Bayern gets dumped in Leverkusen, Schalke craps in Freiburg, Gladbach sucks in Nürnberg. Dortmund takes advantage to build their lead. Bottom clubs were active.
BUNDESLIGA - Round 24
Bayer Leverkusen - Bayern München 2:0 (0:0) 30,210
1:0 Kießling (79., Derdiyok)
2:0 Bellarabi (90., Castro)
SC Freiburg - FC Schalke 04 2:1 (1:0) 24,000
1:0 Freis (18., Flum)
2:0 D. Caligiuri (66., penalty, Schmid)
2:1 Pukki (72., Holtby)
Hertha BSC Berlin - Werder Bremen 1:0 (0:0) 52,744
1:0 Rukavytsya (62., Bastians)
Hamburger SV - VfB Stuttgart 0:4 (0:2) 54,500
0:1 Ibisevic (23., Hajnal)
0:2 Kuzmanovic (31., penalty, Okazaki)
0:3 Kuzmanovic (47., penalty, Harnik)
0:4 Harnik (90., Ibisevic)
1. FC Kaiserslautern - VfL Wolfsburg 0:0 (0:0) 34,110
Hannover 96 - FC Augsburg 2:2 (1:1) 42,300
0:1 Bellinghausen (12., Oehrl)
1:1 Haggui (33., Pander)
2:1 M. Diouf (69., Pinto)
2:2 Callsen-Bracker (89., penalty, Ndjeng)
Borussia Dortmund - FSV Mainz 05 2:1 (1:0) 80,720
1:0 Blaszczykowski (26., Kagawa)
1:1 Zidan (74., Szalai)
2:1 Kagawa (77., Piszczek)
1. FC Nürnberg - Bor. M'gladbach 1:0 (0:0) 45,675
1:0 Bunjaku (87., Esswein)
1899 Hoffenheim - 1. FC Köln 1:1 (1:0) 29,250
1:0 Compper (33., Rudy)
1:1 Podolski (81., Brecko)
1 Borussia Dortmund (M) 24 17 4 3 52:16 +36 55
2 Bayern München 24 15 3 6 51:16 +35 48
3 Borussia M'gladbach 24 14 5 5 37:15 +22 47
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4 FC Schalke 04 (P) 24 14 2 8 51:32 +19 44
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5 Bayer Leverkusen 24 11 7 6 36:29 +7 40
6 Werder Bremen 24 10 6 8 37:38 -1 36
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7 Hannover 96 24 8 11 5 30:32 -2 35
8 VfB Stuttgart 24 9 5 10 41:33 +8 32
9 1. FC Nürnberg 24 9 4 11 23:32 -9 31
10 1899 Hoffenheim 24 7 9 8 27:28 -1 30
11 VfL Wolfsburg 24 8 4 12 28:44 -16 28
12 1. FSV Mainz 05 24 6 9 9 35:38 -3 27
13 Hamburger SV 24 6 9 9 28:42 -14 27
14 1. FC Köln 24 7 4 13 31:46 -15 25
15 Hertha BSC Berlin (N) 24 5 8 11 26:40 -14 23
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16 FC Augsburg (N) 24 4 10 10 25:39 -14 22
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17 SC Freiburg 24 5 6 13 30:52 -22 21
18 1. FC Kaiserslautern 24 3 10 11 16:32 -16 19
Bayern gets a headache, and apparently they are allergic to Aspirin, so they should have had some ibuprofen on hand. Despite not starting Frank Ribery (injured in friendly against Germany), bayern was the dominating side in the 1st half, but Leverkusen was able to fend off their assaults. In the 2nd half, the Aspirins got more play, and began to equalize and harbor thoughts of a win. And they were rewarded. On a cross, GK Manuel Neuer did one of his obligatory wanker moves, missing the ball, Derdiyok chased it down and slid it across the mouth of the goal and Kiessling tapped in. Neuer is amazing. A World class goalie most of the time, but you can rely on him wankerizing at least one moment in every game. Overall, a great win for Leverkusen, although it could be “glass-half-full”, since the win probably saves coach Robin Dutt’s ass, and the jury is still out whether he’s largely responsible for the Alka-Seltzers ho-hum play this season. Bayern has definitely hit a cold streak, and Heynckes better come up with something or Hoeness is going to fire his ass.
Schalke once again showed they’re not ready for prime time. They basically sucked in Freiburg, and the home side fought tirelessly for 90 minutes, and deservedly got a crucial win. Schalke missed leading scorer Klaas Huntelaar, another casualty of the silly international friendlies midweek.
Dortmund had a hard time against a revived Mainz. The Neons dominated the proceedings and had lots of chances, but Kuba’s blast was all they had to show for it. Then as often happens, a Mainz counterattck led ex-Dortmunder Mohamed Zidan to get a shot off – which he duly hammered into the net (His 5th in 5 games since joining Mainz). To credit Dortmund, although the fans were shocked, the squad immediately went back to work, and Kagawa slotted home only a couple of minutes later.
Hamburg? Woe, what happened here? HSV dropped a turd of a match on their fans and Stuttgart obliged by kicking their ass. It was one of the most undisciplined, disgraceful performances HSV fans have been subjected to in years.
Augsburg has been playing with confidence, and they were all over Hannover. The newcomers were outplaying their hosts, and grabbed the lead. Unfortunately the Fuggers were also wasting lots of chances, so that gave the 96ers a chance to regroup. (Obviously coach Miro Slomka kicked some asses during halftime). Hannover came storming back and went ahead, and it looked like a another tough-luck outing for Augsburg. But a last minute penalty salvaged a precious point for the visitors.
“King Otto” had his first positive effect on Hertha, as they stopped their 7 game losing streak. Ironically, it was against Werder Bremen, which Rehagel had essentially put on the map as a success story with his almost 500 match stewardship of the club. The game itself was tense but boring, as neither side could mount anything worthwhile. Berlin obviously was inferior, but struck at an opportune moment and deserved the win. Werder was listless and incompetant, seems like this club really needs a kick in the pants.
Kaiserslautern and Wolfsburg delivered a desolate match as well. Unfortunately for the Reds, they weren’t able to grab a win, and they sink to the bottom. I think it’s something like 14 without the 3 points. Wolfsburg has sucked under Magath, more grim and cynical than they’ve been in years. I guess the draw was in order.
Nürnberg upset Gladbach to seal Dortmund’s advantage at the the top. Der Club relied on a strong defense, and the visitors struggled to mount any reasonable threats. FCN remained patient and then seized the lead near the end. Overall, a good win for the home side, and Gladbach can’t really have any complaints, because they didn’t show anything that would have justified a point.
Hoffenheim was playing well and kicking Köln’s butt all over the field. But as usual, the Hoppers were wasting their chances and just dicking around for the whistle. The visitors looked really lame and generated no chances, looking like sure losers. But then Podolski to the rescue! Once against “Prinz” saved the day for Köln, getting them a precious point.