"Ones to watch" for Bundesliga Matchday 32

1. Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund):

Many people had doubts over Sancho‘s return to the Bundesliga in January. Sancho fell out with Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag and had barely played any minutes since the beginning of the 2023/24 season.

His performance against Paris Saint-Germain, however, proved everybody wrong. He is once again able to show why United decided to pay €85m to get him to Manchester.

With a weak Augsburg side being Dortmund‘s next opponent, BVB coach Edin Terzic has promised to rotate the team and give other players some game time. Should Sancho still be involved in this game, he‘ll make sure to leave his mark - and here are three reasons for why he‘s going to do it:

1. Sancho has been in good form for a few weeks now: not only did he score a screamer against RB Leipzig a week ago, he outperformed everybody else in a semifinal of the Champions League!
2. Augsburg have conceded six goals in the last two matches, four of them coming from wide players/wingers. Sancho will use Augsburg‘s current weakness to his advantage.
3. In six games against Augsburg, Sancho was able to score three and assist three goals - one of his best returns against any team in his career.

2. Marvin Ducksch (Werder Bremen):

Ducksch has had a rollercoaster of a season so far: he got nominated for the German national team in November for the first time in his career - a huge personal highlight. On the other hand, Ducksch went through a period in which he played nine games without scoring at all.

The fans started to call Ducksch out in this period: after all, he was supposed to step up after Füllkrug‘s transfer to Dortmund in the summer. If you look at how this season has played out so far, you'll see that if Ducksch is in bad form, Werder Bremen is in bad form.

But the striker was able to come out of this difficult situation and help Bremen even more than before! Here are three reasons, why you should look out for Marvin Ducksch in Bremen's match against Gladbach:

1. In the last two games, Ducksch got into scoring form again, directly contributing to four of the last five goals for Bremen - essentially getting his team six out of a possible six points.
2. Ducksch‘s experience is extremely important for Bremen‘s current situation: they won‘t have to fight against relegation anymore, instead they could even challenge for the European places! Bremen are just three points away from seventh place Freiburg…  Also: if Ducksch wants to be part of the national team for the Euros, he has to deliver non-stop!
3. Ducksch has scored three goals in the last two matches against Gladbach - if anyone knows how to score against the Borussia, it’s him!

3. Kevin Stöger (VfL Bochum):

He is the man of the hour in Bochum: the number seven of the club, Kevin Stöger. The Austrian has had a superb season for Bochum who many believed, would be further down the Bundesliga table at this moment in time.

But right now, Bochum has a fighting chance to stay in the Bundesliga for another season - and Stöger played a vital part in getting them there!

After another top performance against Hoffenheim, Stöger and Bochum are looking to get points against a struggling Union Berlin as well: Here are three reasons, why you should watch them try:

1. As already indicated, Stöger has been Bochum‘s player of the season so far. His seven goals and eight assists have gotten Bochum 13 (out of 30) points this season alone!
2. Stöger is in top form, contributing to three of Bochum‘s last four goals. He single-handedly won Bochum the game against Hoffenheim last week!
3. The game against Union Berlin will be special for Stöger - he‘s been rumoured to go to them next season! He will be fired up, wanting to impress his possible ne next employer.

4. Deniz Undav (VfB Stuttgart):

You may be surprised to see a Stuttgart player instead of a Bayern player on this list before their upcoming clash for 2nd place in the Bundesliga - can Stuttgart actually beat Munich? Looking at Undav‘s stars in the last few games, we have every reason to believe so!

Finally, we have two equally good teams for the „Südderby“ - something, you could argue, that hasn't happened since Stuttgart's title winning season in 2007! It's very likely, that Stuttgart are going to lose a few key players (maybe even their coach) after this season, so it might be the last “real” Südderby for a while.

Deniz Undav and Serhou Guirassy build the best striking partnership in Stuttgart's club history - and Undav himself might even become Germany's starting striker for the Euros in the summer! But before that happens, here are three reasons why he will be the deciding factor in this match-up:

1. As others on this list, Undav is currently in top form: four goals and two assists in his last five games for Stuttgart are amazing. In this period of time, Undav was almost responsible for breaking Leverkusen's unbeaten streak!
2. Bayern are in the middle of a season defining Champions League campaign; Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel himself said on the press conference last week, that Real Madrid (Bayern's opponent in the Champions League semifinal) is always in the head of the players in the staff - Undav has proven (against Leverkusen) that he is ready to exploit any weakness and/or distraction there is.
3. After Stuttgart's loss against Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal quarterfinal, Undav called that match “the clash of the best two german teams this season”, excluding Bayern Munich in the process. Now it's up to him to prove everyone that he was right.

5. Jonas Wind (VfL Wolfsburg):

Hasenhüttl's Wolfsburg have so far not been able to perform as well as they would have liked. But that only goes for the visual performances: they still managed to get three wins out of five games. Every match has been close, but on the last two occasions, Wolfsburg came out on top.

One man who had a brilliant start to the season but had a dip in form after (similar to the whole team) is danish striker Jonas Wind. Seven goals in his first six games are a great return, but since the year 2024 started, Wind only scored one goal!

That one goal has come two weeks ago on matchday 30 against Bochum - savinf Wolfsburg from a direct fight for against relegation. Now, Wolfsburg play a team in Darmstadt that already is relegated - here are three reasons, why Wind will continue his newly found form:

1. Darmstadt have nothing to play for anymore; normally, this can create a space of freedom and creativity for the players, but after their perfomances in the last few weeks, it also could lead to a sort of weariness for the players - one Wolfsburg and their leading striker will exploit! And let's not forget: in this special season, Wolfsburg could still play for the European places, if they continue to perform!
2. Wind was able to beat new signing Kevin Behrens for a place in the starting eleven in the last few weeks. After his goal against Bochum, Wind has shown his confidence and believe that made him the Bundesliga top striker in the beginning of the season.
3. The participation in this summer's Euros is a huge motivation for many players. If Wind wants to be playing for the Danish national team, he has to find his goalscoring form and maintain it!

“BONUS”:

This late into the Bundeliga season, every single game has something to offer - and, generally, every team has something to play for! For matchday 32, we wanted to include some special mentions for match-ups, which haven't been mentioned yet:

• Hoffenheim-Leipzig: Leipzig want to cement their place in the top four of the league - top striker Lois Openda will help them achieve that!
• Köln-Freiburg: Its's Köln's will to survive against Streich's third last game as a coach - and sadly for one side, Gregoritsch, Doan and Sallai will most likely seal Köln's relegation to the 2. Buli.
• Frankfurt-Leverkusen: Leverkusen have come out of their celebration phase and are determined to stay unbeaten. Florian Wirtz will be the one to watch, just like against Roma.
• Heidenheim-Mainz: While Heidenheim are dreaming of reaching the European places, Mainz's current run of form will be enough to get them of the relegation place after this match. Barreiro will be Mainz's hero of the weekend.