Another walk in the park for leaders Bayern München as they easily dismantled host Eintracht Frankfurt behind Thomas Müller’s hat-trick. Bayern was so dominant they might have as well not even bothered playing. Aside from the obligatory sellout wherever Bayern shows up, Frankfurt had nothing really to cheer about.
Well played by Hannover in Berlin to start off the round on Friday night. The 96ers were clever and well organized. Hertha started off reasonably well, but when they fell behind just before half, they really couldn’t get started back in the 2nd period. So the 96ers controlled the match and eventually finished it off. Despite a pathetic offense, Hannover is sitting pretty in 4th right now. Hertha has had a couple of lame outings now, and could be sinking into serious trouble.
A snoozer in Leverkusen against Mainz. The Aspirins were clearly dominant, but Mainz GK Loris Karius was in top form, and the home side couldn’t get anything past him. Overall, it has to be disappointing for Leverkusen, wasting a likely win, but Mainz has to be happy, given a few difficult outings recently.
The “Itchy and Scratchy Fight Club” derby ended with a thumping Augsburg win. It is perhaps a bit out of order, as Paderborn didn’t play badly, and created a few decent chances, but they neglected to push the ball over the line. FCA has been quite strong at home and notches up more points towards establishing themselves as a Budndesliga stalwart.
A lucky win for Köln at Hoffenheim, in an exciting match. the hosts took a quick lead, but Köln quickly broke them down and answered with three quick goals. Hoffenheim came storming back, and generally dominated the rest of the match, but the visitors stood firm. Then with practically their only shot in the 2nd half, the Kölners grabbed a winner and get a big victory.
Freiburg is back and Schalke is in crisis. The Breisgauer had been poor, but now have shown enough life that they can believe that they are strong enough to avoid relegation. Schalke started well, but when they fell behind, they had no ideas. Instead Freiburg got more confident and started pushing aruond the Blues, and eventually finished them off. It looks like the Di Matteo appointment hasn’t had any effect, as Schalke continue to play poorly.
Bremen won a relegation battle with Stuttgart thanks to a solid performance. It was a hard fought, although hardly attractive, battle. Neither side looked good, but both are in crisis and seeking points.
Wolfsburg didn’t have to do too much to win their northern clash against Hamburg. The VWs were simply better, and had a relatively easy time getting the win. This keeps them in 2nd, even within shouting distance of Bayern. Certainly they have established themselves as Bayern’s backup. I suppose it’s a bit like the Miss America runner-up, should Bayern “be unable to fufill their obligations, blah-blah-blah…”. Still, VfL has been playing good football. HSV showed very little, no surprise.
Dortmund is in desperate straights, considering that the match against Gladbach began with BVB in last place! Now the Neons gave an indication that they really wanted to get a result, and completely dominated against their unbeaten opponents. How much? Consider that they outshot their opponents 22-1. However despite the sustained pressure Dortmund was not getting the result they needed. It took a “Goal of the Year” nominee to get them the points. And it was truly legendary, since it was an own goal. Gladbach’s World Cup winner Christoph Kramer tried a backpass from about 45 meters, but GK Sommer slipped, was unable to recover, and the ball went into the net. All things considered, I suppose it was no less than Dortmund deserved, but coach Klopp isn’t going to complain, since they desperately needed the points. A rather disappointing outing from Gladbach. They were disciplined, but showed zero going forward, so in that sense they deserved to lose.
Total attendance 353,780 (avg 39,309), sellouts in Hoffenheim, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Wolfsburg, Dortmund
Hertha BSC - Hannover 96 0:2 (0:1) 39,710
0:1 Briand (44., Kiyotake)
0:2 Kiyotake (76., Bittencourt)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen - 1. FSV Mainz 05 0:0 (0:0) 29,714
FC Augsburg - SC Paderborn 07 3:0 (1:0) 27,755
1:0 To. Werner (7., Halil Altintop)
2:0 To. Werner (47., Verhaegh)
3:0 Callsen-Bracker (68., To. Werner)
TSG Hoffenheim - 1. FC Köln 3:4 (3:3) 30,150 *
1:0 Szalai (2., Strobl)
1:1 Olkowski (5.)
1:2 M. Lehmann (12., direkct freekick)
1:3 Ujah (35., Olkowski)
2:3 Roberto Firmino (39., Elyounoussi)
3:3 Roberto Firmino (45., Volland)
3:4 Olkowski (83., Brecko)
Eintracht Frankfurt - Bayern München 0:4 (0:1) 51,500 *
0:1 T. Müller (23., Ribery)
0:2 T. Müller (64., Ribery)
0:3 T. Müller (67., M. Götze)
0:4 Shaqiri (86., Rode)
SC Freiburg - FC Schalke 04 2:0 (1:0) 24,000 *
1:0 C. Günter (22., Freis)
2:0 Schmid (68.)
Werder Bremen - VfB Stuttgart 2:0 (1:0) 40,284
1:0 Prödl (30., Junuzovic)
2:0 Bartels (57., Junuzovic)
VfL Wolfsburg - Hamburger SV 2:0 (1:0) 30,000 *
1:0 Olic (27., De Bruyne)
2:0 Hunt (64., De Bruyne)
Borussia Dortmund - Bor. Mönchengladbach 1:0 (0:0) 80,667 *
1:0 Kramer (58., own goal)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 11 8 3 0 27:3 +24 27
2 VfL Wolfsburg 11 7 2 2 22:9 +13 23
3 Bor. Mönchengladbach 11 5 5 1 15:6 +9 20
4 Hannover 96 11 6 1 4 9:11 -2 19
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5 TSG Hoffenheim 11 4 5 2 17:14 +3 17
6 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 11 4 5 2 17:15 +2 17
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7 FC Augsburg 11 5 0 6 14:12 +2 15
8 1. FSV Mainz 05 11 3 6 2 13:12 +1 15
9 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 11 4 3 4 16:16 0 15
10 1. FC Köln (N) 11 4 3 4 11:11 0 15
11 FC Schalke 04 11 4 2 5 14:15 -1 14
12 Eintracht Frankfurt 11 3 3 5 17:23 -6 12
13 SC Freiburg 11 2 5 4 11:14 -3 11
14 Hertha BSC Berlin 11 3 2 6 15:21 -6 11
15 Borussia Dortmund 11 3 1 7 12:17 -5 10
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16 Werder Bremen 11 2 4 5 14:24 -10 10
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17 Hamburger SV 11 2 3 6 4:14 -10 9
18 VfB Stuttgart 11 2 3 6 14:25 -11 9
1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Relegation to 2.Liga
M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokalsieger, Cup winner
N = Neuling, just promoted