Some clarity at the top – Karlsruhe and Bielefeld have seized control of the automatic promotion spots and threaten to leave the competition in the dust. It wasn’t easy however, as KSC needed a late goal to beat down a desperately battling Babelsberg. Arminia also had a tough assignment, but finally overpowered the difficult Wehen squad (Note that Wehen has lost fewer games than anybody but the top 3). The Bielefeld Alm exploded in cheers when Arminia finally took control, as Wehen gave no quarter throughout the match.

Preußen Münster is in control of the playoff spot, a difficult effort at Offenbach gives them the critical 3 points.

The biggest “loser” is probably Osnabrück. They faced off in a critical battle with Heidenheim, and the hard fought match ended up breaking the soul of the Vfl fans, as FCH scored the equalizer in injury time. The resulting draw means that VfL drops further behind, and unlike their competition, they have no makeup games to potentially gain points. Obviously a decent result for Heidenheim.

The relegation battle is if anything even hotter than the promotion race. Erfurt got a huge win against Haching to save slightly above the morass. Dortmund II is making a late charge, and they got a great win over Darmstadt in a direct relegation battle. This allows the junior BVBers to move out of a relegation spot for the first time in ages.

Hansa Rostock probably ended worries about teh drop with a wild shootout at Aachen, who despite assured relegation is still giving decent effort.

Stuttgarter Kickers also got a great result at Burghausen, under their new coach Massimo Morales. Marco Grüttner (17 goals) turned the game with a 2nd half hat-trick, giving the Kickers critical points.

Upcoming midweek are a a bunch of makeup matches.

Total attendance this round was 59,531 (avg 5,953)

 	
Alemannia Aachen        -   Hansa Rostock	 3:4 (2:1)    9,323
Karlsruher SC	        -   SV Babelsberg 03	 2:1 (1:0)   12,102
Rot-Weiß Erfurt	        -   SpVgg Unterhaching	 1:0 (0:0)    4,245
Wacker Burghausen	-   Stuttgarter Kickers	 1:4 (1:1)    2,200
VfB Stuttgart II	-   Hallescher FC	 3:0 (0:0)      680
VfL Osnabrück	        -   1. FC Heidenheim	 2:2 (1:1)    9,600
Arminia Bielefeld	-   SV Wehen Wiesbaden	 3:1 (1:1)   10,399
Borussia Dortmund II    -   SV Darmstadt 98	 1:0 (0:0)    1,108
1. FC Saarbrücken       -   Chemnitzer FC	 2:0 (1:0)    3,711
Kickers Offenbach       -   Preußen Münster	 0:1 (0:0)    6,163	


 1  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	33    20   9 	4     58:21  +37     69 
 2  Arminia Bielefeld	  	33    19   10 	4     55:27  +28     67
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Preußen Münster	  	32    17   11 	4     55:26  +29     62
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  VfL Osnabrück	  	33    18   7 	8     55:33  +22     61 
 5  1. FC Heidenheim	  	32    18   6 	8     60:43  +17     60 
 6  Chemnitzer FC	  	32    13   8   11     45:39  +6      47 
 7  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	33    13   8   12     42:43  -1      47 
 8  VfB Stuttgart II	  	32    11   9   12     33:33   0      42 
 9  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	33     8   18 	7     41:42  -1      42 
10  Wacker Burghausen	  	33    11   8   14     37:43  -6      41 
11  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	33    11   8   14     46:53  -7      41 
12  Hallescher FC (N)	  	32    10   8   14     30:43  -13     38 
13  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	32    10   7   15     32:46  -14     37 
14  Kickers Offenbach	  	32    10   8   14     38:38   0      36 
15  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	31     9   8   14     32:46  -14     35 
16  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	33     8   7   18     33:44  -11     31 
17  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	30     7   10  13     28:46  -18     31
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Darmstadt 98	  	32     6   12  14     23:39  -16     30 
19  SV Babelsberg 03	  	31     7   8 	16    23:40  -17     29 
20  Alemannia Aachen (A)	32     6   10 	16    32:53  -21     26

A = Absteiger just Relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga
2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place
3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga

Aachen and Offenbach deducted two points for financial shenanigans
Aachen is also basically relegated due to pending insolvency. 

3 games midweek as makeup matches begin to get things caught up. KSC regains the leadership, and Dortmund II gets a big relegation battle win that keeps their hopes alive.

RW Erfurt 	   - 	Karlsruhe       	0:1 (0:1)    4,958
Babelsberg 	   - 	VfB Stuttgart II 	0:0 (0:0)    2,038
Stuttg. Kickers    - 	Dortmund II     	0:1 (0:1)    3,100


Updated standings:

 1  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	32    19   9 	4      56:20  +36     66
 2  Arminia Bielefeld	  	32    18   10 	4      52:26  +26     64
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VfL Osnabrück	  	32    18   6 	8      53:31  +22     60
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Preußen Münster	  	31    16   11 	4      54:26  +28     59 
 5  1. FC Heidenheim	  	31    18   5 	8      58:41  +17     59 
 6  Chemnitzer FC	  	31    13   8 	10     45:37  +8      47 
 7  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	32    13   8 	11     42:42   0      47 
 8  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	32     8   18 	6      40:39  +1      42 
 9  Wacker Burghausen	  	32    11   8 	13     36:39  -3      41
10  VfB Stuttgart II	  	31    10   9 	12     30:33  -3      39 
11  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	32    10   8 	14     44:53  -9      38 
12  Hallescher FC (N)	  	31    10   8 	13     30:40  -10     38 
13  Kickers Offenbach	  	31    10   8 	13     38:37  +1      36 
14  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	31     9   7 	15     28:43  -15     34 
15  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	30     8   8 	14     31:46  -15     32 
16  SV Darmstadt 98	  	31     6   12 	13     23:38  -15     30
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
17  SV Babelsberg 03	  	30     7   8 	15     22:38  -16     29
18  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	32     7   7 	18     29:43  -14     28 
19  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	29     6   10 	13     27:46  -19     28 
20  Alemannia Aachen (A)	31     6   10 	15     29:49  -20     26

For the first time ever, two Bundesliga clubs are in the semi-finals of the Champions League, which will (eventually) be a Germany vs. Spain matchup. Bayern completed their dominance of Juventus by winning 2-0 in Torino, a solid performance all the way around, the Italians lucky they didn’t receive a severe hiding. Borussia Dortmund almost came to rue their wastefulness, as they were losing 1-2 at home to Malaga going into injury time. But they miraculously scored twice to get the win.

Since Real Madrid had an easy time with Galatasaray, and Barcelona suffered but survived against PSG, only La Liga and Bundesliga remain in the competition. So they will face off either in the semis or the finals.

Bayern München wrapped another title, clinching in record time: 6 games to spare. Not really surprising, as they went to town this season and dominated. Jupp Heynckes fielded a full strength squad (except Ribery) at Frankfurt, and the Eintracht countered with a defensive unit, as some of their keys like Alex Meier were out. Bayern dominated, missed chances (Alaba missing penalty), but eventually took the lead. At that point, Frankfurt came out of their shell and pressed, GK Manuel Neuer came up with some good saves to preserve the win and clinching the title.

Dortmund maintains their 2nd spot, despite resting 7 players from the starting lineup that played at Malaga in the Champions League. However a desperate Augsburg squad gave everything, so some of the starters came off the bench to make sure that the Neons got all the points. It wasn’t easy, but eventually they beat down their opposition.

Leverkusen dominated Wolfsburg, the Aspirins peppering GK Benaglio’s goal. But the Swiss international was sharp and stopped just about everything, and the VWs ended up stealing a point after some cleverness from Diego. The Brazilian isn’t what he was with Bremen, but after dumping Magath, the Wolfies are getting what they paid for, a very good playmaker.

A solid performance and Schalke gets the points in Bremen. Not too long ago the Blues were in crisis, but they’ve been getting results and are pushing for Champions League. Julian Draxler is already making folks forget Lewis Holtby. The german press is making a lot of noise about Werder’s crisis, but aside from the fact that their squad basically sucks, I don’t really see much of a problem. It’s hard to blame it all on Thomas Schaaf, since Werder cleaned house to save money in the offseason. And this talk about Bremen maybe going down? More drivel. They’ve got 7 points on the relegation playoff spot, and if they can’t hold that, then they deserve to go down.

Gladbach played poorly against Greuther Fürth but still came up with a win. The Greuthers gave a good effort, but it was ruined when Zimmermann got his ass tossed for a second yellow. A few minutes later Gladbach scored the winner.

After their desolate “performance” at Bayern last week, the HSV fans expected something better. Ix-nay: Hamburg continues to suck. They ran around a lot against Freiburg, who were way to clever for them. When the Breisgauers grabbed the lead, HSV fell apart and was worthless. Good points for Freiburg, keeping them in Euro contention.

New manager Markus Gisdol starts off in style as Hopeless Hoffenheim thumps Fortuna Düsseldorf and gets back into the relegation battle. This really was a must-win, and the Hoppers showed some spirit in grabbing it. They still trail Augsburg, but they have a reasonable chance of catching them.

Nürnberg continues their improvement with another win, dealing a blow to Mainz’ Euro aspirations. With some lucky results, FCN could even dream of sneaking in. They’ve now gone 9 games without defeat, so interim coach Michael Wiesinger certainly is improving his chances for the permanent position.

Hannover and Stuttgart played a snoozer that helps neither team.

Total attendance: 415,597 (avg 46,177), sellouts in Frankfurt, Bremen

 	
1899 Hoffenheim	       -    Fortuna Düsseldorf	    3:0 (1:0)   28,000

                      1:0  Roberto Firmino (11., Schipplock)
                      2:0  Lambertz (75., own goal, Salihovic)
                      3:0  Volland (90. + 4, Salihovic)

Borussia Dortmund      -    FC Augsburg	            4:2 (1:2)   80,400

                      1:0  Schieber (22., Bittencourt)
                      1:1  Baier (43.)
                      1:2  Vogt (45., Werner)
                      2:2  Schieber (52., Hofmann)
                      3:2  Subotic (64., M. Götze)
                      4:2  Lewandowski (90. + 2, M. Götze)

Borussia M'gladbach    -    SpVgg Greuther Fürth    1:0 (0:0)   50,206

                      1:0  L. de Jong (74., Wendt)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen    -    VfL Wolfsburg	    1:1 (1:0)   29,288

                      1:0  Schürrle (12., L. Bender)
                      1:1  Kjaer (70., Rodriguez)

Werder Bremen	       -    FC Schalke 04	    0:2 (0:0)   42,100 *

                      0:1  Draxler (51., Marica)
                      0:2  Marica (69., Raffael)

Eintracht Frankfurt    -    Bayern München	    0:1 (0:0)   51,500 *

                      0:1  Schweinsteiger (52., Lahm)

Hamburger SV	       -    SC Freiburg	            0:1 (0:0)   53,021

                      0:1  Schmid (68., Mujdza)


Sunday:
1. FC Nürnberg	       -    1. FSV Mainz 05	    2:1 (0:0)   35,082

                      1:0  Nilsson (54., Kiyotake)
                      1:1  N. Müller (60., Kirchhoff)
                      2:1  Nilsson (69., Balitsch)

Hannover 96	       -    VfB Stuttgart	    0:0 (0:0)   46,000



 1  Bayern München	  	28    24   3 	1     79:13  +66     75
 2  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	28    16   7 	5     66:34  +32     55
 3  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	28    14   7 	7     51:36  +15     49
 4  FC Schalke 04	  	28    13   6 	9     48:43  +5      45
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  SC Freiburg	  	        28    11   9 	8     36:33  +3      42
 6  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	28    12   6   10     42:40  +2      42
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Borussia M'gladbach	  	28    10   11   7     36:37  -1      41
 8  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	28    10   9    9     35:32  +3      39 
 9  Hannover 96	  	        28    11   5   12     49:46  +3      38 
10  1. FC Nürnberg	  	28     9   11   8     33:35  -2      38 
11  Hamburger SV	  	28    11   5   12     32:44  -12     38 
12  VfL Wolfsburg	  	28     8   9   11     33:43  -10     33 
13  VfB Stuttgart	  	28     9   6   13     29:46  -17     33 
14  Werder Bremen	  	28     8   7   13     43:54  -11     31 
15  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	28     7   8   13     33:43  -10     29
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  FC Augsburg	  	        28     5   9   14     25:44  -19     24
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  1899 Hoffenheim	  	28     6   5   17     33:52  -19     23 
18  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	28     2   9   17     18:46  -28     15


M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokal, defending Cup winner
N = Neuling, newly promoted

1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Relegation to 2.Liga

In *the* key battle of the season, Kaiserslautern biatch-slapped Köln to grab the critical 3rd place. The home side dominated the match would a strong display, and despite some moments, the visitors couldn’t keep up. This defeat stops Köln’s 15 match unbeaten streak. Of course despite the strong statement, Kaiserslautern could compeletely undo everything by sucking next week.

Crunching win for Aue at Bochum, a huge relegation result. Erzgebirge came ready to play, and the hosts looked like they didn’t want to be there. So Aue kicked their ass and grab critical points in the relegation battle. Bochum reacted by firing their manager and bringing in re-tread Peter Neururer to save the club. He’s bounced around all over Germany, with moderate success, but usually not more than two years at one place. Ironically, his longest stay was at Bochum in 2001-2004, with 49 wins, 42 losses, 30 draws.

Dresden look to be dead against St.Pauli, but a Filip Trojan bicycle-kick fueld a furious comeback and Dynamo pulled out an incredible win. St.Pauli is a tough opponent and seems to have secured their 2.Liga status, and pressed for a win. Dresden had a hard time getting going, but the decent crowd certainly helped getting things on track. This win allows them to leapfrog Bochum out of relegation. It’s still not over, but this will be looked as a critical turning point if they stay up.

Duisburg also continues to improve, and their hard-fought win over Sandhausen probably is the final nail in securing their 2.Liga status. 10 points up, so the Zebras seem to have done enough to avoid any relegation thoughts, and certainly they’ve improved over their lackluster midseason form. Sandhausen could still catch Bochum and get the survival playoff spot, but they’re essentially 4 points back.

Difficult victory for Aalen over Ingolstadt, especially the last half hour when the hosts had to fend off desperate FCI attacks. A good season for Aalen, looking the only promoted side to survive. As usual, Ingolstadt proves to be a tough opponent, but they end up with nothing to show.

The lights are pretty much out in Regensburg, they’re going down. Visiting FSV Frankfurt had little trouble pushing them around and getting the points.

Paderborn dominated the whole match against Union Berlin, but was staring at defeat. A Berlin win would have been highway robbery, kind of like putting your savings in a Cyprus bank, but luckily SCP at least managed the equalizer in injury time.

What did I tell you? As soon as 1860 even started to make some rumblings about going somewhere, they’d suck and disappoint their fans. So for something like the 6th time in a row, they were unable to win at home, this time against Cottbus. The Lions could have crept closer to the promotion spot, but were unable to get the job done…big surprise.

Monday night saw Hertha and Braunschweig decide who gets promoted as 2.Liga champion, and the answer seems to be Hertha. The Berliners dominated and kicked Braunschweig in the balls, winning clearly with a gala performance by their Brazilian attacking forward Ronny. Good news for Hertha was also that Ronny (16 goals) also extended his contract to 2017.

1. FC Kaiserslautern   -    1. FC Köln	         3:0 (1:0)   49,780 *

                      1:0  Idrissou (41., Baumjohann)
                      2:0  Simunek (50., Baumjohann)
                      3:0  Idrissou (79., Weiser)
 
VfL Bochum	       -    Erzgebirge Aue       0:3 (0:3)   13,133

                      0:1  Klingbeil (8., Hochscheidt)
                      0:2  Nickenig (29.)
                      0:3  Fa. Müller (37., Sylvestr)

VfR Aalen	       -    FC Ingolstadt 04     2:1 (1:1)   10,784

                      1:0  Reichwein (20., Leandro)
                      1:1  Caiuby (25., penalty, Mo. Hartmann)
                      2:1  Dausch (54., penalty, Buballa)

Dynamo Dresden	       -    FC St. Pauli	 3:2 (0:0)   29,193

                      0:1  Mohr (50., Bartels)
                      0:2  Ginczek (53., Gyau)
                      1:2  Trojan (62., Müller)
                      2:2  Losilla (66., LFiel)
                      3:2  Schuppan (77.)

Jahn Regensburg	       -    FSV Frankfurt        1:4 (0:0)    7,300

                      0:1  Y. Stark (56.)
                      0:2  Yelen (72., Gaus)
                      1:2  Hein (78., penalty, Amachaibou)
                      1:3  Kapllani (84., Leckie)
                      1:4  Kapllani (88., penalty, Leckie)


Sunday
 	
SC Paderborn 07	       -    1. FC Union Berlin	 1:1 (0:1)    7,590

                      0:1  Nemec (27., Mattuschka)
                      1:1  Strohdiek (90. + 2, Vrancic)

1860 München	       -    Energie Cottbus	 1:1 (0:0)   18,200

                      1:0  D. Halfar (58., Friend)
                      1:1  Bittroff (70., Stiepermann)

MSV Duisburg	       -    SV Sandhausen	 2:1 (1:1)   11,354

                      1:0  Perthel (31., Brosinski)
                      1:1  Fießer (34., Kandziora)
                      2:1  Bajic (65., penalty, Jovanovic)


Monday:
Hertha BSC	       -   Eintracht Braunschweig  3:0 (1:0)   51,029

                      1:0  Ronny (34., direct freekick)
                      2:0  Ramos (55., Rechtsschuss, Ronny)
                      3:0  Ronny (76., direct freekick)



 1  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	28    18   8   2      54:21  +33    62
 2  Eintracht Braunschweig	28    17   7   4      44:22  +22    58
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	28    12   12  4      41:24  +17    48
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Köln (A)	  	28    12   10  6      35:27  +8     46
 5  FSV Frankfurt	  	28    13   4   11     44:35  +9     43
 6  1860 München	  	28    10   12  6      30:23  +7     42
 7  Energie Cottbus	  	28    10   10  8      33:30  +3     40
 8  1. FC Union Berlin	  	28    10   9   9      45:41  +4     39
 9  SC Paderborn 07	  	28    10   7   11     38:35  +3     37
10  VfR Aalen (N)	  	28     9   9   10     30:32  -2     36
11  MSV Duisburg	  	28    10   6   12     31:43  -12    36
12  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	28     8   11  9      31:34  -3     35 
13  FC St. Pauli	  	28     8   9   11     32:38  -6     33 
14  Erzgebirge Aue	  	28     8   7   13     34:40  -6     31 
15  Dynamo Dresden	  	28     6   9   13     28:41  -13    27
----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  VfL Bochum	  	        28     6   8   14     30:47  -17    26
----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	28     5   8   15     34:56  -22    23
18  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	28     4   6   18     32:54  -22    18


A = Absteiger just Relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

1st line: Promotion to Bundesliga
2nd line: Playoff with 16th Bundesliga
3rd line: Playoff with no.3 of 3.Liga
4th line: Relegation to 3.Liga

Another exciting round leading to some changes.

Karlsruhe was outplayed at Unterhaching, and despite a late charge, had to take a loss. This allowed Bielefeld to grab first place with a solid performance at troubled Rostock. The Arminen played a well organized defense and took their chances with ice in their veins. Hansa ran around a lot but are left with nothing but rioting fans.

Wehen has been “got enough to draw”, but they put in a great effort to beat down Osnabrück, Despite playing in nearby Wiesbaden, the villagers get no love, despite playing fairly decent football. Of course I can’t think of a more worthless football town in Germany than Wiesbaden (perhaps Heidelberg? – Readers: Vote for the most worthless football town in Germany!), so I guess no surprise. VfL suffers a painful defeat that leaves their fans on edge.

Preußen Münster should have been the major benefactor of the top teams struggles. Preußen was sailing along at home against Saarbrücken 3-0, the game in the bag after an hour. But suddenly FCS turned things around and the hosts were like chickens running around with their heads cut off. The visitors fought back and might have even won the match.

Heidenheim had a rough time, but got the needed win to stay in the promotion hunt.

In the equally nerve-racking relegation battles, Erfurt got a huge win at Stuttgarter Kickers, and although Darmstadt got another critical point against Aachen, they are probably disappointed they couldn’t get a win.

Total attendance 53,440 (avg 5,344)

 	
SV Darmstadt 98	      -   Alemannia Aachen	 0:0 (0:0)    5,800
Hallescher FC	      -   Wacker Burghausen	 0:0 (0:0)    5,488
SV Wehen Wiesbaden    -   VfL Osnabrück	         3:2 (1:1)    3,049
1. FC Heidenheim      -   VfB Stuttgart II	 1:0 (0:0)    8,000
Stuttgarter Kickers   -   Rot-Weiß Erfurt	 0:1 (0:0)    3,875
SpVgg Unterhaching    -   Karlsruher SC	         2:1 (1:0)    3,400
SV Babelsberg 03      -   Kickers Offenbach	 0:0 (0:0)    2,174
Preußen Münster       -   1. FC Saarbrücken	 3:3 (1:0)    8,554
Chemnitzer FC	      -   Borussia Dortmund II	 1:0 (0:0)    4,100
Hansa Rostock	      -   Arminia Bielefeld	 0:2 (0:0)    9,000


 1  Arminia Bielefeld	  	32    18   10 	4     52:26  +26     64 
 2  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	31    18   9 	4     55:20  +35     63
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VfL Osnabrück	  	32    18   6 	8     53:31  +22     60
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Preußen Münster	  	31    16   11   4     54:26  +28     59 
 5  1. FC Heidenheim	  	31    18   5    8     58:41  +17     59 
 6  Chemnitzer FC	  	31    13   8   10     45:37  +8      47 
 7  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	32    13   8   11     42:42   0      47 
 8  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	32     8   18   6     40:39  +1      42 
 9  Wacker Burghausen	  	32    11   8   13     36:39  -3      41 
10  VfB Stuttgart II	  	30    10   8   12     30:33  -3      38 
11  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	32    10   8   14     44:53  -9      38 
12  Hallescher FC (N)	  	31    10   8   13     30:40  -10     38 
13  Kickers Offenbach	  	31    10   8   13     38:37  +1      36 
14  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	31     9   7   15     28:43  -15     34 
15  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	29     8   8   13     31:45  -14     32 
16  SV Darmstadt 98	  	31     6   12  13     23:38  -15     30 
17  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	31     7   7   17     29:42  -13     28
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Babelsberg 03	  	29     7   7   15     22:38  -16     28 
19  Alemannia Aachen (A)	31     6   10  15     29:49  -20     26 
20  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	28     5   10  13     26:46  -20     25



A = Absteiger just Relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga
2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place
3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga

Aachen and Offenbach deducted two points for financial shenanigans
Aachen is also basically relegated due to pending insolvency. 

The Bundesliga reps had a decent start in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals – however it should have been better. Bayern München dominated against Juventus, and really should have won more than 2-0. Bayern had several clear cut chances to turn this into a rout and end this pairing immediately. Instead wasteful finishing means that the Italian side has a chance to regroup. Borussia Dortmund got a scoreless draw away to Malaga, but again, the Neons had a multitude of chances to win outright and basically end this tie. Dortmund will of course be heavily favored at the rematch in Germany, but wasting chances for a knockout is never a good idea.

Overall, one would expect that both Bayern and BVB advance at this point, but they could have made it easier on themselves. Real Madrid already has one foot in the semis, and it seems like Barcelona will be heavily favored to advance against PSG, so there will likely be an attractive Germany vs. Spain clash in the cards for the semis or final.

In news closer to home, in the 3.Liga makeup matches, VfB Stuttgart II defeat Rot-Weiss Erfurt 1-0, and SV Wehen upended Halle FC 2-0. The only implication is that things are still grim for Erfurt, barely treading above relegation.

Speaking of relegation, Bundesliga side Hoffenheim fired their coach again, giving the short-shrift to Marco Kurz (haha) and appointing Markus Gisdol. Who? you might ask…Actually Gisdol is one of the few leftovers from the successful Rangnick regime, he coached the Hoffenheim II squad.

(More Details to follow for Sunday’s matches)

Ouch. Bayern likes some Hamburgers, evidently with fries and a shake. I read somewhere that Bayern has kicked Hamburg’s ass more than any other side, but this biatch-slapping was ridiculous. “Tore am Fliessband“, a flood of goals, you might say.
Bayern was even resting some starters to prepare for Juventus in the Champions League, but some of their replacements got so tired of kicking HSV in the ass that eventually Thomas Müller and Franck Ribery came on anyway. Oldtimer Cluadio Pizarro got a rare start and figured he should pad his stats, so he banged in four goals and two assists. Yes, Bayern was in top-form and ruthless, but HSV should be ashamed that they played like this.

Stuttgart often stands up to Dortmund (last season’s memorable 4-4 fightback in Dortmund comes to mind), and this one was no exception. Both teams went strong for the win, with the Neons dominating the 1st half and grabbing gthe lead. However VfB fought back in the 2nd and squared the match. Things finally turned in Dortmund’s favor when Niedermeier ended with his 2nd yellow, and soon the Dortmund pressure became unbearable and Lewandowski decided the match. Additional happiness for Dortmund is that the win meant that Bayern wasn’t able to clinch the title in front of their home fans.

Schalke wasn’t overly impressive, and Hoffenheim was defending well. However the home side was clearly superior, and given the happless Hopper non-existant attack, it was only a matter of time. The Schalkers finally broke through and slapped the visitors silly.

Freiburg ended their mini slump with a solid win over Gladbach, moving ahead as both sides battle for Europe. Ironically, young-and-upcoming forward Max Kruse decided the match…and he’s rumoured to be signing with Gladbach. So it would be funny if his goals end up keeping him *out* of Europe next season. Overall, SCF were the better side, and Gladbach can’t have too many complaints.

Mainz got off to a dream start but then dicked around aimlessly too much. Bremen managed to get back into the match and deservedly get a point. For Werder, it may help stabilize their ship and keep them floating above potential relegation. Mainz missed a chance to strengthen their Euro credientials.

Fortuna Düsseldorf was a bit hard done by Leverkusen in the Rhein derby. The hosts were battling to an even level, despite the Aspirins technical and talent superiority. However at critical times they made mistakes, and Bayer ruthlessly exploited them, ending up with a rout. An unfair scoreline, but I think on the balance, it would be hard to argue that Fortuna deserved a point.

Augsburg missed a huge chance to gain ground against relegation. Hannover essentially let the Fuggers do whatever they wanted. The 96ers looked incompetent and relied on GK Zieler to keep them safe. However, FCA is pretty crap when it comes to the the “see ball, kick ball, kick ball into net” mantra. And they paid dearly for it as the 96ers countered and stole all the precious points.

 	
FC Schalke 04	       -   1899 Hoffenheim	   3:0 (0:0)   60,743

                      1:0  Höger (71., Farfan)
                      2:0  Raffael (79., Kolasinac)
                      3:0  Pukki (83., Raffael)

VfB Stuttgart	       -   Borussia Dortmund	   1:2 (0:1)   60,000 *

                      0:1  Piszczek (29., Reus)
                      1:1  Maxim (63., Gentner)
                      1:2  Lewandowski (82., Piszczek)

SC Freiburg	       -   Borussia M'gladbach	   2:0 (0:0)   24,000 *

                      1:0  M. Kruse (69., Terrazzino)
                      2:0  M. Kruse (90. + 2, Santini)

1. FSV Mainz 05	       -   Werder Bremen	   1:1 (1:0)   33,374

                      1:0  Szalai (1., Ivanschitz)
                      1:1  Hunt (69., Arnautovic)

FC Augsburg	       -   Hannover 96	           0:2 (0:0)   28,511

                      0:1  Rausch (61.)
                      0:2  Rausch (90. + 1, Pocognoli)

Fortuna Düsseldorf     -   Bayer 04 Leverkusen	   1:4 (1:1)   53,265

                      0:1  Kießling (22., penalty, Sam)
                      1:1  Schwaab (41., own goal, Kruse)
                      1:2  Schürrle (62., Sam)
                      1:3  Schürrle (84., Kießling)
                      1:4  Kießling (88., Carvajal)

Bayern München	       -   Hamburger SV	           9:2 (5:0)   71,000 *

                      1:0  Shaqiri (5., Kroos)
                      2:0  Schweinsteiger (19., Shaqiri)
                      3:0  Pizarro (30., Javi Martinez)
                      4:0  Robben (33., Pizarro)
                      5:0  Pizarro (45., Shaqiri)
                      6:0  Pizarro (52., Robben)
                      7:0  Robben (54., Pizarro)
                      8:0  Pizarro (68., T. Müller)
                      8:1  Bruma (75., van der Vaart)
                      9:1  Ribery (76., Schweinsteiger)
                      9:2  Westermann (86., van der Vaart)

Sunday:
VfL Wolfsburg	       -   1. FC Nürnberg	   2:2 (2:0)   25,524

                      1:0  Diego (2., direct freekick)
                      2:0  Olic (27., Medojevic)
                      2:1  Simons (61.)
                      2:2  Nilsson (66., Kiyotake)

SpVgg Greuther Fürth   -   Eintracht Frankfurt	   2:3 (1:1)   18,000 *

                      1:0  Djurdjic (2.)
                      1:1  Inui (12., Meier)
                      1:2  Aigner (58., Oczipka)
                      1:3  Meier (68.)
                      2:3  Sararer (72.)


 1  Bayern München	  	27    23   3 	1     78:13  +65     72 
 2  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	27    15   7 	5     62:32  +30     52 
 3  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	27    14   6    7     50:35  +15     48
 4  FC Schalke 04	  	27    12   6    9     46:43  +3      42
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	27    12   6    9     42:39  +9      42
 6  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	27    10   9    8     34:30  +4      39 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  SC Freiburg	  	        27    10   9    8     35:33  +2      39 
 8  Borussia M'gladbach	  	27     9   11   7     35:37  -2      38 
 9  Hamburger SV	  	27    11   5   11     32:43  -11     38 
10  Hannover 96	  	        27    11   4   12     49:46  +3      37 
11  1. FC Nürnberg	  	27     8   11   8     31:34  -3      35 
12  VfL Wolfsburg	  	27     8   8   11     32:42  -10     32 
13  VfB Stuttgart	  	27     9   5   13     29:46  -17     32 
14  Werder Bremen	  	27     8   7   12     43:52  -9      31 
15  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	27     7   8   12     33:40  -7      29
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  FC Augsburg	  	        27     5   9   13     23:40  -17     24
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  1899 Hoffenheim	  	27     5   5   17     30:52  -22     20 
18  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	27     2   9   15     18:45  -27     15


M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokal, defending Cup winner
N = Neuling, newly promoted

1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Relegation to 2.Liga

Hertha and Braunschweig continue their unstoppable march to the Bundesliga. While it will just be a short absence for the Berliners, the Niedersachsen Lions – an original Bundesliga founder in 1963 – have been away from the top flight since 1985.

Braunschweig did have a tough time facing down Dresden. Dynamo is desperate at the bottom, and they came out fighting. They stunned their hosts with an early lead and refused to concede an inch, despite increasing Lions pressure. Eventually Eintracht did break through, and no surprise it was Dominik Kumbela with his 17th goal that provided the win. Perhaps Dresden is a bit hard done by, but their finishing was weak, and eventually that cost them.

Hertha had no real problems as they immediately jumped out against Bochum and then dicked around. Since Bochum was totally incompetent up front, it was no issue. The Berliners then repeated the same after the re-start, essentially finishing off the game and enjoying an extra 44 minutes of thinking about some Berliner Weisse-Kindl that they would be imbibing soon. Bochum was hapless and need improvement, as they could easily get relegated.

Cottbus weakened their argument for promotion as they were without “Energie” and couldn’t defeat Aalen at home. A boring match, and the home side finally took the lead late, only to get pegged back immediately. Cottbus seems on again, off again. I wouldn’t put it past them to be knocking on the Bundesliga door again, but obviously not this seasaon. Aalen has been surprisingly good and should be satisfied with staying up in their inaugural campaign. However, Energie probably should have won this match.

On the other hand, 1860 has quietly crept into striking range, although one would expect that they should start sucking again to insult their fans after raising some minimal hopes. They got a tough away win at a desperate Aue, and it’s not easy to win at Erzgebirge. But with some luck, they got the points. Like I said however, it remains to be seen if 1860 is serious about making a late run. Aue remains in trouble.

Unlike some of their rivals, Duisburg seems to be taking the relegation battle seriously. The Zebras have gotten over their “disappointment” of not challenging for promotion and seem to have got down to business of avoiding relegation. They put in a strong effort to get all the points at Ingolstadt, where it’s not easy to win. They’re not completely out of the woods, but MSV looks likely to stay. Ingolstadt is unpredicatble as usual.

In later matches, 1. FC Köln is now officially all the way back from the dead – it truly looked impossible a few months ago. A lot of the credit needs to go to coach Holger Stanislawski. Nevertheless, despite the usual huge fan support, the Kölners struggled to make headway against a stubborn Regensburg side, but a late goal allowed them to get the win – and leap over Kaiserslautern into the important 3rd place. The visitors were clearly inferior, but were pesky enough and almost got the point they were hoping for.

Kaiserslautern again failed to impress, and for the first time in ages they’ve fallen out of promotion. It’s pretty amazing how they’ve just wittered away after a good season start. FCK dominated against a stubborn Sandhausen side, but failed to make much headway after taking the lead. SVS kept things close and got a point in front of a rare sell-out crowd, sorely needed in their desperate relegation battle. For Lautern, if they don’t raise their game and seize at least the playoff back from Köln, it will have to leave a bitter taste for their fans.

FSV Frankfurt showed Union Berlin who’s boss as they dominated the visitors. Both realistically are two weak to challenge for that 3rd spot, but the Bornheimers have pretty much ended any hopes the mini-Berliners had. It’s been a good campaign for FSV, as they were picked to be struggling against relegation, as usual. Union has been up and down all season.

On Monday, St.Pauli saved a point against Paderborn in dramatic fashion: GK Philip Tschauner went forward in desperation time and headed home to sqaure the match.

Total attendance this week 169,323 (avg 18,814), one sellout (Sandhausen)

Energie Cottbus	         -   VfR Aalen	           1:1 (0:0)    7,770

                        1:0  M. Schulze (74.)
                        1:1  Junglas (75., Lechleiter)

Erzgebirge Aue	         -   1860 München	   0:1 (0:1)    9,300

                        0:1  Friend (14., Stoppelkamp)

Eintracht Braunschweig	 -   Dynamo Dresden	   2:1 (1:1)   21,175 	

                        0:1  Ouali (8.)
                        1:1  Bicakcic (31., Boland)
                        2:1  Kumbela (53., Ademi)

Hertha BSC	         -   VfL Bochum	           2:0 (1:0)   34,802

                        1:0  Ronny (4., direct free-kick)
                        2:0  Schulz (46., Kluge)

FC Ingolstadt 04	 -   MSV Duisburg	   0:1 (0:1)    5,546

                        0:1  Jovanovic (16.)

Sunday:

1. FC Köln	         -   Jahn Regensburg	   2:1 (1:0)   45,600

                        1:0  McKenna (28., Strobl)
                        1:1  Djuricin (73., Sembolo)
                        2:1  Royer (87., Clemens)

FSV Frankfurt	         -   1. FC Union Berlin	   3:0 (2:0)    4,852

                        1:0  Yelen (10., Y. Stark)
                        2:0  M. Görlitz (19., Gaus)
                        3:0  Yelen (49., Verhoek)

SV Sandhausen	         -   1. FC Kaiserslautern  1:1 (0:1)   12,000 *

                        0:1  Idrissou (18., Löwe)
                        1:1  Sippel (67., own goal, A. Riemann)


Monday:
 	
FC St. Pauli	         -   SC Paderborn 07	   2:2 (0:0)   28,278

                        1:0  Ebbers (53., Schachten)
                        1:1  Yilmaz (56., Vrancic)
                        1:2  Saglik (84., Naki)
                        2:2  Tschauner (90., Daube)
 	



 1  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	27    17   8   2     51:21  +30     59 
 2  Eintracht Braunschweig	27    17   7   3     44:22  +22     58
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Köln (A)	  	27    12   10  5     35:24  +11     46 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	27    11   12  4     38:24  +14     45
 5  1860 München	  	27    10   11  6     29:22  +7 	    41 
 6  FSV Frankfurt	  	27    12   4   11    40:34  +6 	    40 
 7  Energie Cottbus	  	27    10   9   8     32:29  +3 	    39 
 8  1. FC Union Berlin	  	27    10   8   9     44:40  +4 	    38 
 9  SC Paderborn 07	  	27    10   6   11    37:34  +3 	    36 
10  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	27     8   11  8     30:32  -2 	    35 
11  VfR Aalen (N)	  	27     8   9   10    28:31  -3 	    33 
12  FC St. Pauli	  	27     8   9   10    30:35  -5 	    33 
13  MSV Duisburg	  	27     9   6   12    29:42  -13     33 
14  Erzgebirge Aue	  	27     7   7   13    31:40  -9 	    28 
15  VfL Bochum	  	        27     6   8   13    30:44  -14     26
----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Dynamo Dresden	  	27     5   9   13    25:39  -14     24
----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	27     5   8   14    33:54  -21     23 
18  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	27     4   6   17    31:50  -19     18


A = Absteiger just Relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

1st line: Promotion to Bundesliga
2nd line: Playoff with 16th Bundesliga
3rd line: Playoff with no.3 of 3.Liga
4th line: Relegation to 3.Liga

The clubs fighting relegation are desperately seeking results, and higher ranked teams have to be careful that they don’t stumble.

Bielefeld struggled to make headway against Darmstadt, and indeed it was the visitors who had the biggest chance to score the winner. Nevertheless, a precious point for the Hessen club. Preußen Münster was also on verge of defeat as they were outplayed by Dortmund’s B squad, and only a fine display from their goalkeeper prevented embarassment. Erfurt also managed a scoreless draw at Burghausen, keeping their head above relegation.

Leaders Karlsruhe had little trouble in a local derby with Kickers Stuttgart, and kicked their ass to remain on top. Osnabrück on the other hand was facing a stunning defeat at home to Rostock, but sub Emil Jula saved their bacon, coming on in the 2nd half and scoring a double that got the win. A loss would have been bitter, as chasing teams Münster and Heidenheim have an extra match.

Only Aachen looks ready to cave, and the lights are about to go out. This is one of the few times they’ve truly stunk at home, getting ripped by Chemnitz. Getting the point deduction and continued bad financial news makes it almost a certainty that Alemannia is going down.

Total attendance 59,067 (avg 6,563), typical crap number at Stuttgart-II.

1. FC Saarbrücken      -   SV Babelsberg 03	 2:1 (0:0)    4,003
Kickers Offenbach      -   SpVgg Unterhaching	 1:0 (1:0)    5,012
Karlsruher SC	       -   Stuttgarter Kickers	 3:0 (2:0)   14,249
Wacker Burghausen      -   Rot-Weiß Erfurt	 0:0 (0:0)    2,150
VfL Osnabrück	       -   Hansa Rostock	 3:2 (0:1)   10,800
Arminia Bielefeld      -   SV Darmstadt 98	 0:0 (0:0)   10,081
Alemannia Aachen       -   Chemnitzer FC	 1:5 (0:1)    8,750
Borussia Dortmund II   -   Preußen Münster	 0:0 (0:0)    3,652
VfB Stuttgart II       -   SV Wehen Wiesbaden	 1:1 (0:1)      370
Hallescher FC	       -   1. FC Heidenheim	 canceled
		 

 1  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	30    18   9 	3      54:18  +36    63 
 2  Arminia Bielefeld	  	31    17   10 	4      50:26  +24    61
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VfL Osnabrück	  	31    18   6 	7      51:28  +23    60
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Preußen Münster	  	30    16   10 	4      51:23  +28    58 
 5  1. FC Heidenheim	  	30    17   5 	8      57:41  +16    56 
 6  Chemnitzer FC	  	30    12   8 	10     44:37  +7     44 
 7  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	31    12   8 	11     40:41  -1     44
 8  Wacker Burghausen	  	31    11   7 	13     36:39  -3     40 
 9  Hallescher FC (N)	  	29    10   7 	12     30:38  -8     37 
10  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	31    10   7 	14     41:50  -9     37 
11  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	30     6   18 	6      35:37  -2     36 
12  Kickers Offenbach	  	30    10   7 	13     38:37  +1     35 
13  VfB Stuttgart II	  	28     9   8 	11     29:32  -3     35 
14  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	30     9   7 	14     28:41  -13    34 
15  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	27     7   8 	12     30:44  -14    29 
16  SV Darmstadt 98	  	30     6   11 	13     23:38  -15    29 
17  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	30     7   7 	16     29:41  -12    28
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Babelsberg 03	  	28     7   6 	15     22:38  -16    27 
19  Borussia Dortmund II (N)    27     5   10 	12     26:45  -19    25 
20  Alemannia Aachen (A)	30     6   9 	15     29:49  -20    25

A = Absteiger just Relegated 
N = Neuling just promoted

1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga
2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place
3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga

Aachen and Offenbach deducted two points for financial shenanigans
Aachen is also basically relegated due to pending insolvency.