Bundesliga, Round 33

Augsburg safe, Schalke directly into Champions League, Gladbach into CL-Qualifier.

	
1. FC Kaiserslautern   -   Borussia Dortmund   2:5 (1:3)    49,780

                      1:0  Felipe Santana (16., own goal, Fortounis)
                      1:1  Barrios (18., Owomoyela)
                      1:2  Barrios (26., Perisic)
                      1:3  M. Götze (33., Lewandowski)
                      2:3  De Wit (49., Fortounis)
                      2:4  Barrios (55., Perisic)
                      2:5  Perisic (78., Kagawa)

VfL Wolfsburg	       -   Werder Bremen       3:1 (1:1)    30,000

                      1:0  Salihamidzic (40., Helmes)
                      1:1  Rosenberg (45. + 1, Trybull)
                      2:1  Helmes (66., Vieirinha)
                      3:1  Helmes (89., Mandzukic)

Bayer Leverkusen       -   Hannover 96	       1:0 (0:0)    30,210

                      1:0  Kießling (75., Rechtsschuss)

Hamburger SV	       -   1. FSV Mainz 05     0:0 (0:0)    56,537

1899 Hoffenheim	       -   1. FC Nürnberg      2:3 (1:2)    30,150

                      0:1  Pekhart (9., Didavi)
                      1:1  Beck (22., Musona)
                      1:2  Didavi (45., Feulner)
                      1:3  Pekhart (71., Pinola)
                      2:3  Braafheid (88., Mlapa)

Bayern München	       -   VfB Stuttgart       2:0 (1:0)    69,000

                      1:0  Gomez (32., T. Müller)
                      2:0  T. Müller (90. + 2, Olic)

SC Freiburg	       -   1. FC Köln	       4:1 (1:0)    24,000

                      1:0  Mujdza (36., D. Caligiuri)
                      1:1  Podolski (47.)
                      2:1  Guedé (54.,  D. Caligiuri)
                      3:1  D. Caligiuri (84., Makiadi)
                      4:1  Freis (90. + 1, Schmid)

Borussia M'gladbach    -   FC Augsburg	       0:0 (0:0)    53,306

FC Schalke 04	       -   Hertha BSC	       4:0 (1:0)    61,673

                      1:0  Huntelaar (32., Matip)
                      2:0  Holtby (73., Huntelaar)
                      3:0  Raul (84.)
                      4:0  Huntelaar (87., Raul)

 1  Borussia Dortmund (M)	33    24    6 	 3    76:25  +51    78 
 2  Bayern München	  	33    22    4 	 7    73:21  +52    70 
 3  FC Schalke 04 (P)	  	33    19    4 	10    71:42  +29    61
 4  Borussia M'gladbach	  	33    16    9 	 8    46:24  +22    57
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bayer Leverkusen	  	33    14    9 	10    48:43  +5     51
 6  VfB Stuttgart	  	33    14    8 	11    60:44  +16    50 
 7  Hannover 96	  	        33    11   12 	10    39:44  -5     45
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 8  VfL Wolfsburg	  	33    13    5 	15    45:57  -12    44 
 9  Werder Bremen	  	33    11    9 	13    47:55  -8     42 
10  1. FC Nürnberg	  	33    12    6 	15    37:45  -8     42 
11  1899 Hoffenheim	  	33    10   11 	12    40:44  -4     41 
12  SC Freiburg 	  	33    10   10 	13    45:57  -12    40 
13  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	33     9   12 	12    47:48  -1     39 
14  Hamburger SV	  	33     8   12 	13    35:56  -21    36 
15  FC Augsburg (N)	  	33     7   14 	12    35:49  -14    35
----------------------------------------------------------------------
16  1. FC Köln	  	        33     8    6 	19    38:71  -33    30
----------------------------------------------------------------------
17  Hertha BSC Berlin (N)	33     6   10 	17    35:63  -28    28 
18  1. FC Kaiserslautern	33     4   11 	18    23:52  -29    23

Kaiserslautern was already relegated, but hosting champions Dortmund was a nice way to say goodbye to their fans, and the Fritz-Walter was packed. Dortmund made a few changes, resting five starters, but bringing in Mario Götze for the first time since injury, and giving a rare start to Lucas Barrios, who appears on his way out to China. Needless to say, FCK was engaged and the Neons were lackadasical at the start. The Red Devils took the lead when Felipe Santana had a ball bounce off him into his own net (GK Roman Weidenfeller getting a rare day off). However, that served a wakeup call for the champs, and they quickly started dominating the match and banged in a few goals. Lautern did what they could, but with Barrios grabbing 3 goals and Dortmund totally dominating, the hosts did well to keep it down to five.

Wolfsburg kept their chances for Europe alive and dealt an almost fatal blow to Bremen’s
chance. The northern derby was hard fought and somewhat even in the first half, but the VWs gradually assumed control, and a double by Patrick Helmes gave the Wolfs a crucial win. Helmes has been in fine form since the winter-restart (when he was in coach Magath’s dog-house, and available on the market for some training balls and a case of beer). It will be interesting to see if he’s now staying. For Bremen, this horrible season is almost over. They could sneak in if Hannover gets a hiding and Wolfsburg loses, but that seems far fetched, because they would need to win as well.

Leverkusen has one foot in the Europa-liga. The Aspirins downed Hannover in an even match, which will probably be remembered for other reasons. Michael Ballack came on as a sub in the 2nd half, his last home game for Bayer, and perhaps bringing an end to his illustrious career. The Alka-Seltzers hold down the auto-qualifying spot, but will still need to hold off Stuttgart. Hannover needs a win at home to gain entry into the Europa-liga qualifying rounds.

HSV is mathematically safe. What a crap season for the Hamburgers. They have to hold off Mainz at home to avoid relegation. The match itself was a snoozer, although HSV had the edge. Pundits declared the high-point(s) is when Mladen Petric and David Jarolim got subbed out in the 2nd half. They’ve probably been HSV’s best players this season, and both are leaving the club. Somebody needs to light a fire under Hamburg’s ass next season, because this one is pretty pathetic. Mainz? Pretty good effort if you ask me, considering they’re a bunch of nobodies.

An entertaining match in Hoffenheim, with really nothing to play for. Nürnberg actually got their first Bundesliga win against Hoffenheim, and actually have a miniscule chance of sneaking into Europe. FCN was dangerous throughout on counterattacks, and demonstrated reasonably good defense in blunting Hoffenheim’s attacks.

Stuttgart has been a tough team, but not for Bayern recently, who’ve slapped them 6 straight times (Bundesliga and Cup). This was another ho-hum, with Bayern obviously relishing their advance into the Champions League final. Veteran GK Jörg Butt was given a going-away start in front of the home fans, although he might as well have sat on the bench, since he had nothing to do. He’s played some 387 Bundesliga matches with HSV, Leverkusen and Bayern, scored 26 goals (mostly penalties) and capped 4 times for Germany. Stuttgart trails Luserkusen by a point in the auto-qualify for Europa-liga, but at least are guaranteed the qualifying rounds.

Köln needed a result in Freiburg, but got bitch-slapped instead. They were under constant pressure from improved Freiburg, and a Rensing patzer gave the hosts the lead. There was a glimmer of hope when Podolski (of course) equalized after the restart, but SCF proceeded then to slap the helpless Kölners all over the field. Now the only hope for Köln is to hold onto the relegation playoff spot and face the 2.Liga contender.

Ho-hum match in Gladbach. The Borussen didn’t seem to interested in pressing things, which was fine by Augsburg. The visitors got the point they needed to stay up, which is quite an impressive feat, since there’s probably nobody that that didn’t pick them to go down in their initial Bundesliga season. Gladbach will just play out the season, going into Champions League qualifying.

Party time in Gelsenkirchen, but the Berliners weren’t invited. Well, they were, but the hosts spilled beer all over them and had a good laugh at their expense. Schalke fans said goodbye to Spanish legend Raul, who has decided to leave. His presence really helped turn around a club wandering aimlessly, and he grabbed a goal and assist in his home finale. Schalke’s reward is 3rd place and Champions League. Hertha remains pathetic and can only hope to catch Köln to avoid automatci relegation.

2 thoughts on “Bundesliga, Round 33

  1. Probably a mistake to let someone like Barrios go (esp. once Lewandowski starts sputtering), but that’s the fate of a not-quite-big club…

    • Yeah, it would be nice. But I also think Barrios wants to be a regular starter. It’s just a case that his injury in the South American championship basically gave Lewandowski the chance…

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