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Mixed emotions for African stars in theBundesliga

Mixed emotions for African stars in theBundesliga

It was a weekend of mixed emotions for the African stars in matchday 24 of the Bundesliga.

Dortmund’s loss away to Augsburg has allowed Bayern Munich to catch up at the top of the league and they only sit behind Dortmund on goal difference.Achraf Hakimi was involved for Dortmund in Augsburg at right back but was unable to keep a clean sheet.

The Moroccan also received a yellow card to finish off a bad game for player and team.Leipzig took advantage of Monchengladbach’s loss to Bayern Munich to leapfrog them into third place.

Malian Amadou Haidara is still recovering from his injury and was unable to make his debut for Leipzig in the 1-0 win over Nuremberg.

However, Ishak Belfodil was on the scoresheet in Hoffenheim’s late loss to Eintracht Frankfurt. The Algerian striker put his team ahead midway through the second half after a good assist from Kasim Nuhu.

But five minutes later, Nuhu received his marching orders after his second bookable offence.Eintracht took advantage and were able to complete a turnaround, scoring the winner in the 96th minute.

Malian Almamy Toure started for the winning side but was subbed off with 20 minutes to go while Guinean defender Simon Falette was an unused substitute.

It was a game to forget for the four African stars at Schalke, losing 4-0 to Fortuna Dusseldorf. Senegal international Salif Sane, Algerian Nabil Bentaleb and Moroccans Hamza Mendyl and Amine Harit all played the full game but couldn’t stop Schalke’s poor run of form in the Bundesliga.There were four more African stars in Hertha’s 2-1 win over Mainz.

Winger turned striker Salomon Kalou started upfront for Hertha, but he was subbed off with 15 minutes to go. Jean-Pierre Gbamin and Anthony Ujah began the game but couldn’t provide a spark to stop Mainz’s recent poor run of results. Pierre Kunde was subbed on with 3 minutes to go but did not have enough time to change the result. 

Finally, Congolese Chadrac Akolo saw his Stuttgart side thump Hannover 5-1 at home. The midfielder was an unused substitute but will be delighted with the team’s complete performance.

To keep on top of all things African in the Bundesliga, make sure you tune in to StarTimes – the only channels that bring you the Bundesliga live and exclusive. 

Matchday 24 got underway on Friday when Borussia Dortmund travelled to Augsburg.The home side got off to a great start, taking the lead midway through the first half through Ji Dong-Won who netted for the third time this season.

The South Korean made it two on the hour and although a Paco Alcacer goal initiated a fierce Dortmund battle for an equaliser it was not to be and the log leaders slumped to their second season defeat.This enabled Bayern Munich to pull level on points with Dortmund and the club from the Bavarian capital made no mistake, slamming five past a luckless Borussia Moenchengladbach team.

Goals from Thomas Müller, Serge Gnabry, Javi Martinez and a brace from Robert Lewandowski gave Bayern a comfortable win, whilst Lars Stindl got a consolation goal for the hosts.

Leverkusen put a run of disappointing results behind them with a victory against Freiburg, courtesy of goals from Charles Aranguiz and Leon Bailey, while the game between Frankfurt and Hoffenheim produced a five-goal second half thriller, with Frankfurt scoring the winner five minutes into injury time.

Schalke’s poor season continued with a 4-0 hammering against Düsseldorf, Fortuna thought they scored after 22 minutes but Dodi Lukebakio’s goal was disallowed by VAR, ten minutes later Lukebakio did score for Düsseldorf.

After the hour mark two goals in six minutes were scored by Dawid Kownacki and Benito Raman, Kownacki scored again just before the end to make it two goals in three games.

In a bizarre incident after the game, a fans’ delegation confronted Schalke’s stand-in captain Benjamin Stambouli and demanded he give them back the captain’s arm band the fans had presented the players at the start of the season.

A tearful Stambouli did so and said he could understand their anger, adding that the players have to work hard to earn the fans’ respect again.

Stuttgart secured a great victory in their attempts to maintain their top flight status, beating Hanover 5-1. The result sees them open up a five point gap to 17th placed Hanover.In other matches, Leipzig moved into third with a 1-0 win at Nuremberg, while Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.

Hertha Berlin beat Mainz 2-1.Make sure you stay on top of all things Bundesliga by tuning in to StarTimes. The only channel that brings you the Bundesliga. Live and exclusively.

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