The celebrations were not what they might have been. Bayern Munich had planned a Christmas display after the Friday night game with RB Leipzig, the full stop to their calendar year, which was swiftly cancelled after news filtered through of the awful attacks in Magdeburg, as the club’s CEO, Jan-Christian Dreesen, explained on the pitch at full time. While the mood was understandably dampened, Bayern had said what they wanted to on the field, just as Bayer Leverkusen did later on Saturday. In case you were in any doubt, there are just two to watch in the title race in the second half of the Bundesliga campaign. The team of 2024, and the team that is determined to make 2025 theirs.
A 5-1 statement by the leaders answered in kind less than 24 hours later by the champions. Leverkusen needed their equally resounding win over Freiburg to keep pace with Bayern after their demolition of RB Leipzig. They also needed it to cut away the rest of the pack, to clarify the title race to come. Never mind the four points by which Leverkusen trail Bayern. It is the five that separate the second-placed Werkself from Eintracht Frankfurt in third, after the latter’s surprise home defeat to Mainz (last week’s conquerors of Bayern), which mean that the table has been adjusted to more reflect reality going into the Winterpause.
