You would think that a match such as this would be the talk of the league, especially one as prestigious as the Bundesliga, right? Think again. A yawning point gap between Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen has taken a big chunk of excitement.
For a league that wants to position itself on the international stage, such a big margin between second and third is a big problem -- especially when the team sitting in first is running away with the league title without breaking a sweat.
Looking elsewhere around Europe, at least four teams still have a say in the outcome of the Premier League; Juventus and Napoli are battling out a head-to-head race at the top of Serie A and both Atletico and Real Madrid are still in the chase behind Barcelona in Spain's La Liga.
Meanwhile, in the Bundesliga, the excitement does not start until the race for third place. Even if Bayer vs. Dortmund is set to be a promising encounter, it will not attract the casual football fans that the Deutsche Fussball Liga , who licence the Bundesliga rights, would like it to. And with Bayern and BVB making the most out of their respective potential, while the others clubs have not, there does not appear to be a quick fix in sight for the Bundesliga.
VfL Wolfsburg, who were heralded to be the second force in Germany after the previous season as Bundesliga runners-up and cup winners, failed to establish themselves at the top. Without Kevin De Bruyne, the Wolves play a brand of football that is as uninspiring as their league position eighth. Meanwhile Gladbach and Schalke, who are always in the range of the European places, simply lack the quality and consistency to give either Dortmund or Bayern a run for their money.
