Bundesliga Matchday 22: Bayern Down to Fifth as Hertha Reclaim Top Spot

Surprising Results:

Hannover 1 Bayer Leverkusen 0

Coach Dieter Hecking is a man whose job is on the line. Leverkusen are the season’s most inconsistent performers. Pretty football doesn’t always get you good results, and Bayer’s attacking duo may have learned that from this match.

Former Bayern man Jan Schauldraff drew Rene Adler from his goal and passed the ball to Arnold Bruggink who basically put the ball into an empty net. Hannover are now twelfth, three places above the relegation zone.

Borussia Dortmund  0  TSG Hoffenheim  0

Hoffenheim played out a goalless draw which is quite amazing. Dortmund were their usual resilient selves. Tobias Weis and Sebastian Kehl both got sent off in the 77th minute. Dortmund earned their twelfth draw of the season which sees them in ninth, while Hoff slip down to third.

Werder Bremen  0  Bayern Munchen  0

Bayern are really starting to get on their fans’ nerves. Naldo got sent off in the 15^th minute after a rash foul on Schweinsteiger. I wouldn’t speak against Naldo though. A slip from the solid Mertesacker allowed Schweini a one-on-one with Werder keeper, Christian Vander. Naldo was the last standing defender there.

Klose’s unselfishness cost him again as he squared off a ball that he could have easily scored from. Both sides were unable to break down their resolute defences. Borowski was guilty of a few misses. Bayern are down to fifth now while Werder remain eleventh.

The Baden-Wurttemberg Derby:

Karlsruhe 0  Stuttgart  2

These two sides aren’t really fond of each other. However it was Markus Babbel’s men who came out on top and kept a clean sheet! The game began 15 minutes late as the Karlsruhe fans prevented the Stuttgart team bus from reachind the Wildparkstadion.

The scoring was opened by Elson after good work between Gomez and Marica. He got himself booked for celebrating in front of the opposing fans. Sami Khedira scored the second, putting the match out of Karlsruhe’s reach.

Table-topping Results:

Hertha Berlin  2  Moenchengladbach  1

Voronin and Pal Dardai struck for Hertha. Moenchengladbach pulled one back when Friedrich fouled international team-mate Marko Marin in the penalty area. Michael Bradley took the spot-kick and confidently sent it to the back of the net. The results sends Hertha to the top while Borussia are still rooted to the bottom.

Eintracht  1  Schalke  2

Schalke aren’t exactly in the top five but they are above Ruhr rivals Dortmund. Rafinha opened the scoring but with seven minutes to go, Eintracht equalized through Michael Fink. Schalke however couldn’t afford to draw and they didn’t do so either. Heiko Westermann fired in the winner in the 83rd minute after an Orlando Engelaar freekick was mistakenly headed to him by Habib Bellaid.

The Match:

Hamburg  1  Wolfsburg  3

Hamburg lost their first home match of the season to none other than Wolfsburg—a side with only one away win to their name. Grafite opened the scoring with a penalty and struck again in the 24th minute. Hamburg pulled one back through Paulo Guerrero only for Edin Dzeko to score a third from close range.

Other matches:

VfL Bochum  3  Energie Cottbus  2

Ivica Illiev’s opener was cancelled out by Joel Epalle. Emil Jula put Cottbus ahead only for Christian Fuchs to equalize with a beautiful free kick. A spot kick then decided the match. Marc Pfertzel sent the ball to the back of the net to seal a win for relegation-threatened Bochum.

FC Koln  1  Arminia Bielefeld  1

Petit scored through a header only for Bielefeld to equalize through Katongo.

The top five this week are:

Hertha Berlin 43 pts

Hamburger SV  42

Hoffenheim  41

Wolfsburg  39 (GD 17)

Bayern Munich  39 (GD 14)

Interesting News:

The 0-0 draw between Bayern and Werder was a first in fifteen seasons. So far, all the five opponents Bayern played have taken points off them at some part of the season. Out of a possible six for each team, Hamburg have taken four, Dortmund one, Hertha three, Koln three and Werder four.

Apparently a whole host of clubs including Liverpool are interested in Hoffenheim’s Demba Ba. Pizarro and Voronin are still quizzical about their respective returns to the EPL. The never-ending speculation for Ribery continues as he has "apparently" agreed to sign a four-year contract with Barcelona. I have no clue to how much truth there is in that rumour. On the other hand, Blackburn are after Edin Dzeko.

Man United and Real Madrid want Mario Gomez. Gomez, who is Stuttgart’s stalwart, might want to think this over as he definitely doesn’t enjoy playing second-fiddle to anybody.

Well, that’s it for this week. DFB Pokal action kicks of on Tuesday with Bayern playing Leverkusen.