Round 22, Feb 20-22
A huge relegation match in Stuttgart Friday night, would Dortmund continue their revival? The answer was a resounding yes. The Neons dominated and deservedly got the road win, albeit they made things more difficult than it should have been. They conceded a couple of stupid goals, otherwise they would have sailed easily. VfB showed some engagement, but were clearly inferior. The players apologized to their fans afterwards; in a similar situation Dortmund did just that three weeks ago, and they’ve won all matches since. Perhaps it will have a similar effect on Stuttgart, but it seems unlikely. Everybody knew Dortmund is a sleeping giant, capable of better things. Not so sure in the case of Stuttgart…they haven’t been good for a while.
Bayern München had a cakewalk in Paderborn, although it did take some effort. In the first half SCP defended well, but Bayern was able to break through with a couple of goals. The hosts were concentrated on the back, and had only a couple of chances going forward, but if they had luck, maybe they could have stolen something. Then in the 2nd period, things quickly fell apart and Bayern viciously ripped Paderborn to threads. An early penalty and red card meant that Bayern would basically score as many as they felt like doing before heading to the pub to celebrate.
Wolfsburg expected to win easily against Hertha, but the Berliners defended well despite being dominated. A Hertha counter got an equalizer, and the VWs couldn’t break through. In the end it was in-form Bas Dost who decided the match for the Wolfies, who remain untouchable 2nd behind Bayern. Good effort for Hertha, but they can’t really complain and remain in dire straits.
Werder Bremen worked hard and were rewarded with a late goal at Schalke. It was a deserved point, as the Bremen side arguably played better than the hosts, who were typically uninspired and boring.
Mainz decided the Rhein-Main derby against Frankfurt with a blitz out of the 2nd period. The first half had been pretty even, but FSV came out breathing fire, scored twice, and Eintracht was unable to recover.
Augsburg looked like they were going down due to a late goal by visiting Leverkusen. It would be somewhat bitter, since Bayer were by no means superior. But the Fuggers never give up, and in injury time GK Hitz tuned on a bouncing ball in the crowded Leverkusen box and rescued a point.
Freiburg was needing a win against Hoffenheim to jump from the drop zone. But SCF didn’t play very well, and should be happy they didn’t lose. Especially in the 2nd period the Hoppers had several chances to score, but seemed satisfied with an away point.
Boring match in Köln with Hannover. It started out brightly enough, but fizzled out. The hosts had somewhat of an edge, but they’re incapable of controlling a match and the 96ers couldn’t be bothered.
Hamburg showed massive improvement from last week’s embarassing 0-8 at Bayern. HSV showed some fight and had several chances to put the game away, as Gladbach was surprisingly lame. However, this is HSV, so they would figure out how to ruin it, as they wasted most of their chances, and then were punished in injury time. I suppose a point is always good, but they should have had all of them.
Total attendance 349,252 (avg 38,806), sell-outs in Schalke, Stuttgart and Paderborn
VfB Stuttgart - Borussia Dortmund 2:3 (1:2) 60,000 *
0:1 Aubameyang (25., Kagawa)
1:1 Klein (32., penalty, Niedermeier)
1:2 Gündogan (39., Kagawa)
1:3 Reus (89.)
2:3 Niedermeier (90. + 1, Ibisevic)
FC Schalke 04 - Werder Bremen 1:1 (0:0) 61,973 *
1:0 M. Meyer (61., Barnetta)
1:1 Prödl (90. + 2, Junuzovic)
1. FSV Mainz 05 - Eintracht Frankfurt 3:1 (1:1) 33,237
0:1 Aigner (35., Seferovic)
1:1 Clemens (38., Okazaki)
2:1 Geis (47., direct free kick)
3:1 Malli (50., de Blasis)
FC Augsburg - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2:2 (0:1) 28,154
0:1 Drmic (8., Son)
1:1 Caiuby (59., Baier)
1:2 Reinartz (84., Hilbert)
2:2 Hitz (90. + 4)
SC Freiburg - TSG Hoffenheim 1:1 (1:1) 23,800
1:0 Höhn (25., Schmid)
1:1 Volland (39., Modeste)
SC Paderborn 07 - Bayern München 0:6 (0:2) 15,000 *
0:1 Lewandowski (24., Robben)
0:2 Lewandowski (37., Ribery)
0:3 Robben (63., penalty, Robben)
0:4 Ribery (72., Robben)
0:5 Weiser (78., Rode)
0:6 Robben (86., Ribery)
1. FC Köln - Hannover 96 1:1 (1:1) 47,300
0:1 Joselu (5., Albornoz)
1:1 Ujah (17.)
Hamburger SV - Bor. Mönchengladbach 1:1 (0:0) 52,105
1:0 Stieber (73., Rudnevs)
1:1 Hrgota (90. + 2, M. Kruse)
VfL Wolfsburg - Hertha BSC 2:1 (1:1) 27,683
1:0 Dost (10., Schürrle)
1:1 Schieber (30., Stocker)
2:1 Dost (74., Luiz Gustavo)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 22 17 4 1 59:9 +50 55
2 VfL Wolfsburg 22 14 5 3 48:24 +24 47
3 Bor. Mönchengladbach 22 10 7 5 29:18 +11 37
4 FC Schalke 04 22 10 5 7 32:24 +8 35
--------------------------------------------------------------------
5 FC Augsburg 22 11 2 9 32:29 +3 35
6 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 22 8 9 5 36:29 +7 33
--------------------------------------------------------------------
7 TSG Hoffenheim 22 8 6 8 34:35 -1 30
8 Werder Bremen 22 8 6 8 36:44 -8 30
9 Eintracht Frankfurt 22 7 7 8 40:44 -4 28
10 Hannover 96 22 7 5 10 25:33 -8 26
11 1. FSV Mainz 05 22 5 10 7 30:31 -1 25
12 Borussia Dortmund 22 7 4 11 28:31 -3 25
13 1. FC Köln (N) 22 6 7 9 20:25 -5 25
14 Hamburger SV 22 6 6 10 15:31 -16 24
15 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 22 5 8 9 23:41 -18 23
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16 SC Freiburg 22 4 10 8 24:31 -7 22
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17 Hertha BSC Berlin 22 6 3 13 27:42 -15 21
18 VfB Stuttgart 22 4 6 12 23:40 -17 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