The battle at the top got more interesting. OK, not the very top, since we all know that Bayern has already won that. But Schalke has continued their good for since the return of Huntelaar (and perhaps the dumping of Jones) and is now shaking things up in the Champions League spots a bit.
Of course Bayern was in second gear as they easily romped to a win over hapless Freiburg. Despite an estimated 187 million euros of players on the bench, the Bayern second squad had no issues, except they probably should have doubled the count.
Dortumnd was also on point as they blasted Frankfurt at home. The Neons are looking like they’ve managed to make some adjustments, despite the huge injury list, and are now threatening for the 2nd spot, and perhaps might be able to advance in Europe as well.
Schalke played a strong match in the head-to-head with Leverkusen, and come away with a deserved win. The Blues looked well organized and determined, the Aspirins dicked around too much and are now under severe pressure to hold on to 2nd place.
Of course the other big story is the relegation battle.
All eyes were really on Braunschweig, as everyone is fascinated with Titanticburger SV, err, HSV, troubles. And believe it or not, they got worst. In a hotly contested northern derby, Eintracht Braunschweig gave them the finger and beat them down with a fighting performance. Everyone knows Braunschweig doesn’t have the talent to stay up, but they give 100%. HSV probably has talent for Europe, but they give…50%? Anyway, another gutless outing…Well actually, HSV did show some fight in this one, but not nearly the level of their hosts, and that proved to be their undoing. Dominik Kumbela nailed a hat-trick in front of a sold-out house and sent Hamburg to their club record 7th straight Bundesliga defeat. (Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s a record going back to the Kaiser Wilhelm days). The Hamburg board reacted by fired coach Van Maarwijk immediately afterwards, of course having just “backed” him earlier. It will be very interesting who comes in. In reality, a couple of wins could get them out of the crisis, but they certainly don’t look capable right now. Kudos to Braunschweig for another fighting effort.
Bremen is another famed club in crisis, but they looked a lot better than HSV as they fought Gladbach to a draw. Werder trailed from the start, but didn’t give up and were rewarded with a deserved point through a late goal. Winter signing Ludovic Obraniak scored on a nice free kick. Gladbach had been flying high, but their wings have been clipped and they are now in a battle to hold on to a Euro spot.
In another relegation battle, Hoffenheim bitch-slapped VfB Sutttgart. No one expects much from the Hoppers these days, as the money spigot got turned off a while back, but they’ve played some decent football at times with what they have. Stuttgart is in the same boat with Bremen and Hamburg, expected to do a lot more , but instead sucking. The scoreline pretty much reflects the match, as the hosts did whatever they pleased and Stuttgart looked old and tired.
Nürnberg definitely seems to have awakened from their 2013 paralysis. They’ve won 3/4 since the winterbreak. This time they won a Bavarian derby against in form Augsburg, who had their 8 game unbeaten streak stopped. FCN has had good success in the Fuggerstadt, as they’ve now gone 10 matches without a defeat (not all Bundesliga, but impressive nevertheless). The match itself was played in front of a packed house, and although it had “Derby-stimmung”, it was largely a dour defensive affair. FCN snuck a goal and made it standup, and climb from the relegation zone for the first time in ages.
Wolfsburg was somewhat fortunate to get the win at Berlin. Hertha was at least even, and was clearly the better team going into the half. However the VWs struck with a lucky goal, and that seemed to throw the hosts for a loop. Wolfsburg began to even out the play and eventually grabbed the lead, which Hertha was unable to peg back.
Total attendance this weekend was 374,529 (avg 41,614), with sellouts in München, Bremen, Braunschweig, Leverkusen and Augsburg
1. FSV Mainz 05 - Hannover 96 2:0 (0:0) 26,764
1:0 Malli (51., N. Müller)
2:0 Choupo-Moting (90. + 3, Zimling)
Borussia Dortmund - Eintracht Frankfurt 4:0 (2:0) 80,100
1:0 Aubameyang (10., H. Mkhitaryan)
2:0 Aubameyang (21., M. Friedrich)
3:0 Lewandowski (47., penalty, Lewandowski)
4:0 Jojic (68.Großkreutz)
Bayern München - SC Freiburg 4:0 (3:0) 71,000 *
1:0 Dante (19., Contento)
2:0 Shaqiri (34., Pizarro)
3:0 Shaqiri (42., T. Kroos)
4:0 Pizarro (88.)
Werder Bremen - Bor. Mönchengladbach 1:1 (0:1) 42,100 *
0:1 Raffael (6.)
1:1 Obraniak (88., direct freekick)
1899 Hoffenheim - VfB Stuttgart 4:1 (1:0) 29,847
1:0 Schipplock (12., Roberto Firmino)
2:0 Volland (49., Salihovic)
3:0 Schipplock (66., Roberto Firmino)
3:1 Rüdiger (78., Maxim)
4:1 Roberto Firmino (90. + 2, penalty, Modeste)
Eintracht Braunschweig - Hamburger SV 4:2 (0:1) 23,200 *
0:1 Lasogga (23., Jansen)
1:1 Kumbela (51.)
2:1 Kumbela (61., Boland)
2:2 Ilicevic (76.)
3:2 Kumbela (85., Bicakcic)
4:2 Hochscheidt (90. + 3, Bellarabi)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen - FC Schalke 04 1:2 (0:1) 30,210 *
0:1 Goretzka (28.)
1:1 Felipe Santana (66., own goal, Castro)
1:2 Huntelaar (74., Farfan)
Sunday:
FC Augsburg - 1. FC Nürnberg 0:1 (0:1) 30,660 *
0:1 Drmic (65., Hlousek)
Hertha BSC - VfL Wolfsburg 1:2 (1:0) 40,648
1:0 Skjelbred (21., Allagui)
1:1 Knoche (58., KRodriguez)
1:2 D. Caligiuri (78., de Bruyne)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 21 19 2 0 57:9 +48 59
2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 21 14 1 6 38:22 +16 43
3 Borussia Dortmund 21 13 3 5 51:24 +27 42
4 FC Schalke 04 21 12 4 5 41:30 +11 40
--------------------------------------------------------------------
5 VfL Wolfsburg 21 11 3 7 35:25 +10 36
6 Bor. Mönchengladbach 21 10 4 7 37:26 +11 34
--------------------------------------------------------------------
7 1. FSV Mainz 05 21 10 3 8 31:35 -4 33
8 Hertha BSC Berlin (N) 21 9 4 8 32:26 +6 31
9 FC Augsburg 21 9 4 8 30:30 0 31
10 1899 Hoffenheim 21 6 7 8 44:44 0 25
11 Hannover 96 21 7 3 11 29:37 -8 24
12 Eintracht Frankfurt 21 5 6 10 24:38 -14 21
13 Werder Bremen 21 5 6 10 25:46 -21 21
14 1. FC Nürnberg 21 3 11 7 25:36 -11 20
15 VfB Stuttgart 21 5 4 12 34:45 -11 19
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16 SC Freiburg 21 4 6 11 20:40 -20 18
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Hamburger SV 21 4 4 13 35:51 -16 16
18 Eintracht Braunschweig (N) 21 4 3 14 15:39 -24 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