Round 23, Feb 27-Mar 1
Leaders Bayern had no trouble with Köln. The visiting coach Peter Stöger gave an pre-match interview where he stated that “Köln has a chance, why not?”. Apparently he thought he was a contestant on “Deutschland sucht den naechsten Komiker”. The match was over in 3 minutes, and it should have turned into another slaughter. But in fairness, Köln caught themselves and prevented a total disaster. Not really much to say from the Bayern standpoint. I guess Guardiola can be happy that Schweinsteiger looks to be back in top form, as if they needed more weapons.
Dortmund and Schalke met in the Revier-derby, probably Germany’s top clash. The Neons showed that they’re back on track, as they dominated and pressured the Blues back into desperately defending. How dominate? How bout 31-3 in shots. The Schalker were clearly hoping this would be the early Dortmund that would dominate and waste chances, then they could steal a goal and the points. Actually not a bad strategy, because BVB was wasting a lot of chances. But they finally broke through late and the dam broke, giving Dortmund a crushing victory over a helpless Schalke, it probably should have been about 6-0. So for Dortmund, they look to have recovered and should be a team to be feared for the rest of the season. Schalke is a strange side that seems to just want to do the bare minimum, despite the fact they’ve probably got some decent talent to play attractive football. But it looks like di Matteo is only concentrating on results, since he’s seen what happens when die Knappen underachieve.
Leverkusen resorted to boring football, as their last couple of wild shootouts hadn’t led to great results. And Freiburg was completely lame, so the Aspirins only needed the single goal to make this one stick.
A hard fought local derby between Hoffenheim and Mainz. The hosts came out as somewhat fortunate winners. Mainz was the better side early, but wasted some great chances. Instead the Hoppers collected themselves and played better after the restart, and ended up with the win.
Hannover and Stuttgart met in a scrappy relegation fight. Well, it’s definitely a fight for Stuttgart, but teh 96ers might get dragged in if they continue their winless 2015 run. Neither side showed much skill, but there was a lot of running around and kicking things. I guess it’s a good result for Stuttgart, since they’re dead last and anything is good, especially on the road. Hannover might consider themselves lucky they didn’t lose.
Hertha got a huge win late against Augsburg. The Berliners have fallen into the relegation battle and desperately needed a result. Augsburg just the type of team it’s hard to get the result against, and since both sides play similar scrappy rather than skill football, it was a hard match to watch. But a late goal by Kalou got Hertha critical points, and they should be thrilled.
Alex Meier was the news as Frankfurt defeated Hamburg. The veteran notched two goals (and even missed a 3rd by rocketing an injury time penalty off the crossbar). He had come under criticism from Frankfurt’s sport-director Bruno Hübner after the last loss in Mainz. Basically Hübner stated that Meier is lazy and doesn’t do anything but score goals, otherwise he’s not to be seen. Meier reacted by stating that Hübner is always criticizing him. As for his performance in Mainz, Meier was measured at having run 11 kilometers on the pitch, which is hardly lazy. Basically Hübner is just a wanker who should STFU. Meier has been Frankfurt’s best player for years and his 16 goals this season is only one behind Robben. Although apparently the two have made up, Hübner is still in hot water with the league for criticizing the refs. As for today’s match, HSV needed some points, but didn’t deserve anything.
Wolfsburg showed they are the no.2 in Germany as they downed Bremen in a pulsating match. The VWs were in a dogfight as Werder stood toe-to-toe, and even managed a lead at half-time. But Wolfsburg had too much firepower, and in form Bas Dost doubled to give the VWs a lead, and there was no way back for Bremen.
Gladbach had a ho-hum win over Paderborn to keep a solid hold on 3rd place.
Total attendance 427,427 (avg 47,942), sellouts in München and Dortmund
Bayern München - 1. FC Köln 4:1 (2:1) 75,000 *
1:0 Schweinsteiger (3., Robben)
2:0 Ribery (10., Schweinsteiger)
2:1 Ujah (45. + 1, M. Lehmann)
3:1 Robben (67., Ribery)
4:1 Lewandowski (75., Robben)
Borussia Dortmund - FC Schalke 04 3:0 (0:0) 79,500 *
1:0 Aubameyang (78., H. Mkhitaryan)
2:0 H. Mkhitaryan (79., Gündogan)
3:0 Reus (86.)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen - SC Freiburg 1:0 (1:0) 28,624
1:0 Rolfes (33., Bellarabi)
TSG Hoffenheim - 1. FSV Mainz 05 2:0 (0:0) 24,310
1:0 Volland (55., Roberto Firmino)
2:0 Polanski (76., Beck)
Hannover 96 - VfB Stuttgart 1:1 (0:0) 40,200
0:1 Gentner (52.)
1:1 Stindl (70., Joselu)
Hertha BSC - FC Augsburg 1:0 (0:0) 36,015
1:0 Kalou (88., Hegeler)
Eintracht Frankfurt - Hamburger SV 2:1 (1:1) 50,500
1:0 Meier (12., penalty, Piazon)
1:1 Stieber (45. + 2, N. Müller)
2:1 Meier (54.)
Bor. Mönchengladbach - SC Paderborn 07 2:0 (1:0) 53,152
1:0 F. Johnson (18., Korb)
2:0 Herrmann (81.)
Werder Bremen - VfL Wolfsburg 3:5 (3:2) 40,126
1:0 Junuzovic (9., Öztunali)
1:1 D. Caligiuri (10.)
2:1 di Santo (16., Öztunali)
2:2 Arnold (18., De Bruyne)
3:2 Vieirinha (28., own goal, F. Kroos)
3:3 Dost (48., De Bruyne)
3:4 Dost (51., De Bruyne)
3:5 D. Caligiuri (53., Dost)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 23 18 4 1 63:10 +53 58
2 VfL Wolfsburg 23 15 5 3 53:27 +26 50
3 Bor. Mönchengladbach 23 11 7 5 31:18 +13 40
4 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 23 9 9 5 37:29 +8 36
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5 FC Schalke 04 23 10 5 8 32:27 +5 35
6 FC Augsburg 23 11 2 10 32:30 +2 35
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7 TSG Hoffenheim 23 9 6 8 36:35 +1 33
8 Eintracht Frankfurt 23 8 7 8 42:45 -3 31
9 Werder Bremen 23 8 6 9 39:49 -10 30
10 Borussia Dortmund 23 8 4 11 31:31 0 28
11 Hannover 96 23 7 6 10 26:34 -8 27
12 1. FSV Mainz 05 23 5 10 8 30:33 -3 25
13 1. FC Köln (N) 23 6 7 10 21:29 -8 25
14 Hertha BSC Berlin 23 7 3 13 28:42 -14 24
15 Hamburger SV 23 6 6 11 16:33 -17 24
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16 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 23 5 8 10 23:43 -20 23
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17 SC Freiburg 23 4 10 9 24:32 -8 22
18 VfB Stuttgart 23 4 7 12 24:41 -17 19
M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokalsieger, Cup winner
N = Neuling, just promoted