Bundesliga, Week 12: Bayern Munich held, but the gap doesn’t close

If a team is going to drop points, there are worse times to falter than in an away match against a regional rival, and on a day when your other rivals falter. Bayern Munich were held by Nürnburg on Saturday, but their position on top of the Bundesliga table wasn’t affected in the slightest as second-placed Schalke fell to Bayer Leverkusen. Unlike Schalke, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund managed to win their matches, keeping some small hint of pressure on the league leaders.

Dortmund went up three minutes in, courtesy of Mario Götze, who had a dominant first half. Robert Lewandowski scored the opener, though he didn’t do much more than stand in the right place and let the ball bounce off him after a terrific run from Götze. Incredibly, Fürth came up with an instant answer. BVB’s defense fell apart on a through ball by Robert Zillner, which was chipped in over Roman Weidenfeller by Zoltán Stieber.

Bayern Munich have the opportunity to push their lead atop the table when they travel to Nürnberg on Saturday in the Bavarian Derby. A win for Bayern will equal a Bundesliga record for their eighth straight road victory in the league.

The two clubs could not be experiencing any complete opposite fortunes so far. Bayern have won ten of eleven matches to start the season with an astonishing +28 goal differential. Nürnberg have only managed to pick up four points out of their last twenty four with some awful performances to show for it.

After random midweek international matches, the Bundesliga returns on Saturday for a full slate of matches. There’s no Friday game this week due to the international matches being on Wednesday. The big match this weekend is the oldest Bavarian Derby as Bayern Munich travels to Nürnberg

Borussia Dortmund vs Greuther Fürth - 3:30 PM CET / 9:30 AM EST