BUNDESLIGA, Round 26: Big relegation battles

Freiburg is fighting against relegation, and came up with a second huge “six-pointer”. The Breisgauer dominated against Werder Bremen and ended up with a deserved victory. Bremen was pretty lame and was basically overrun by an active SCF. Bremen is likely safe, although they could easily slide back into the drop struggle. This was huge for Freiburg, who might have looked dead only a couple of weeks ago.

Stuttgart had a huge win against Hamburg, as two oldtimer traditionals battle against impending doom. There’s a good possibility that at least one of them goes down. (And as always mentioned, HSV is the only club to play every single Bundesliga season). It was a largely even match until HSV went down a man in the second half. Stuttgart had just enough pressure to get a critical win.

Dortmund used individual brilliance to overcome Hannover. The 96ers fought hard and seemed to be holding off the superior Dortmund side, but the Neons broke through and ripped them. This puts Dortmund in a good position to hold off Schalke from 2nd and the upcoming Revierderby.

Schalke dominated against Braunschweig, but was very wasteful with chances. As a result, they had some nervous moments at the end, until they finally finished things off in injury-time. The Blues have been getting better and really should have won this in a rout. Braunschweig didn’t do anything, but at least managed to put a scare in their hosts late.

Augsburg gave Wolfsburg fits, so the hosts were happy to save a point. The VWs had some better play, but were basically banging their heads against a fighting and well organized FCA. In fact, it looked like a win for the visitors, but oldtimer Ivica Olic saved the day with a late header.

Bayern won again, ho-hum. Mainz gave them a battle early, although the champs were pretty much in control throughout. After they got tired they struck a couple of times and then went home.

Gladbach had an easy time with Berlin. They didn’t really create a lot of chances, but they were cold-blooded when they needed to be. Hertha basically just dicked around aimlessly, like they didn’t want to be there. As a result, Gladbach wasn’t really pressed to come up with a full out match. They’re back in the hunt for Euros, whereas Hertha takes a set back.

Frankfurt got a huge away win at Nürnberg in a critical relegation tussle. After a somewhat quiet first half, things got exciting after the restart. Eintracht came out guns balzing and stunned the home side, seemingly wrapping everything up, racing out to a 3-0 lead. One might have thought that FCN was dead and buried, but oddly enough they roused themselves and fought back to within a goal. However in the final stretch Pinola got his ass red carded, and that allowed Frankfurt to finish off the game. Overall, a very deserved win for the visitors, who probably should have had an easier time. Nürnberg is now in dire straits, having dropped several in a row. A win is really needed, as they’ll have to climb over several bodies. This might be just enough for Frankfurt to survive.

Finally, Hoffenheim stunned Leverkusen and thereby pretty much secures another Bundesliga season. Meanwhile the Aspirins all of a sudden are trying to hold on to a Champions League spot. They haven’t won in nine official matches (including Euro wipeouts) and could conceivably fall out of even Euroliga with a couple more losses. Hoffenheim defeated Bayer for the first time in 12 tries, and in general played a good match. They have the worst defense in the league, but they can score (3rd after Bayern and Dortmund). The Asiprins looked to have salvaged a point, but the Hoppers struck at the end to shock their hosts.

Total attendance 371,541 (avg 41,282), sellouts in Freiburg, Gelsenkirchen (Schalke), Hannover and Mainz.

SC Freiburg	      -   Werder Bremen	           3:1 (1:0)   24,000 *

                     1:0  Schuster (15., Darida)
                     2:0  Klaus (53., Mehmedi)
                     3:0  Mehmedi (59., Klaus)
                     3:1  Petersen (70., Hunt)

FC Schalke 04	      -   Eintracht Braunschweig   3:1 (1:0)   61,973 *

                     1:0  Goretzka (17., M. Meyer)
                     2:0  Huntelaar (65., direct freekick)
                     2:1  Kessel (82., Elabdellaoui)
                     3:1  Szalai (90. + 3)

VfB Stuttgart	      -   Hamburger SV	           1:0 (0:0)   55,000

                     1:0  Maxim (69., Traoré)

Hannover 96	      -   Borussia Dortmund	   0:3 (0:1)   49,000 *

                     0:1  Hummels (43., Sokratis)
                     0:2  Lewandowski (52., H. Mkhitaryan)
                     0:3  Reus (90. + 1, H. Mkhitaryan)

VfL Wolfsburg	      -   FC Augsburg	           1:1 (0:1)   25,645

                     0:1  To. Werner (43., Halil Altintop)
                     1:1  Olic (81., Rodriguez)

1. FSV Mainz 05	      -   Bayern München	   0:2 (0:0)   34,000 *

                     0:1  Schweinsteiger (82., Shaqiri)
                     0:2  M. Götze (86., Ribery)


Bor. Mönchengladbach  -   Hertha BSC	           3:0 (3:0)   53,050

                     1:0  Arango (28., Herrmann)
                     2:0  Ramos (32., own goal, Arango)
                     3:0  Raffael (40., M. Kruse)

Sunday: 
1. FC Nürnberg	      -   Eintracht Frankfurt	   2:5 (0:1)   40,079

                     0:1  Barnetta (21., Aigner)
                     0:2  Joselu (49., Aigner)
                     0:3  Madlung (53., Lanig)
                     1:3  Drmic (64., Campana)
                     2:3  Campana (72., Plattenhardt)
                     2:4  Joselu (88., Kadlec)
                     2:5  Kadlec (90. + 2, Joselu)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen   -   1899 Hoffenheim	   2:3 (1:2)   28,794

                     0:1  Salihovic (14., Hand penalty)
                     1:1  Kießling (39., Spahic)
                     1:2  Volland (40., Roberto Firmino)
                     2:2  Rolfes (54., L. Bender)
                     2:3  Modeste (89., F. Johnson)


 		
 1  Bayern München (M, P)	26   24  2  0 	  76:12  +64 	  74 
 2  Borussia Dortmund	  	26   16  3  7 	  59:29  +30 	  51 
 3  FC Schalke 04	  	26   15  5  6 	  51:37  +14 	  50
 4  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	26   14  2  10 	  43:32  +11 	  44
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Bor. Mönchengladbach	26   12  6  8 	  46:32  +14 	  42 
 6  VfL Wolfsburg	  	26   12  5  9 	  43:40  +3 	  41
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 7  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	26   12  5  9 	  37:40  -3 	  41 
 8  FC Augsburg	  	        26   11  6  9 	  39:37  +2 	  39 
 9  Hertha BSC Berlin (N)	26   10  6  10 	  35:34  +1 	  36 
10  1899 Hoffenheim	  	26    8  8  10 	  56:59  -1 	  32 
11  Hannover 96	  	        26    8  5  13 	  34:46  -12 	  29 
12  Eintracht Frankfurt	  	26    7  8  11 	  33:46  -13 	  29 
13  Werder Bremen	  	26    7  8  11 	  30:50  -20 	  29 
14  SC Freiburg	  	        26    6  7  13 	  29:47  -18 	  25 
15  VfB Stuttgart	  	26    6  6  14 	  40:52  -12 	  24
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  Hamburger SV	  	26    6  5  15 	  41:55  -14 	  23
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  1. FC Nürnberg	  	26    4  11 11 	  30:49  -19 	  23 
18  Eintracht Braunschweig (N)	26    4  6  16 	  21:48  -27 	  18


	
1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Relegation to 2.Liga

1 thought on “BUNDESLIGA, Round 26: Big relegation battles

Leave a Reply to Oliver X Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *