Round 20, Feb 6-8
Are things turning normal in the Bundesliga? A routine win for Bayern, and Dortmund finally showing some backbone, HSV squeaking a win…it’s kinda what was expected.
Bayern had a routine win in Stuttgart. VfB dropped to dead last, but they did put up a great defensive effort. Bayern controlled the ball and eventually broke through, and that was it. Stuttgart had nothing going forward, so GK Neuer was basically taking a nap.
Dortmund also showed signs of returning to form. The Neons might have been quite worried with the relegation 6 pointer at Freiburg, who are battle hardened in relegation battles. However an early brain-fart on defense led to an easy Marco Reus tap-in, and that seemed to relax the Neons. The hosts were very active, indeed had more ball possesion. But Dortmund was much more dangerous, especially Kevin Aubemeyang, who may have given indications that he can be the Lewandowski replacement so desperately needed. The Neon defense was also rock solid, so there wasn’t much Freiburg could do. Indeed, if their GK hadn’t been sharp, it could have turned embarrassing. This doesn’t mean that Dortmund is out of the woods, but they did show that they can put things together, so lets see how they do next week…
Schalke didn’t show much, but Gladbach didn’t do enough to split the points. The Blues took advantage of an early Gladbach mistake, and then made sure they didn’t do anything stupid. The visitors had a few chances to equalize, but wasted them. Overall, a boring derby.
Wolfsburg has apparently figured out that they should use Chelsea as a farm team :). The VWs signed Chelski castoff Andreas Schürrle for 32 million euros, and the World Champion made a fine debut. Their other Chelski purchase, Belgian Kevin de Bruyne, is on fire, a notched another two. The result was an easy win for the VWs over Hoffenheim, and solidifying their current position as no.2 in Germany.
Berlin got a huge boost with an away win at Mainz. Hertha had fired coach Jos Luhukay, and interim Pal Dardai was in charge. Hertha played solid football, but Mainz self destructed as GK Loris Karius got red carded for a foul, and Berlin took full advantage. There was no way back for the home side, so Hertha picks up critical relegation battle points.
Hamburg was a lucky winner in the Nordderby with Hannover. HSV benefitted from a couple of howlers by 96 defender Marcelo, and generally looked fairly nervous. Hannover controlled the ball and applied pressure, but weren’t cold-blooded enough. HSV isn’t going to complain though, as they needed the points, and got them.
Most pundits picked the Köln-Paderborn match as the crap game of the round, and they were right. Each side had one/two chances that they disgracefully blew. Neither side showed squat, so in the absence of both teams (deservedly) losing, a goalless draw is about right.
Bremen’s turnaround under Viktor Skripnik continues, as Werder dumped Leverkusen in a hard fought match. That pretty much ends their relegation worries – at this point they’re closer to Europe than the drop. Bayer was decent, but couldn’t cope with the hosts fighting spirit, so they really can’t complain too much.
Augsburg hosted Frankfurt, and the high-flying Fuggers got off to a great start, and seemed well on their way to strengthening an unbelievable Champions League bid. But Eintracht had other ideas and fought their way back into the match. Indeed, it was the visitors that pressed and pushed Augsburg into defensive mode. They weren’t intimidated by FCA’s physical play, and seized the initiative. In the end, the hosts had to be happy to hold a draw.
Total attendance 367,139 (avg 40,793), sellouts in Gelsenkirchen, Freiburg, Stuttgart
FC Schalke 04 - Bor. Mönchengladbach 1:0 (1:0) 61,973 * 1:0 Barnetta (11., K.-P. Boateng) VfL Wolfsburg - TSG Hoffenheim 3:0 (2:0) 26,356 1:0 Dost (3., Schürrle) 2:0 De Bruyne (28., Schürrle) 3:0 De Bruyne (84., Dost) 1. FSV Mainz 05 - Hertha BSC 0:2 (0:2) 26,756 0:1 Hegeler (35., penalty, Stocker) 0:2 Beerens (42., Stocker) SC Freiburg - Borussia Dortmund 0:3 (0:1) 24,000 * 0:1 Reus (9., Aubameyang) 0:2 Aubameyang (56., Gündogan) 0:3 Aubameyang (72., Kagawa) VfB Stuttgart - Bayern München 0:2 (0:1) 60,000 * 0:1 Robben (41., Weiser) 0:2 Alaba (50., direct freekick) 1. FC Köln - SC Paderborn 07 0:0 (0:0) 49,500 Hamburger SV - Hannover 96 2:1 (1:0) 51,779 1:0 Marcelo (26., own goal, Stieber) 2:0 Jansen (50., N. Müller) 2:1 A. Sobiech (66., Marcelo) Werder Bremen - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2:1 (2:1) 39,653 1:0 Selke (17., Bartels) 2:0 Junuzovic (29., direct freekick) 2:1 Calhanoglu (43., Wendell) FC Augsburg - Eintracht Frankfurt 2:2 (2:1) 27,122 1:0 Klavan (7., Halil Altintop) 2:0 Bobadilla (37., Callsen-Bracker) 2:1 Aigner (45. + 2, Meier) 2:2 Meier (70., Zambrano) 1 Bayern München (M, P) 20 15 4 1 45:9 +36 49 2 VfL Wolfsburg 20 12 5 3 41:19 +22 41 3 FC Schalke 04 20 10 4 6 31:22 +9 34 4 FC Augsburg 20 11 1 8 28:24 +4 34 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Bor. Mönchengladbach 20 9 6 5 27:17 +10 33 6 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 20 8 8 4 30:22 +8 32 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 TSG Hoffenheim 20 7 5 8 31:33 -2 26 8 Werder Bremen 20 7 5 8 32:41 -9 26 9 Eintracht Frankfurt 20 6 7 7 38:41 -3 25 10 Hannover 96 20 7 4 9 23:30 -7 25 11 1. FC Köln (N) 20 6 6 8 19:23 -4 24 12 Hamburger SV 20 6 5 9 14:22 -8 23 13 1. FSV Mainz 05 20 4 10 6 25:26 -1 22 14 Hertha BSC Berlin 20 6 3 11 26:38 -12 21 15 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 20 4 8 8 21:34 -13 20 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Borussia Dortmund 20 5 4 11 21:27 -6 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 SC Freiburg 20 3 9 8 21:30 -9 18 18 VfB Stuttgart 20 4 6 10 20:35 -15 18 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