Round 30, Apr 24-26
All eyes on Hamburg as Bruno Labbadia made his debut as HSV coach. And the Hamburgers responded with fight, jumping out to a quick lead against Augsburg. But soon they were pegged back, and the Fuggers took control, and HSV was in danger of losing the thread. However unlike other matches, HSV bounced back and managed to win the game, which allows them to regain some hope. Labbadia might be also encouraged that his pathetic “attack” looked good, as Olic and Lassogga came to life with the needed goals. AUgsburg has shhown that they are a tough opponent, but uneven results mean that their once secure Euro spot is under serious threat.
Mainz bitch-slapped Schalke to end any relegation worries. And they even have an outside chance of Euroliga, given that they’re only 5 points back. The Blues looked tired and listless, although they had more possesion and shots, they never looked like rocking the boat.
Not very impressive by Dortmund, but Frankfurt was hapless and hopeless. The Neons were in control and if they hadn’t wasted some clear chances, it would have been a rout. Still, the win moves BVB within striking distance of a Euro spot, which would be pretty amazing given their horrible mid season run. Not sure why Eintracht was so toothless, but that pretty much ends any hopes they might have had.
Horrible situation in Hannover might be worse. The 96ers have been sucking for a while – zero wins in 2015! – and under new coach Michael Frontzeck were looking for improvement. Well, they did look a lot better, so I guess you could say the glass is still half-full. But Hoffenheim was clever and grabbed the win, so the emergency alarms continue to go off. Hoffenheim has to be thinking that they can steal one of the Euroliga spots.
Stuttgart continues to throw away points, and that may end up costing big time. VfB was in total control in the first half of the southwestern derby with Freiburg, but they let it slip away as Nils Petersen is quickly becoming a “Fussballgott” in the Breisgau. Since coming over from Bremen in winterbreak, he has scored some important goals, and once again he saved the day. SCF is fighting for every point, and although they’re still in extreme danger, you get the feeling that they might pull it off. Obviously Stuttgart needed all points in this relegation six pointer, and have only themselves to blame.
A thrilling Rheinderby in Köln. You’d expect Leverkusen to easily win this, as they are one of the “in-form” squads. But the Aspirins were having a hard time, and nothing was coming easy. Köln GK Timo Horn stopped a penalty by Hakan Calhanoglu right before half, and although the visitors managed to take the lead after an hour, they were still in a dogfight. Köln seized control and attacked furiously, eventually getting the deserved equalizer.
After their Champions League gala performance thrashing Porto 6-1, you might have expected Bayern München to let up on the weekend. And you’d be right. Hertha BSC was able to hang with the champs, and although the hosts dominated as they usually do, Berlin held down the chances and even had a couple of decent ones themselves. Of course, eventually Bayern decided they wanted to win this one too, so a clever run by youngster Mitchell Wesier served up a chance for Bastian Schweinsteiger, and another 3 points in the bag. Hertha probably didn’t expect anything from this match anyway, and they would appear to be safe from relegation, barring total collapse.
On Sunday, Paderborn had a huge opportunity to jump out of relegation. They hosted Bremen, who had fought off relegation worries, and perhaps could sneak into Euro contention. SCP was determined and focused, and jumped to a 2-0 lead, seemingly in control. But Werder fought back to wrest a point and leave Paderborn in dire straights. Much like Stuttgart, they may rue this game at the end of the season.
Gladbach got a last second goal to defeat Wolfsburg and perhaps challenge for 2nd place. The home side probably deserved the win, as they controlled most of the match and generated better chances. The VW loss officially gives the title to Bayern München, not that it wasn’t a formality anyway.
Total attendance 457,935 (avg 50,882), 96.9% capacity, sellouts in Mainz, Dortmund, Hannover, München, Paderborn
1. FSV Mainz 05 - FC Schalke 04 2:0 (2:0) 34,000 *
1:0 Bell (28., Bungert)
2:0 Bell (31., Geis)
Borussia Dortmund - Eintracht Frankfurt 2:0 (2:0) 80,667 *
1:0 Aubameyang (24., Hand penalty)
2:0 Kagawa (32., Aubameyang)
Hannover 96 - TSG Hoffenheim 1:2 (1:1) 46,200 *
0:1 Modeste (2., Roberto Firmino)
1:1 Stindl (24., penalty, Schmiedebach)
1:2 Schipplock (83., Szalai)
VfB Stuttgart - SC Freiburg 2:2 (2:0) 58,000
1:0 Ginczek (24., Harnik)
2:0 Harnik (27., Kostic)
2:1 Petersen (58., penalty, Schmid)
2:2 Petersen (85., Sorg)
Hamburger SV - FC Augsburg 3:2 (2:1) 51,321
1:0 Olic (11., Stieber)
2:0 Lasogga (19., Ostrzolek)
2:1 Bobadilla (25., To. Werner)
2:2 To. Werner (69., Höjbjerg)
3:2 Lasogga (71., Stieber)
1. FC Köln - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1:1 (0:0) 45,600
0:1 Brandt (60., Bellarabi)
1:1 Finne (83., Ujah)
Bayern München - Hertha BSC 1:0 (0:0) 75,000 *
1:0 Schweinsteiger (80., Weiser)
SC Paderborn 07 - Werder Bremen 2:2 (2:1) 15,000 *
1:0 Vrancic (25., Stoppelkamp)
2:0 Stoppelkamp (27., Koc)
2:1 Selke (45., Prödl)
2:2 Hajrovic (76., Lukimya)
Bor. Mönchengladbach - VfL Wolfsburg 1:0 (0:0) 52,147
1 Bayern München (M, P) 30 24 4 2 77:13 +64 76
2 VfL Wolfsburg 30 18 7 5 63:32 +31 61
3 Bor. Mönchengladbach 30 16 9 5 45:22 +23 57
4 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 30 15 10 5 57:32 +25 55
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5 FC Schalke 04 30 11 9 10 38:34 +4 42
6 FC Augsburg 30 13 3 14 38:40 -2 42
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7 TSG Hoffenheim 30 11 7 12 45:48 -3 40
8 Borussia Dortmund 30 11 6 13 40:37 +3 39
9 Werder Bremen 30 10 9 11 46:59 -13 39
10 1. FSV Mainz 05 30 8 13 9 42:41 +1 37
11 Eintracht Frankfurt 30 9 9 12 51:59 -8 36
12 1. FC Köln (N) 30 8 11 11 30:36 -6 35
13 Hertha BSC Berlin 30 9 7 14 34:46 -12 34
14 SC Freiburg 30 6 12 12 31:41 -10 30
15 Hannover 96 30 7 8 15 33:51 -18 29
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16 Hamburger SV 30 7 7 16 19:46 -27 28
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17 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 30 6 10 14 27:58 -31 28
18 VfB Stuttgart 30 6 9 15 34:55 -21 27
M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokalsieger, Cup winner
N = Neuling, just promoted