Bundesliga
Borussia Mönchengladbach have top spot in their sights when they head to league leaders RB Leipzig on Matchday 20, believing they have what it takes to return to a position at the summit which they held for eight consecutive Matchdays in the first half of the season.
Both sides have experienced wobbles since the Bundesliga restart, making Saturday evening's fixture an opportunity to dig in those studs and show just who has the strongest foundations for a serious tilt at the title, and bundesliga.com has done some digging of its own to determine where both sides stand with their respective ambitions.
1) Strength in the dugout
Two of the Bundesliga's youngest coaches will take their places in the dugouts this Saturday, but beyond their rookie status lies a wealth of experience and enough tactical nous to match the maestros. Marco Rose earned high praise for his work in Austria with Leipzig's sister club Red Bull Salzburg, but before bidding them farewell with a 2018/19 domestic league and cup double, adding to his Austrian Bundesliga crown the previous year and a run to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, he had already cut his teeth in the Austrian club's youth set-up. Salzburg's U19s breezed past the likes of Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid on their way to lifting the UEFA Youth League title in 2017, adding their name to those of previous winners Chelsea and Barcelona, and drawing deserved attention to a tactician who had started taking notes while playing under Jürgen Klopp at Mainz.
Although his curriculum may not yet contain an international title, Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann is already four years into a coaching career the envy of many of his peers, and he is still just 32. Like Rose, Nagelsmann learned the ropes with youth, coaching Hoffenheim's U19s to the national title when he was not even seven years older than most of his players. His promotion to the Hoffenheim hotseat as the Bundesliga's youngest ever coach, aged just 28, raised eyelids, but many more were raised by the way he guided them to an unimaginable survival when seemingly doomed to relegation, and followed that up by leading the Sinsheim club into Europe – first the Europa League and then the Champions League.
Both are seeking at least qualification for the latter this season, but few would bet against one doing so as Bundesliga champion.
Watch: How Nagelsmann has improved Leipzig
2) Contrasting pasts, common future
On the subject of experience, these two Bundesliga sides could not be any further apart. At one end of the spectrum are the Foals of five Bundesliga titles, three DFB Cups and two UEFA Cups' fame, at the other a club just 10 years old, still seeking their first item of essential silverware. They could not be any more closely aligned in their desire to get their hands on the title this season, though. "I think it's cool to be top and we want to stay there," said Rose after guiding Gladbach to their best ever start to a Bundesliga season, with eight wins in their first 11 games. Stay there they did for eight consecutive weeks until a 2-1 defeat at Wolfsburg on Matchday 15 saw them toppled by, you guessed it, Leipzig.
The Red Bulls have been in command ever since, although defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 19 saw their lead cut to just a single point from Bayern Munich, and two from their Matchday 20 opponents. "We go into the season with ambition and to win titles," said Nagelsmann after confirming he had joined the club with the clear aim of winning the league. "We're already in a position to challenge Bayern." As they showed by becoming the only side to have inflicted defeat on Gladbach at their Borussia-Park home back on Matchday 3, they are also in a position to challenge their guests this weekend, and fend off the first tangible threat of their leadership.
Watch: Leipzig win reverse fixture in Borussia-Park
3) Formidable Foals meet robust Bulls
In terms of defensive diligence, the Foals have been unrivalled in the Bundesliga so far this season. Rose's men have conceded just 21 goals, with goalkeeper Yann Sommer keeping five clean sheets and Nico Elvedi, Matthias Ginter and Stefan Lainer running a tight ship. Much of the credit for the best defensive record in the Bundesliga this season must lie at the feet – or the gloves – of Swiss custodian Sommer.
"Yann's saved us time and time again this season," said captain Lars Stindl after last weekend's 3-1 win over Mainz, a result which could have gone the other way had it not been for some Sommer heroics. "We had a great keeper to rely on, as we've had all season." They are going to need him on Saturday too, against the league's second most prolific attack.
Leipzig have only conceded two more than Gladbach, however, and Peter Gulacsi has kept four clean sheets in the process. Getting close enough to testing the very last line of the Leipzig defence is where the main challenge lies for their opponents, on the other hand.
In Lukas Klostermann, Dayot Upamecano and Marcel Halstenberg, they have three hulking defenders – all in excess of 6' – at the heart of their defence, restricting their opponents to just 10 shots on their goal per game, with only Bayern averaging fewer.
4) Where there's Werner, there are goals
While it may be true that two of the Bundesliga's best defences will be on show this Saturday, it is equally fair to say that some of the league's leading attacking talent will make the Red Bull Arena the place to be this weekend. Timo Werner drew a blank on Matchday 19 to drop behind Robert Lewandowski at the top of the scoring charts, but with 20 goals to his name this season, he is more likely to find the back of the net than not. The 23-year-old has scored in 12 Bundesliga outings this season – hardly surprising since he has taken 80 shots on goal, fewer only than Lewandowski and 23 more than his nearest challenger in that particular classification, Serge Gnabry.
Gladbach's 36 goals this season have been spread over several shoulders, with Alassane Plea's brace on Matchday 19 making him their leading scorer on seven, just one more than summer hit signing Marcus Thuram. The 22-year-old has made such a strong impression during his first season in the Bundesliga, he was named three times in a row as the Bundesliga's Rookie of the Month. In addition to his six goals, he has set up five more for his teammates in a team where a goalscoring threat can arrive from a whole variety of avenues, with 11 different names on the scoresheet and 24 goals coming from their forwards.
Nullify Werner and half of the job may be done for Gladbach, but Leipzig have to close considerably more down to tame a hurtling herd of Foals.
5) Bouncebackability
Gladbach have gained another dimension this season with Rose's side turning around the most deficits to win games this season. "We're a very positive team and never put our heads in the sand," said midfielder Jonas Hofmann. "It's no coincidence that we've picked up so many points from losing positions, and that speaks volumes about the team's mentality." The Foals have picked up 12 points this season from games in which they have fallen 1-0 behind (twice against Mainz, against Fortuna Düsseldorf and, tellingly, against Bayern).
Leipzig are not ones to throw in the towel either, though. In fact, they are next on the list of clubs recovering from blows to pick up points: three wins and three draws – including at home to Bayern for a total of 12 points salvaged from potential defeat. More worrying for Leipzig, perhaps, is the fact they fell behind in nine of their 16 games so far this season, losing three of them. Giving an advantage to Gladbach this Saturday could prove fatal: the Foals have won all eight of the games in which they scored first this season, and are particularly hard to rein in.