(more details later)
Dortmund completely dominated against Hannover, and the 96ers were fortunate that they didn’t get whipped silly. The Neons were in control from the start, but wasted some chances, or were perhaps to enamored with their pretty football that they forgot that you’re supposed to score too.
Excellent performance by Schalke (first time you’re read those words in a while!) at Wolfsburg. The Blues dominated and leave deserved winner. Youngster Julian Draxler is emerging as a player to be watched, and perhaps the sale of Lewis Holtby to england won’t even be missed. Draxler has been around for a while, so it’s easy to forget he’s only 19. Things went so well even Huntelaar got on the scoresheet. For Wolfsburg, probably nothing to worry about, but they’ll want to keep an eye on Augsburg.
Great result for Augsburg at Bremen. Werder started slow, and the Fuggers took advantage to grab the lead. As Bremen began to wake up and press hard, they were a bit unfortunate, hitting the post twice. However the FCA defense managed to hold on and get critical points, giving them slight hope of moving up out of the relegation zone. Bremen probably should have had a draw, but have no one to blame but themselves.
In form Freiburg fully deserved their point at Nürnberg. If anything, they were the better team and FCN benefited from a rather dubious handball penalty. Der Club has been pretty solid, but could never really mount anything against the well organized and quicker Breisgauers.
Hamburg totally dominated against Greuther Fürth, but drops points. HSV attacked all day, but looked incompetant when it counted. The Gruether made their only attack count, and then fought hard. No talent, but lots of spirit, and on that basis, a point well earned.
It looked like a miserable loss. A somewhat dubious penalty, and visitors Stuttgart are in the lead. Leverkusen then dominated the match, but looked like banging their head against the wall in futility. Then a last gasp run got the Aspirins the deserved win.
On Sunday, Hoffenheim faced Bayern München, and the way things are going, you’d certainly expect a rout. As it turns out, the Hoppers actually played hard, perhaps their best performance of the year. Bayern was clearly superior, and eventually made that count, but the home side also benefited from some luck, so the score was kept minimal.
Fortuna Düsseldorf ended up throwing away the win against Mainz. Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel has been in the press a lot about how the refs have been cheating Mainz, but he should have no words about this one. Fortuna dominated and pressed, and it was only their wastefulness that prevented them from winning.
This weekend’s attendance was 384,452 (avg 42,717), sellouts in Frankfurt, Dortmund, Hoffenheim.
Eintracht Frankfurt - Borussia M'gladbach 0:1 (0:1) 51,500 *
0:1 L. de Jong (22., Kopfball, Marx)
Borussia Dortmund - Hannover 96 3:1 (2:1) 80,645 *
1:0 Lewandowski (8., Großkreutz)
2:0 Lewandowski (21., Großkreutz)
2:1 Abdellaoue (40.)
3:1 Schieber (72., Blaszczykowski)
VfL Wolfsburg - FC Schalke 04 1:4 (0:1) 29,326
0:1 Draxler (33., Höger)
1:1 Olic (50., Polak)
1:2 Draxler (63., J. Jones)
1:3 Farfan (79., Draxler)
1:4 Huntelaar (86., Höger)
Werder Bremen - FC Augsburg 0:1 (0:1) 39,211
0:1 Werner (29., Kopfball, Hahn)
1. FC Nürnberg - SC Freiburg 1:1 (1:0) 38,188
1:0 Simons (33., penalty)
1:1 Schmid (83., Schuster)
Hamburger SV - SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1:1 (1:1) 47,206
0:1 Djurdjic (14., Pledl)
1:1 Beister (21., Aogo)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen - VfB Stuttgart 2:1 (0:1) 28,000
0:1 Ibisevic (12., penalty, Ibisevic)
1:1 Kießling (82., penalty)
2:1 L. Bender (86., Kießling)
Sunday:
1899 Hoffenheim - Bayern München 0:1 (0:1) 30,150 *
0:1 Gomez (38., Ribery)
Fortuna Düsseldorf - 1. FSV Mainz 05 1:1 (1:1) 40,226
1:0 Svensson (6., own goal, Schahin)
1:1 Klasnic (40., M. Caligiuri)
1 Bayern München 24 20 3 1 64:8 +56 63
2 Borussia Dortmund (M, P) 24 13 7 4 54:28 +26 46
3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 24 13 6 5 45:31 +14 45
4 Eintracht Frankfurt (N) 24 11 5 8 38:35 +3 38
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5 SC Freiburg 24 9 9 6 30:23 +7 36
6 FC Schalke 04 24 10 6 8 41:39 +2 36
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7 Hamburger SV 24 10 5 9 29:33 -4 35
8 1. FSV Mainz 05 24 9 7 8 32:29 +3 34
9 Borussia M'gladbach 24 8 10 6 33:34 -1 34
10 Hannover 96 24 10 3 11 47:45 +2 33
11 VfB Stuttgart 24 8 5 11 26:42 -16 29
12 Fortuna Düsseldorf (N) 24 7 7 10 29:32 -3 28
13 1. FC Nürnberg 24 6 10 8 24:31 -7 28
14 Werder Bremen 24 8 4 12 39:48 -9 28
15 VfL Wolfsburg 24 7 6 11 24:37 -13 27
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16 FC Augsburg 24 4 9 11 21:36 -15 21
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17 1899 Hoffenheim 24 4 4 16 27:49 -22 16
18 SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N) 24 2 8 14 14:37 -23 14
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