Champions Bayern and followers Dortmund evidently wanted to show Barcelona and Real Madrid that they mean business in the Champions League semi-finals. Both clubs destroyed their opposition. bayern’s win was probably more impressive, as Nürnberg has been in good form recently. The Bavarian derby was one-sided, as the Müncheners showed who’s boss and blitzed der Club in the first half, kicking their ass all over the field.
Up north in the Frankenland, it was even worse, as der Club’s neighbor Greuther Fürth got em-“bare”-assed by Dortmund at home. A desolate performance by the Greuther, dortmund id whatever they wanted. In fact, the Neons evidently felt sorry and basically went into holding pattern in the 2nd half. Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid was in the stands, but given that Fürth sucked so bad, he probably didn’t get any insight except “don’t suck”.
A fierce battle for Champions League in Gelsenkirchen. Visiting Leverkusen looked just about to have things wrapped up, as the Aspirins were just a lot more composed and clever than the desperate Schalkers. However Finnish striker Teemu Pukki came on as a sub, and managed to turn things around and salvage a point. The draw is probably fair, as although Leverkusen probably was better, the Schalke effort deserved a reward. Bayer sits with one leg in the CL, but Schalke really needs to look over their shoulder.
Freiburg is knocking on the door of the Champions League. The Breisgauer largely outplayed Hannover, although the 96ers certainly contributed to their own demise. SCF deserves the win, and they seemed to have gotten over a brief period of off-form.
Hamburg has been sucking, but Mainz hasn’t exactly set the world on fire recently. Both hope to sneak into Europe, so results are needed. Suprisingly it was HSV that showed more in front of a sold-out Mainz crowd. It was the return of Korean Son, whose double gave Hamburg the huge victory. Mainz didn’t show enough, especially with a disorganized offense, so their ball possesion edge didn’t get anything.
Two struggling teams met in Düsseldorf, both Fortuna and Werder have been sinking. Although the draw doesn’t really resolve anything, both teams have to be somewhat satisfied with their effort. Fortuna came out quickly in both halves to grab leads, but Bremen battled back and fully deserved the point. Considering how both have been pushed around like biatches recently, a definite improvement was shown.
Hoffenheim is showing life. Wolfsburg was dominant, grabbed the lead and seemed to be sailing, But perhaps that was the problem, as the VWs started dicking around and the Hoppers got back into the match. The visitors even took the lead, and it took a late goal by oldie Naldo to save Wolfsburg’s ass from defeat. 6 points behind Fortuna is probably too much, but the new coach Markus Gisdol seems to be whipping the Hoppers into shape, so a playoff could result in survival, and a drop to the 2.Liga might not even be disastrous, as it looks like Hoffenheim would be a contender for immediate comeback.
Augsburg however wants to stay up as well. The Fuggers put in a strong effort to defeat fading Frankfurt and keep the playoff spot. In addition, they now pose a serious threat to Fortuna Düsseldorf, who could easily continue sinking into oblivion.
Total attendance was 370,530 (avg 41,170), sellouts in München, Fürth, Mainz, Düsseldorf and Augsburg
SC Freiburg - Hannover 96 3:1 (2:1) 23,000
1:0 C. Schulz (25., own goal, Schmid)
1:1 Rausch (36., M. Diouf)
2:1 M. Kruse (44., Schmid)
3:1 Schmid (73., Santini)
Bayern München - 1. FC Nürnberg 4:0 (3:0) 71,000 *
1:0 Boateng (5.)
2:0 Gomez (17., Boateng)
3:0 Rafinha (24., Pizarro)
4:0 Shaqiri (56., Ribery)
VfL Wolfsburg - 1899 Hoffenheim 2:2 (1:1) 24,221
1:0 Arnold (13., Rodriguez)
1:1 Salihovic (35., penalty, Schipplock)
1:2 Beck (63., Weis)
2:2 Naldo (86., Rodriguez)
1. FSV Mainz 05 - Hamburger SV 1:2 (0:0) 34,000 *
0:1 Son (61., van der Vaart)
0:2 Son (81., Badelj)
1:2 S. Parker (86., Junior Diaz)
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - Borussia Dortmund 1:6 (0:5) 18,000 *
0:1 M. Götze (12., Kehl)
0:2 Gündogan (15., Blaszczykowski)
0:3 Blaszczykowski (29., M. Götze)
0:4 Gündogan (33., Blaszczykowski)
0:5 M. Götze (45., Großkreutz)
1:5 Prib (71., Pledl)
1:6 Lewandowski (80., Blaszczykowski)
Fortuna Düsseldorf - Werder Bremen 2:2 (1:1) 54,600 *
1:0 Reisinger (2., Kruse)
1:1 Junuzovic (16., de Bruyne)
2:1 Reisinger (48., Lambertz)
2:2 Latka (70., own goal, Arnautovic)
FC Schalke 04 - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2:2 (0:1) 61,619
0:1 Rolfes (39., L. Bender)
0:2 Kießling (58., Kadlec)
1:2 Pukki (71., Michel Bastos)
2:2 Raffael (87., penalty, Pukki)
Sunday:
VfB Stuttgart - Borussia M'gladbach 2:0 (2:0) 53,430
1:0 Alvaro Dominguez (28., own goal)
2:0 Gentner (34.)
FC Augsburg - Eintracht Frankfurt 2:0 (1:0) 30,660 *
1:0 Ji (27., Moravek)
2:0 Ji (55., Moravek)
1 Bayern München 29 25 3 1 83:13 +70 78
2 Borussia Dortmund (M, P) 29 17 7 5 72:35 +37 58
3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 29 14 8 7 53:38 +15 50
4 FC Schalke 04 29 13 7 9 50:45 +5 46
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5 SC Freiburg 29 12 9 8 39:34 +5 45
6 Eintracht Frankfurt (N) 28 12 6 10 42:40 +2 42
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7 Borussia M'gladbach 29 10 11 8 36:39 -3 41
8 Hamburger SV 29 12 5 12 34:45 -11 41
9 1. FSV Mainz 05 29 10 9 10 36:34 +2 39
10 Hannover 96 29 11 5 13 50:49 +1 38
11 1. FC Nürnberg 29 9 11 9 33:39 -6 38
12 VfB Stuttgart 29 10 6 13 31:46 -15 36
13 VfL Wolfsburg 29 8 10 11 35:45 -10 34
14 Werder Bremen 29 8 8 13 45:56 -11 32
15 Fortuna Düsseldorf (N) 29 7 9 13 35:45 -10 30
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16 FC Augsburg 29 6 9 14 27:44 -17 27
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17 1899 Hoffenheim 29 6 6 17 35:54 -19 24
18 SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N) 29 2 9 18 19:52 -33 15
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
Hoeness is now rabbitting on about the terrible state of the Bundesliga and how it might become a duopoly with Bayern and Dortmund. He’s out of whack. HSV are heading in the right direction, Schalke are still competitive and have been in Europe for a long time, Leverkusen the same. To a lesser extent Gladbach and Hannover are still in the European mix. And even though Dortmund has won twice in the last few years, its not like Real / Barcelona where they share the spoils more or less every year.