Not much of an exciting headline, but I think after romping to 19 straight victories, it’s a bit of news when the champs drop even a point. Obviously the title is done, so Bayern’s interests are now pointed towards Europe in their attempt to repeat the Champions League conquest. Tom Starke got a rare start in the Bayern goal, and Pep Guardiola didn’t necessarily put out the best squad against Hoffenheim. Most pundits expected a Bayern wipeout, since Hoffenheim has the league’s worst defense. What they forget is that the Hoppers can score as well. The visitors surprised by taking the lead, but that didn’t phase the champs, as oldtimer Claudio Pizarro scored twice and it looked like the home side was through. However Hoffenheim fought back and eventually squared the match, letting Bayern drop it’s first point since October 2013.

Stuttgart is in dire trouble, but they jumped out to commanding lead against Dortmund. Neverthless, the Neons weren’t rattled, and forced their way back into the match. When Georg Niedermeier got his ass tossed for Stuttgart, the visitors smelled blood and pressed for the win, which duly came on Marco Reus’ hat-trick. A disaster for VfB, a good win for Dortmund.

Schalke was the better team and overpowered Hertha, who have been sliding a bit. The key to the Blues revival seems to be the return of Huntelaar, who has been scoring freely. Berlin looked like they might sneak into Europe for a while, but their limits are now for everyone to see, and lower mid-table seems about right, and perhaps worry about next season.

Leverkusen basically sucked and could only draw with Braunschweig. It was a rare sellout, and the fans were pissed off, whistling constantly when it became clear that the Aspirins were sucking. Basically, a listless performance. Braunschweig on the other gave their usual 110% effort. It’s probably too late for a run, but the visitors liked getting the away point.

Mainz slapped Augsburg to hold them off. The host side had something to prove after a weak midweek outing, and went about their business seriously. Augsburg had the usual fight-till-you-drop mentality, but they’ve been lacking the cutting edge recently, and they quickly found themselves in trouble. Mainz took full advantage and were never really pushed too hard. Augsburg is still experiencing a fine season, but seem to be falling back to where they belong.

Frankfurt put in the hard work at Wolfsburg and were on the verge of earning a point. But a last minute long blast by Naldo gave the VWs the win. Wolfsburg was the aggressor through most of the match, but Eintracht fought well and defended better. On the balance, they probably deserved a point.

Freiburg is on the verge of salvation. The Breisgauer love playing Nürnberg, having some 10 matches without a defeat. They were pressed this time, mainly because they let der Club create some chances and got duly punished. Eventually however the SCF pressure paid off and they forged ahead for a critical win.

Gladbach did in HSV in an average match. Hamburg started off OK, but as the Germans like to say “…dann waren Sie mit dem Latein am Ende” (Literally: They were finished with their Latin, basically saying they were clueless afterwards). Gladbach didn’t really have to do much to seize control of the match and roll over the visitors. This also puts them into solid Euro contention.

Werder Bremen put in a good performance in a Nordderby at Hannover, and the late win was largely deserved. The 96ers simply didn’t do enough, and were even somewhat fortunate to have a lead at halftime. Bremen came out string in the restart and eventually snatched the win at the death. Most importantly, this pretty much ends any relegation worries they may have had: even playing crap, how could they blow a 9 point lead? Hannover has been very disappointing this season, I think a lot more was expected from them. (On the other hand, if you look at the 96ers history, it might suggest that the last couple of decent seasons were the aberration, not this year. This year they’ve been doing what they usually do: they suck.)

Lots of interest this week in the games, despite the runaway Bayern title: six sold out stadiums, and the others almost full as well. Bundesliga attendance has been very good for most of the season.

Total attendance 408,083 (avg 45,343) sellouts in München, Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Gladbach and Hannover

 	
FC Schalke 04	     -   Hertha BSC	        2:0 (1:0)   61,550

                    1:0  Obasi (16., Matip)
                    2:0  Huntelaar (46., Obasi)

Bayern München	     -   1899 Hoffenheim	3:3 (3:2)   71,000 *

                    0:1  Modeste (23., Volland)
                    1:1  Pizarro (31., Shaqiri)
                    2:1  Shaqiri (34., Pizarro)
                    3:1  Pizarro (40., Ribery)
                    3:2  Salihovic (44., direct freekick)
                    3:3  Roberto Firmino (75., Herdling)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen  -   Eintracht Braunschweig	1:1 (0:0)   30,210 *

                    0:1  Reichel (47., Boland)
                    1:1  Kießling (53., Hand penalty)

VfB Stuttgart	     -   Borussia Dortmund	2:3 (2:1)   59,500 *

                    1:0  Gentner (9.)
                    2:0  Harnik (19., Traoré)
                    2:1  Reus (30., Hofmann)
                    2:2  Reus (68., penalty, Lewandowski)
                    2:3  Reus (83., Aubameyang)

VfL Wolfsburg	     -   Eintracht Frankfurt	2:1 (0:1)   29,159

                    0:1  Aigner (11., Barnetta)
                    1:1  Olic (69., de Bruyne)
                    2:1  Naldo (89.)

1. FSV Mainz 05	     -   FC Augsburg	        3:0 (2:0)   30,014

                    1:0  Bungert (23., Geis)
                    2:0  Hitz (38., own goal)
                    3:0  Geis (83., Koo)

SC Freiburg	     -   1. FC Nürnberg	        3:2 (1:2)   24,000 *

                    0:1  Pogatetz (7., Kiyotake)
                    1:1  Krmas (23., Schmid)
                    1:2  Drmic (45., penalty, Pogatetz)
                    2:2  Mehmedi (53., penalty, Klaus)
                    3:2  Klaus (65.)
 	
Bor. Mönchengladbach -   Hamburger SV	        3:1 (1:1)   53,650 *

                    0:1  Zoua (28., Calhanoglu)
                    1:1  Daems (37.)
                    2:1  Raffael (75., M. Kruse)
                    3:1  Alvaro Dominguez (78., Brouwers)

Hannover 96	     -   Werder Bremen	       1:2 (1:0)   49,000 *

                    1:0  Huszti (43., direct freekick)
                    1:1  di Santo (57., Elia)
                    1:2  Prödl (90., Caldirola)



 1  Bayern München (M, P)	28   25  3  0 	  82:16  +66 	  78 
 2  Borussia Dortmund	  	28   17  4  7 	  62:31  +31 	  55 
 3  FC Schalke 04	  	28   16  6  6 	  53:37  +16 	  54
 4  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	28   15  3  10 	  47:34  +13 	  48
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 5  VfL Wolfsburg	  	28   14  5  9 	  48:42  +6 	  47 
 6  Bor. Mönchengladbach	28   13  6  9 	  49:34  +15 	  45 
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 7  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	28   13  5  10 	  41:43  -2 	  44
 8  FC Augsburg	  	        28   11  6  11 	  40:43  -3 	  39 
 9  1899 Hoffenheim	  	28    9  9  10 	  63:62  +1 	  36 
10  Hertha BSC Berlin (N)	28   10  6  12 	  36:39  -3 	  36 
11  Eintracht Frankfurt	  	28    8  8  12 	  35:48  -13 	  32 
12  Werder Bremen	  	28    8  8  12 	  34:54  -20 	  32 
13  Hannover 96	  	        28    8  5  15 	  36:51  -15 	  29 
14  SC Freiburg	  	        28    7  8  13 	  33:50  -17 	  29 
15  1. FC Nürnberg	  	28    5  11 12 	  34:52  -18 	  26
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16  VfB Stuttgart	  	28    6  6  16 	  42:57  -15 	  24 
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17  Hamburger SV	  	28    6  6  16 	  43:59  -16 	  24
18  Eintracht Braunschweig (N)	28    5  7  16 	  25:50  -25 	  22

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