Bundesliga Preview: What to watch in German soccer this weekend

BERLIN (AP) — Beers and tears are set to flow in the Bundesliga amid Bayern Munich’s title celebrations, farewell tributes, and two teams potentially relegated from the division this weekend.

Bottom two Bochum and Holstein Kiel could be demoted on Saturday if their and other results don’t go their way.

Bayern, which clinched its 34th German championship last weekend with two rounds to spare, will be presented with the trophy after its home match against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, when the departing Thomas Müller will be honored after 25 years at the club.

England star Harry Kane will finally get to take part in title-winning celebrations.

Meanwhile, a host of teams are fighting for European qualification with just two points between Freiburg, Borussia Dortmund and Leipzig in the race for the last Champions League qualification spot. Only the top four teams qualify for Europe’s premier competition.

— Bochum needs to avoid defeat at Mainz to stave off demotion. Even a win might not be enough if Heidenheim wins at Union Berlin at the same time. Heidenheim is third from bottom, four points clear of Bochum, in the relegation playoff place.

— Kiel would be demoted by a defeat to Champions League-chasing Freiburg if Heidenheim beats Union. Freiburg, which should have beaten Bayer Leverkusen last weekend, will be targeting three points to defend the all-important fourth place.

— Borussia Dortmund has put itself in contention for the Champions League with three straight wins since its 2-2 draw with Bayern. Niko Kovač’s team next visits Leverkusen on Sunday, when the home team will be under pressure to produce a good showing to appease fans frustrated by the speculation over Xabi Alonso’s future as coach.

— Third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt can secure Champions League qualification with a win over visiting St. Pauli on Sunday. Even a draw will be enough if Freiburg fails to beat Kiel or Dortmund fails to beat Leverkusen earlier. But St. Pauli could be playing for its survival, depending on other results on Saturday. A win would guarantee the Hamburg team’s place in the Bundesliga next season.

— Dortmund forward Serhou Guirassy scored twice against Wolfsburg last weekend and already has 19 goals in his first season with the club. His goals could prove vital if Kovač’s team is to complete its renaissance with Champions League qualification. Dortmund was 11th when Kovač took over.

— Frankfurt forward Jean-Matteo Bahoya is the fastest player in the Bundesliga, clocked at more than 37 kph (23 mph) against Bochum in the 26th round. The 19-year-old French forward has made 32 appearances for Frankfurt this season.

— Jamal Musiala is still working on his comeback for Bayern. The 22-year-old Germany star hasn’t played since early April because of a left thigh injury but the club is hopeful he’ll be fit for the revamped Club World Cup in the United States next month.

— Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano has returned to training after a knee operation, but Kim Min-jae needs more time after an Achilles problem.

— Heidenheim goalkeeper Kevin Müller left hospital on Monday after a serious head injury in last weekend’s game against Bochum, which also took a heavy toll on Bochum forward Philipp Hofmann. Hofmann broke a rib causing his lung to collapse and will miss the rest of the season.

— Mainz defender Dominik Kohr is out for the rest of the season with a left knee injury from Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Frankfurt.

— St. Pauli winger Elias Saad is also out with a right thigh injury from last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Werder Bremen, becoming the club’s fourth player to miss the rest of the season after James Sands, Karol Mets and captain Jackson Irvine.

— The Bild tabloid reported this week that Dortmund has decided against offering new deals to Emre Can, Julian Brandt, Pascal Groß and Niklas Süle.

— The Ruhr Nachrichten reports that Dortmund is interested in bringing another Bellingham to the club, Jobe, the younger brother of Jude, who had a successful stint in Dortmund before his big-money move to Real Madrid. The 19-year-old Jobe Bellingham plays for Sunderland in England's second division.

— Liverpool is targeting Stuttgart midfielder Angelo Stiller, according to the Stuttgarter Nachrichten. The local newspaper reports Stuttgart would demand a club record fee of 60 million euros to let the defensive midfielder go. The 24-year-old Stiller has played almost every game for Stuttgart this season and made four appearances for Germany. Some are calling him the “new Toni Kroos.”

— “I’m definitely keen to leave my comfort zone at some point and experience something new.” — Florian Wirtz stokes transfer speculation in a Sports Illustrated interview.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bayern players thank the fans at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Bayern's Harry Kane applauds supporters at the end of the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Mainz's Jonathan Burkhardt, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FSV Mainz 05 and Eintracht Frankfurt, at Mewa Arena, in Mainz, Germany, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Torsten Silz/dpa via AP)

Mainz's Paul Nebel, foreground, celebrates the goal by Jonathan Burkhardt, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FSV Mainz 05 and Eintracht Frankfurt, at Mewa Arena, in Mainz, Germany, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Torsten Silz/dpa via AP)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)