“Kuba” night in Dortmund, as Jokob Blaszczykowski (aka “Kuba”) decided the match early against Nürnberg. The Neons dominated from the start and continue their sharp pot-winterbreak campaign. FCN was totally overwhelmed, and there wasn’t anything to achieve in this one.
Freiburg gave Leverkusen all they could handle, and despite pressure from the Aspirins, an active effort by the Breisgauer secured a point.
Frankfurt continued their fine season with a tough win over sinking Hoffenheim. The guests started brightly, but as the game progressed, Eintracht got the upper hand. They took a deserved lead into the half, but Hoffenheim came out strong after the break and was able to equalize. However Frankfurt was hardly fazed and almost immediately re-grabbed the lead, and the guests were essentially out of gas. The Hoppers now sink to an auto-relegation spot, with little end in site.
Greuther Fürth was completely lame and are mired at the bottom deservedly. Mainz ran circles around them and had little difficulty kicking their ass for a nice road win.
Augsburg on the other hand is showing some fight. After a nice win to restart, the Fuggers battled a rather disappointing Schalke to a draw, and perhaps had the edge most of the match. The Blues showed little in attack (despite 5 in the winterbreak restart), and I’m not convinced that their clean sheet was anything but Augsburg usual attack weakness. FCA almost got the win as Mölders hit the post, but overall a scoreless draw is a fair result.
Hannover managed to edge Wolfsburg in a tense Niedersachsen derby. The 96ers grabbed an early lead and then even managed to extend it despite going down a man (Pocognoli got his ass tossed in his debut). The VWs proceeded to dominate the match but were brought to their knees with a gala performance by 96 GK Ron-Robert Zieler, who has had a ho-hum season so far. But he showed why he had advanced into the national team today. Despite grabbing a goal, Wolfsburg was unable to square and end up losing. I would say undeservedly, but if you play an hour with a man advanatge and don’t win, don’t whine about it.
Gladbach decided the Rheinderby against Düsseldorf and then coasted. Fortuna was lame most of the match, and although they managed to pull back a goal, Gladbach was never really threatened, despite just going through the motions for almost the entire match.
On Sunday, Bayern dominated the match against Stuttgart, and it was pretty clear that VfB would have to play almost perfect to avoid a loss. They managed to hold off the leaders for a half, but then a hospital pass from Molinaro to GK Ulreich was intercepted by Mandzukic, 0-1 and essentially game over. Bayern then toyed with their hosts before kicking them in the nuts with another.
A wild Nordderby between eternal rivals Hamburg and Werder. HSV was ready for the match, and despite Werder jumping out early, the home side asserted control and eventually pushed into the lead. Werder immediately cut it back to one goal, and one would have expected an exiciting remaining 35 minytes to match the earlier back-and-forth action. Instead, it actually started to peter out, and then Bremen went amok with both Fritz and Arnautovic getting tossed in the waning minutes.
Total attendance was 388,234 (avg 43,137), with the Suttgart-Bayern match the only sell out. Still, not too bad, considering the cold weather (and of course higher than any other league anyway)
Borussia Dortmund - 1. FC Nürnberg 3:0 (2:0) 80,100
1:0 Blaszczykowski (18., penalty, Piszczek)
2:0 Blaszczykowski (21., M. Götze)
3:0 Lewandowski (88., Reus)
Borussia M'gladbach - Fortuna Düsseldorf 2:1 (2:0) 50,315
1:0 Juanan (6., own goal, Wendt)
2:0 Herrmann (14., L. de Jong)
2:1 Schahin (50., penalty)
Hannover 96 - VfL Wolfsburg 2:1 (2:0) 38,800
1:0 Abdellaoue (3., Chahed)
2:0 M. Diouf (38., Chahed)
2:1 Madlung (46., Polak)
FC Augsburg - FC Schalke 04 0:0 (0:0) 28,553
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - 1. FSV Mainz 05 0:3 (0:0) 14,425
0:1 Szalai (53., Ivanschitz)
0:2 Malli (65., Szalai)
0:3 Szalai (84., Risse)
Eintracht Frankfurt - 1899 Hoffenheim 2:1 (1:0) 38,100
1:0 Lanig (35., Inui)
1:1 Volland (65., Beck)
2:1 Aigner (67.)
SC Freiburg - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0:0 (0:0) 22,500
Sunday:
Hamburger SV - Werder Bremen 3:2 (1:1) 55,000
0:1 Lukimya (9., Ignjovski)
1:1 Son (22., Badelj)
2:1 Aogo (46., Son)
3:1 Rudnevs (52., Aogo)
3:2 Sokratis (54., Gebre Selassie)
VfB Stuttgart - Bayern München 0:2 (0:0) 60,441 *
0:1 Mandzukic (50.)
0:2 T. Müller (72., Mandzukic)
1 Bayern München 19 15 3 1 48:7 +41 48
2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 19 11 4 4 36:23 +13 37
3 Borussia Dortmund (M, P) 19 10 6 3 43:20 +23 36
4 Eintracht Frankfurt (N) 19 10 3 6 36:31 +5 33
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5 1. FSV Mainz 05 19 9 3 7 27:21 +6 30
6 FC Schalke 04 19 8 5 6 32:29 +3 29
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7 Borussia M'gladbach 19 7 8 4 27:27 0 29
8 SC Freiburg 19 7 7 5 24:18 +6 28
9 Hamburger SV 19 8 4 7 22:24 -2 28
10 Hannover 96 19 8 2 9 38:37 +1 26
11 VfB Stuttgart 19 7 4 8 21:32 -11 25
12 Werder Bremen 19 6 4 9 30:37 -7 22
13 VfL Wolfsburg 19 6 4 9 20:29 -9 22
14 Fortuna Düsseldorf (N) 19 5 6 8 23:27 -4 21
15 1. FC Nürnberg 19 5 6 8 18:26 -8 21
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16 FC Augsburg 19 2 7 10 15:31 -16 13
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17 1899 Hoffenheim 19 3 4 12 24:43 -19 13
18 SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N) 19 1 6 12 11:33 -22 9
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