th place Mainz 05 up next. 

Around The Grounds 

Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top of the table to 6 points with a late hat-trick from Harry Kane. The Englishman’s third was the pick of the punch as he almost mimicked the Bundesliga logo with his control before heading into the net. 

Mönchengladbach moved up to 6th in the table with a 2-0 victory of St. Pauli. Unbeaten in their last five Bundesliga matches, Gladbach are looking like they could possibly be European contenders once again. 

Eintracht Frankfurt moved up to 2nd in the table with a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. The Eagles have been one of the most entertaining teams to watch so far this season and have now won their last three fixtures. It remains to be seen whether they can keep pace and challenge Bayern at the top. 

Elsewhere, there were wins for VfL Wolfsburg, VfB Stuttgart, and Mainz 05. 

GGFN | Jamie Allen