(More details to follow on Sunday’s matches)

Things tightening up at the bottom, with several desperate clubs.

The marquee match was of course Dortmund and Bayern, but it lost some of it’s luster due to the fact that neither side wanted to show their full hand for the upcoming Champions League final. As a result both squads were not at full strength, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t a tense match. Under normal circumstances, you’d expect the Neons to go all out to bring the arrogant Bavarians down a notch – despite the fact that the title is long gone. In the opening seconds, “Kuba” Blaszczykowski got a yellow card. Kevin Großkreutz scored early, but was pegged back by Mario Gomez. The “highlight” of the match was probably Manuel Neuer stopping Robert Lewandowski’s penalty kick. So nothing ventured, nothing gained, the two giants will fight it out in Wembley for all the marbles.

Solid away win for Leverkusen at Nürnberg. The Aspirins were really in control the whole match, and they assure Champions League for next season. I’d say that’s merited, as bayer has been pretty consistent this season, and generally played attractive football. FCN disappointed, never really got going in this match.

Schalke has the inside track on the last Champions LEague opportunity, as they came up with an away win at Gladbach. A solid performance overall, but looked to be heading for a draw until Julian Draxler put in the winner. Draxler is bound to be the next hot property of young German players, sort of a Schalke version of Mario Götze. (Let’s hope he doesn’t sign for Bayern).

Mainz and Hannover are fading in the qualification race for Europe, and neither side benefited from this draw. That said, both clubs went out for the needed win, and the fans saw an entertaining match. A split of points is a fair result, but is probably leaving both outside the Euro prizes.

Frankfurt continues to defend their Euro hopes, and the return of Alex Meier was a welcome event. Of course more welcome was the fact that they were hosting Fortuna Düsseldorf, who have been sliding unstoppably towards the 2.Liga. Eintracht dominated the early goings, and although Fortuna showed some life in the 2nd half, Meier’s double was decisive in giving Frankfurt the points. Düsseldorf remains in free-fall, and could be facing a playoff to stay up – or even worse.

Bremen seemed to be getting the critical win needed to end any relegation worries, but they were rudely slapped in the face by desperate Hoffenheim. After an early dubious penalty, Werder followed up with another quick goal, and were dominating and cruising to a win. But they started dicking around and sure enough the Hoppers launched a desperate late run and squared the match, stunning the crowd. Lucky points for Hoffenheim, and Werder’s Thomas Schaaf must be pulling his hair out. Well, he doesn’t have any, but you get the idea.

You have to admire Greuther Fürth, relegated and basically sucky, but they’re still trying. And they ended up biatch-slapping one of the more underachieving sides in the Bundesliga, on the road no less. In fact, the Stuttgarters dominated the match, but they couldn’t be bothered to score a goal. Well, that’s not true, they kicked one into their own net, and the Greuther defended resolutely and were rewarded with a nice away win.

Augsburg had a chance to pass Düsseldorf with a result at Freiburg. SCF has been shaking and needed the points to strengthen their Euro position. The result was a hard fought battle. FCA was giving a strong performance, but lack of talent began to show through, as they couldn’t do much with their chances. Freiburg was more clever and showed why they’re having a fine season as they took their opportunities to get the result. Augsburg still has a good chance to sink Düsseldorf (and both could catch sinking Bremen), but they need to keep an eye on revived Hoffenheim as well.

Hamburg and Wolfsburg split teh points in a Nord-derby. Doesn’t really help either side, but neither is really going anywhere either, so I guess it doesn’t really matter. Should almost put to bed any hopes HSV had of some additional euros from Euro…

Total attendance was 437,769 (avg 48,641), sellouts in Gladbach, Bremen, Dortmund and Freiburg. This is probably the highest of the season.

 	
Borussia M'gladbach    -     FC Schalke 04	    0:1 (0:0)   54,010 *

                      0:1  Draxler (82., Raffael)

VfB Stuttgart	       -     SpVgg Greuther Fürth   0:2 (0:0)   48,300

                      0:1  G. Sakai (51., own goal, Prib)
                      0:2  Azemi (89., Prib)

Hannover 96	       -     1. FSV Mainz 05	    2:2 (1:1)   47,000

                      0:1  N. Müller (25.)
                      1:1  Sobiech (36., Schlaudraff)
                      2:1  M. Diouf (70., Sobiech)
                      2:2  N. Müller (79., S. Parker)

Werder Bremen	       -     1899 Hoffenheim	    2:2 (2:0)   42,100 *

                      1:0  Hunt (2., penalty, Hunt)
                      2:0  de Bruyne (24., Petersen)
                      2:1  Schipplock (85., Salihovic)
                      2:2  Schipplock (90. + 1, Ludwig)

1. FC Nürnberg	       -     Bayer 04 Leverkusen    0:2 (0:1)   40,581

                      0:1  Toprak (26., Castro)
                      0:2  Kießling (62., penalty)

Eintracht Frankfurt    -     Fortuna Düsseldorf	    3:1 (1:0)   51,000
 
                      1:0  Meier (30., Lakic)
                      2:0  Lakic (50., Inui)
                      2:1  Schahin (78.)
                      3:1  Meier (87.)
 	
Borussia Dortmund      -     Bayern München	    1:1 (1:1)   80,645 *

                      1:0  Großkreutz (11., Blaszczykowski)
                      1:1  Gomez (23., Rafinha)


Sunday:
SC Freiburg	       -     FC Augsburg	    2:0 (1:0)   24,000 *

                      1:0  Makiadi (30., Schmid)
                      2:0  Schmid (61., M. Kruse)

Hamburger SV	       -     VfL Wolfsburg          1:1 (1:0)   50,153

                      1:0  Westermann (45., van der Vaart)
                      1:1  Hasebe (65., Perisic)



 1  Bayern München	  	32    27   4   1    91:15  +76 	   85 
 2  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	32    19   8   5    77:37  +40 	   65 
 3  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	32    17   8   7    61:38  +23 	   59
 4  FC Schalke 04	  	32    15   7  10    55:47  +8 	   52
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	32    14   7  11    46:43  +3 	   49 
 6  SC Freiburg	  	        32    13   9  10    42:37  +5 	   48
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  Hamburger SV	  	32    13   6  13    38:51  -13 	   45 
 8  Borussia M'gladbach	  	32    11  11  10    38:43  -5 	   44 
 9  Hannover 96	  	        32    12   6  14    56:59  -3 	   42 
10  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	32    10  11  11    38:38   0 	   41 
11  VfL Wolfsburg	  	32    10  11  11    42:47  -5 	   41 
12  VfB Stuttgart	  	32    11   6  15    33:52  -19 	   39 
13  1. FC Nürnberg	  	32     9  11  12    34:44  -10 	   38 
14  Werder Bremen	  	32     8   9  15    47:62  -15 	   33 
15  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	32     7   9  16    38:52  -14 	   30
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16  FC Augsburg	  	        32     7   9  16    30:47  -17 	   30
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17  1899 Hoffenheim	  	32     7   7  18    39:62  -23 	   28 
18  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	32     4   9  19    24:55  -31 	   21


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

Things remain tight in the relegation zone, but Kaiserslautern may have got a decisive advantage for promotion.

First, to relegation, Sandhausen is now officially down, despite an excellent win over a disinterested Ingolstadt. SVS has had some moments, but they weren’t good enough for this level. Leaders Hertha looked like they were going to rout Aue, but Erzgebirge came storming back and almost salvaged a point. They’ll wish they had, as Dresden has now pulled equal on points, although they are still off on goal difference. 16th spot is a relegation playoff, so nobody wants to be there (well, except Sandhausen and Regensburg might like it). Dynamo defeated Paderborn in a tense match, and GK Ben Kirsten was the hero, as he stopped *two* penalties to give Dresden the critical win. Paderborn fired their coach Stefan Schmidt after the match, essentially blaming him for a disappointing season.

Bochum is relying on the magic of new coach Peter Neururer, and it’s working – 4 straight wins. Another fighting display and Bochum may have sunk 1. FC Köln’s promotion hopes. A rare sellout in Bochum saw both teams go for the jugular, but Bochum wanted it more, and Neururer is close to achieving safety for Bochum, which was quite dubious when he took over.

Kaiserslautern finally decided to seize the chance they were given and they biatch-slapped upstart FSV Frankfurt to control their own destiny. Unless they suck, Lautern will be in the Bundesliga playoff. FCK was clearly superior to a suprisingly crap Frankfurt side, and were rewarded with a thumping win.

Duisburg and St.Pauli played to a scoreless draw, which pretty much ensures the Zebras stay up, but the Paulistas are still in trouble.

Nothing really interesting about 1860 pummeling Union, but Benny Lauth has become the all-time leading 1860 league scorer, with 81 goals, breaking a record held by Bernard Winkler (according to kicker). However, this seems a bit weird since Rudi Bunnenmeier scored something like 139 goals for 1860 between 1960-68. They must be talking about “1860 2.Liga goals”, which is a bit lame if you think about it. Or perhaps they mean “in the Bundesliga era”. Brunnenmeier scored 66 Bundesliga goals and another 73 in the Oberliga Süd in the pre-Bundesliga era.

Braunscwhweig was mostly interested in having a promotion party, so they did nothing against Cottbus. energie could have won if they used their chances, but nobody really cared.

Total attendance 193,930 (avg 21,548), one sellout in Bochum

 	
Hertha BSC	       -   Erzgebirge Aue	3:2 (3:0)   33,157

                      1:0  Ramos (10., Allagui)
                      2:0  Ronny (34., Allagui)
                      3:0  Hubnik (44., Ronny)
                      3:1  Sylvestr (46., Fa. Müller)
                      3:2  Sylvestr (66., penalty, Könnecke)

Dynamo Dresden	       -   SC Paderborn 07	2:1 (1:1)   28,315

                      1:0  Müller (35., Schuppan)
                      1:1  Meha (43., direct freekick)
                      2:1  Müller (70., Ouali)

VfR Aalen	       -   Jahn Regensburg	2:1 (1:1)    5,632

                      1:0  Lechleiter (26., Reichwein)
                      1:1  JP Müller (29., Wießmeier)
                      2:1  B. Hübner (78., Lechleiter)

VfL Bochum	       -   1. FC Köln	        2:1 (0:1)   28,400 *

                      0:1  Chihi (30.)
                      1:1  Dedic (65., Rzatkowski)
                      2:1  Maltritz (79., Rzatkowski)

SV Sandhausen	       -   FC Ingolstadt 04	3:1 (1:1)    2,850

                      1:0  Adler (7., Schauerte)
                      1:1  Eigler (26., F. Heller)
                      2:1  Wooten (58., Danneberg)
                      3:1  Wooten (83., Blacha)

Sunday:	
 	
1. FC Kaiserslautern   -   FSV Frankfurt	4:1 (4:0)   38,792

                      1:0  Bunjaku (27., Idrissou)
                      2:0  Torrejon (40., Baumjohann)
                      3:0  Köhler (45., Idrissou)
                      4:0  Bunjaku (45. + 2, Baumjohann)
                      4:1  Kapllani (85., Teixeira)
 
1860 München	       -   1. FC Union Berlin	3:0 (2:0)   18,100

                      1:0  Lauth (26., Stoppelkamp)
                      2:0  Stoppelkamp (45. + 2, D. Halfar)
                      3:0  Lauth (63., Vallori)

MSV Duisburg	       -   FC St. Pauli  	0:0 (0:0)   18,239

Monday:	
Eintr. Braunschweig    -   Energie Cottbus	0:0 (0:0)   20,445
 	


 1  Hertha BSC Berlin (A)	32    21   9   2     62:26  +36     72 
 2  Eintracht Braunschweig      32    19   9   4     49:27  +22     66
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  1. FC Kaiserslautern (A)	32    14  13   5     51:30  +21     55
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Köln (A)	  	32    13  12   7     39:31  +8 	    51 
 5  FSV Frankfurt	  	32    15   5  12     51:42  +9      50 
 6  1860 München	  	32    11  13   8     36:29  +7 	    46 
 7  Energie Cottbus	  	32    11  11  10     37:35  +2 	    44 
 8  VfR Aalen (N)	  	32    11  10  11     37:36  +1 	    43 
 9  1. FC Union Berlin	  	32    11  10  11     46:44  -1 	    43 
10  MSV Duisburg	        32    10  10  12     33:45  -12     40 
11  SC Paderborn 07	  	32    10   9  13     41:42  -1 	    39 
12  FC Ingolstadt 04	  	32     9  12  11     35:40  -5 	    39 
13  VfL Bochum	  	        32    10   8  14     38:48  -10     38 
14  FC St. Pauli	  	32     9  10  13     37:45  -8 	    37 
15  Erzgebirge Aue	  	32     8  10  14     38:45  -7 	    34
----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Dynamo Dresden	  	32     8  10  14     32:45  -13     34
----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  SV Sandhausen (N)	  	32     6   8  18     38:62  -24     26 
18  Jahn Regensburg (N)	  	32     4   7  21     34:59  -25     19


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

Can’t get more exciting than this, battles at both ends of the table.

Karslruher SC stayed on top thanks to a direct free kcik in the penultimate minute by their super talent Hakan Calhanoglu at Darmstadt. A big crowd had shown up at the Böllenfalltor to cheer on the 98ers, who fought hard against the leaders. But KSC was not content to split points, and launched a late assault against teh desperate Darmstadters. The win gives KSC the league lead and puts them within 1 point of promotion. For Darmstadt, things remain red hot in relegation.

Osnabrück was a huge winner as they hold 3rd with Münster getting stunned at home and Heidenheim getting held as well. It just shows how desperate teams can sometime bring forth massive efforts that you didn’t think they had in them. Neverthless, Osnabrück had a rough time against defensively solid Burghausen, controlling the ball but not able to break down the visitors. They did get a penalty and that was all that was eventually needed, but their were some nervous moments.

Preußen Münster was absolutely stunned at home bu Stuttgarter Kickers. The Preußen hadn’t lost at home in 18 matches, and dominated from the start. However the Kickers were defensively engaged and occasionally launched counters. The Eagles were getting increasing desperate as the match went on, and then were laid out by a counterpunch.

Bielefeld is on top pending Karlsruhe’s match. The Arminen had a tough match at Stuttgart-B, but were efficient, whereas their host wasted chances.

Heidenheim has had a rogh time with Dortmund-II, having lost in the first leg. And this one looked like another defeat, as BVB-II was playing FCH equal and grabbed a lead. The home side was able to salvage a point, but this a critical dropped opportunity. For the Dortmund Bubis, it’s a great away point, but they remain in the relegation zone, as rivals are grabbing points as well.

Massive win for Babelsberg, as they dumped Unterhaching. Overall a deserved win, both sides playing for the win. Oddly enough, both teams missed penalties, but the Potsdamers did a littel more to get critical points.

Rostock might have just got enough points to stay up, but looked to have the win wrapped up against Offenbach. But teh Kickers desperately need points as well, and they stormed back to grab a point to keep their head just above water.

Erfurt won a derby at Chemnitz, and pending disaster, they look to be safe.

Wehen has been playing quite well lately, I believe 5 wins in their last 6, a turn in form for the draw kings. They outplayed a Saarbrücken squad that has mostly disapointed this season and been a non-factor.

Halle upended Aachen to officially send Alemannia down. Not that it wasn’t happening anyway, as the Aacheners had decided to declare insolvency and accept voluntary relegation anyway. However you have to give them some credit, as they have largely played hard in every match, whereas they could have just had all their matches annulled and gone on vacation.

 	
VfB Stuttgart II     -    Arminia Bielefeld	  0:1 (0:1)    1,000
SV Wehen Wiesbaden   -    1. FC Saarbrücken	  3:1 (1:1)    3,758
VfL Osnabrück	     -    Wacker Burghausen	  1:0 (1:0)   10,100
SV Babelsberg 03     -    SpVgg Unterhaching	  3:1 (2:1)    2,213
Preußen Münster	     -    Stuttgarter Kickers	  0:1 (0:0)   12,245
Chemnitzer FC	     -    Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  1:2 (0:1)    5,850
Hansa Rostock	     -    Kickers Offenbach	  2:2 (1:0)    8,100
1. FC Heidenheim     -    Borussia Dortmund II	  2:2 (1:1)    8,600
Hallescher FC	     -    Alemannia Aachen	  1:0 (1:0)    7,166

Sunday:
SV Darmstadt 98	     -    Karlsruher SC	          0:1 (0:0)   12,300


 1  Karlsruher SC (A)	  	36    22   9   5     64:24  +40     75
 2  Arminia Bielefeld	  	36    21  10   5     58:31  +27     73 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  VfL Osnabrück	  	36    21   7   8     60:34  +26     70
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  Preußen Münster	  	36    19  12   5     59:29  +30     69 
 5  1. FC Heidenheim	  	36    20   8   8     67:46  +21     68 
 6  Chemnitzer FC	  	36    14   9  13     50:46  +4 	    51 
 7  SV Wehen Wiesbaden	  	36    11  18   7     49:46  +3 	    51 
 8  SpVgg Unterhaching	  	36    13   9  14     45:50  -5 	    48 
 9  Wacker Burghausen	  	36    12   9  15     40:45  -5 	    45
10  1. FC Saarbrücken	  	36    12   9  15     50:58  -8 	    45 
11  VfB Stuttgart II	  	36    11  10  15     33:37  -4 	    43 
12  Rot-Weiß Erfurt	  	35    11  10  14     39:50  -11     43 
13  Hansa Rostock (A)	  	36    11   9  16     38:51  -13     42
14  Hallescher FC (N)	  	36    11   9  16     33:47  -14     42 
15  Kickers Offenbach	  	36    10  10  16     40:44  -4 	    38 
16  Stuttgarter Kickers (N)	36    10   8  18     37:46  -9 	    38 
17  SV Babelsberg 03	  	36     9  10  17     31:46  -15     37
----------------------------------------------------------------------
18  SV Darmstadt 98	  	36     7  13  16     27:43  -16     34 
19  Borussia Dortmund II (N)	35     7  13  15     32:53  -21     34 
20  Alemannia Aachen (A)	36     6  10  20     36:62  -26     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
 

Not unexpected after the first leg, the Champions League will witness it’s first ever all-German final. Borussia Dortmund played a decent match in Madrid, and had several chances to finish off the Spaniards. They wasted them, and Real managed two very late goals to create some nervous moments in injury time. But Borussia advances…

The Camp Nou witnessed a clear changing of teh guard. Barcelona got ripped 0-3 by Bayern in another forceful Bundesliga display. Pretty amazing that Barcelona failed to score even a single goal.

Bayern will be the favorite at Wembley, but the Neons have actually faired very well well in direct matches with bayern over the last few years, so it should be a pretty even match.

In more important news, a massive 3.Liga relegation 6 pointer: Babelsberg and Borussia Dortmund-II played a 1-1 draw that helps neither as much as they would have liked. However each get another point so that a win lifts them out of relegation. (BVB-II still has a makeup game against Erfurt as well).