Leaders Bayern continue to rape and pillage their way through the Bundesliga. Although Dortmund seems in form and is now officially leading the chasing pack, the deficit looks too great to do anything.
Mainz tried hard, and managed to hold off Bayern for a half, but a late goal by Thomas Müller, who caught Kroos’ pass and dribbled around GK Wetklo pretty much ended things. The Carnival kings tried to open up after the restart, but were ruthlessly bitch-slapped by a Mandzukic double, and it was another ho-hum Bayern win.
Dortmund beat down Leverkusen in a pulsating match. The Neons jumped all over the Aspirins at the start, and looked to have knocked out the Alka-Seltzers. But Leverkusen didn’t give up and launched fierce assaults on the Dortmund goal. They finally squared the match, but they weren’t even done celebrating when the outstanding Lewandowski kicked them in the balls and gave Dortmund bacl the lead. “Kuba” Blaszczykowski could have nailed the coffin shut, but his second penalty was saved by Jay Leno. OK, Bernd 
Bayer launched some desperate last gap assaults, but was unable to save a point. The Neons move into 2nd, but with a 12 point deficit, I don’t see how they catch Bayern.
A hard fought, exciting match in Hamburg. Frankfurt remains the surprise of the season, and put in a superb effort. They dominated the first half, and new signing Srdjan Lakic already paid dividends with a double and excellent play. Lakic has bounced around quite a bit, but maybe he’s found a home – and maybe Eintracht have found a forward that can score. HSV was stunned, but reacted with furious attacks in the 2nd half, but Frankfurt’s defense was solid, so they get a deserved win.
Schalke disgraced themselves in losing to Greuther Fürth. The Blues dominated the whole match, but wasted their chances left and right. The visitors were just happy to hold on, but when new Schalke signing Michel Bastos scored just after half, it looked like game-set-match. But a funny thing happened, as the Clovers-leafs immediately equalized. From then on, both sides had chances. It looked like a draw, but in the last second gasp, Djurjic crossed, Azemi shot, Hildebrand made a nice save – and Djurjic headed in the rebound from an offisdes position. But the ref correctly felt that the Schalkers deserved to be punished for their crap play and let the goal stand. A huge win for Fürth and their coach, ex-Schalke hero Mike Büskens. They’re going down, but at least they try.
Werder has been somewhat lame recently, but changed their tune in a northern derby with Hannover. Bremen dominated from the start, creating lots of chances, but wasted them all. However the 96ers were too constipated to do anything, and a late double by Bayern-loanee Nils Petersen decided the match. Petersen is unlikely to ever break into bayern’s lineup, so Werder could probably do themselves a favor by signing the ex-Cottbus man.
An important win for Nürnberg, stopping Gladbach’s decent form (9 straight undefeated matches in Cup and league). Coach Wiesinger gets his first win, and der Club looked much better. FCN fought hard, especially in the 1st half. Gladbach took over as the match went on, but was unable to stave off defeat.
Augsburg got a result at Wolfsburg. The VWs dominated, but Fugger GK Alex manninger was brilliant, and he saved a point for FCA. The Wolfies should have won, but there you have it…
Hoffenheim completed a nice weekend for soon-to-be-relegated clubs as they finally won, beating in form Freiburg. Ex-Tottenham GK Heruelho Gomes made his debut, as Time Wiese – voted “worst keeper in the league” was dropped from the squad. He was decent, nothing outstanding, but the Hoppers showed some spirit that has been sadly lacking all season, despite an early deficit. It was a fairly intense match, although things drizzled off in the later stages. Still, 9 winless match streak is broken, although probably too late for the Hoppers.
A double by Aussie Robbie Kruse put Düsseldorf on the right track against Stuttgart. The visitors were asleep in the 1st half, and Fortuna put them down. Although they tried hard to comeback, the second half proved too ragged, and Stuttgart gets stuck with a deserved loss. Fortuna needed the points to keep distance on relegation, and move closer to surviving their first year back from the wilderness.
Total attendance was 347,219 (avg 38,580), with three sold out matches. Not bad for February in Germany…
Werder Bremen - Hannover 96 2:0 (0:0) 41,600 *
1:0 Petersen (85., Elia)
2:0 Petersen (88., Öz. Yildirim)
FC Schalke 04 - SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1:2 (0:0) 60,693
1:0 Michel Bastos (47., Neustädter)
1:1 Klaus (52., Djurdjic)
1:2 Djurdjic (90. + 2, Azemi)
VfL Wolfsburg - FC Augsburg 1:1 (1:1) 22,257
1:0 Naldo (23., Diego)
1:1 Moravek (25., Koo)
1899 Hoffenheim - SC Freiburg 2:1 (2:1) 24,000
0:1 M. Kruse (4.)
1:1 Volland (10., Roberto Firmino)
2:1 Volland (27., Weis)
1. FSV Mainz 05 - Bayern München 0:3 (0:1) 34,000 *
0:1 T. Müller (41., Kroos)
0:2 Mandzukic (50., Alaba)
0:3 Mandzukic (57., Lahm)
Fortuna Düsseldorf - VfB Stuttgart 3:1 (2:0) 44,143
1:0 Kruse (10., Tesche)
2:0 Kruse (37., Ilsö)
2:1 Gentner (60., Traoré)
3:1 O. Fink (76.)
Hamburger SV - Eintracht Frankfurt 0:2 (0:2) 52,523
0:1 Lakic (22., Aigner)
0:2 Lakic (36., Aigner)
1. FC Nürnberg - Borussia M'gladbach 2:1 (2:0) 37,793
1:0 Simons (4., penalty, Frantz)
2:0 Pekhart (30., Kiyotake)
2:1 Herrmann (58., L. de Jong)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Borussia Dortmund 2:3 (0:2) 30,210 *
0:1 Reus (3.,Lewandowski)
0:2 Blaszczykowski (9., penalty, Lewandowski)
1:2 Reinartz (58., Kießling)
2:2 Reinartz (62., Boenisch)
2:3 Lewandowski (63., M. Götze)
1 Bayern München 20 16 3 1 51:7 +44 51
2 Borussia Dortmund (M, P) 20 11 6 3 46:22 +24 39
3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 20 11 4 5 38:26 +12 37
4 Eintracht Frankfurt (N) 20 11 3 6 38:31 +7 36
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5 1. FSV Mainz 05 20 9 3 8 27:24 +3 30
6 FC Schalke 04 20 8 5 7 33:31 +2 29
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7 Borussia M'gladbach 20 7 8 5 28:29 -1 29
8 SC Freiburg 20 7 7 6 25:20 +5 28
9 Hamburger SV 20 8 4 8 22:26 -4 28
10 Hannover 96 20 8 2 10 38:39 -1 26
11 Werder Bremen 20 7 4 9 32:37 -5 25
12 VfB Stuttgart 20 7 4 9 22:35 -13 25
13 Fortuna Düsseldorf (N) 20 6 6 8 26:28 -2 24
14 1. FC Nürnberg 20 6 6 8 20:27 -7 24
15 VfL Wolfsburg 20 6 5 9 21:30 -9 23
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16 1899 Hoffenheim 20 4 4 12 26:44 -18 16
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17 FC Augsburg 20 2 8 10 16:32 -16 14
18 SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N) 20 2 6 12 13:34 -21 12
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
