What to look out for on Matchday 22

Hamburg seek revenge in North-South derby

Hamburg could write a long book about their poor experiences facing Bayern over the past few seasons, yet one that will particularly stand out is when they came so close to claiming a point against the German champions back in September, only to lose 1-0 which saw Bruno Labbadia sacked as coach.

Many thought it was a rash decision at the time and an unfair way to treat a man who took the club to tenth in the previous campaign. Yet they now have another competent coach in Markus Gisdol, fully aware that Bayern are for the taking. As Hertha Berlin showed last weekend, Bayern are far from their best at the moment and while the Champions League steals their attention there are points to be had in Munich.

Hamburg have looked better under Gisdol and are on an unbeaten run of four games. Stretch that run out to their last 10 games in all competitions and it shows just three defeats. The Dinosaurs finally have form on their side and healthy dose of vengeance.

 

Leverkusen looking to bounce back against Mainz

Bayer Leverkusen are out of the Champions League. They may have another leg to play in Madrid, yet the way Atletico tore them apart on Tuesday night to win 4-2 suggested that little can be done to salvage their European campaign.

As such, fans of the club will now be turning their attention to getting back up the Bundesliga table and will fully expect coach Roger Schmidt to do exactly the same. In Mainz, Saturday's opponent, the former top-four side face either an easy bounce back or a potential banana skin.

Martin Schmidt's Mainz side have taken a real nose dive in form recently with six defeats in their last six away games in the league. All three points and a step closer to the top four are a must for Leverkusen this weekend.

 

Aubameyang needs goals against Freiburg

Some strikers are only as good as the amount of goals that they score on a regular basis; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is one of them. The Gabon forward is many things, but a provider of assists he is not. So when he stops scoring he very quickly becomes a problem for Borussia Dotmund.

Such a rut is exactly what Aubameyang is going through at the moment. Despite scoring 21 goals in all competitions this season, he hasn't scored in any of his last four games and has bagged just two in his last nine.

Yet standing in the way of any redemption in form are Freiburg - at home. A beast that'll undoubtedly do all they can to make sure the world class striker continues to struggle on. The Black Forest side have lost just three games at home this season and have won the other seven.

On Saturday we'll see if Dortmund and their out-of-form striker are up to the test.