Bundesliga Matchday 23: Four Headers, an Individual Effort, and Bayern

Surprising Results

Hoffenheim 0:0 Werder Bremen

This result really surprised me. Two of the most attacking teams failed to break each other and the game ended scoreless. The Hoff had problems as Salihovic was suspended. They both created chances but never managed to find the proper finishing.

Moenchengladbach 4:1 Hamburg

Hats off to Borussia! They were quite impressive unlike the hapless Hamburg. Borussia have drawn with Bayern, won against Werder and now beaten Hamburg this season. Rob Friend’s opener was cancelled out by Petric. Tobias Levels and Brouwers then added two more to Borussia’s one.

Marko Marin was involved in all the set-ups. The wunderkind himself stepped up to take Borussia’s penalty after Mathijsen fouled Matmour. It was wonderfully taken and it put the final nail in Hamburg’s coffin.

Bayer 1:1 Bochum

Despite being a man down, Bochum held out for a point. They opened the scoring through a Christoph Dabrowski effort following a Fuchs freekick. Helmes stepped up to take the spotkick in the second half, giving Bayer a point.

Table-Topping Results

Wolfsburg 1:0 Karlsruhe

Edin Dzeko scored the lone goal of the match. However this loss sees Karlsruher hit rock bottom and occupy Moenchengladbach’s position. Looks like Karlsruher’s time in the top flight is over after just two seasons.

Stuttgart 2:1 Borussia Dortmund

Stuttgart continued their good run of form as they defeated Dortmund in the Mercedes Benz Arena. A superb freekick from Elson gave VfB the lead. Nelson Valdez equalized via a counter attack, but Super Mario scored the winner after good work from Thomas Hitzlsperger. Stuttgart are still unbeaten in the Bundesliga under Babbel.

Schalke 1: Koeln

A solitary goal from Jermaine Jones made sure that Koeln lost their first match this year while Fred Rutten’s job is still safe for the time being.

The Ost-Derby

Energie 1:3 Hertha

Hertha took a four-point lead to the top of the table. A Cagdas freekick went through Jaroslav Drobny’s legs. However, it was Voronin to the rescue again. The Ukranian struck a hattrick to make sure Hertha were ahead of the pack on 46 points.

The Match

Yep, you guessed it:

Bayern 5:1 Hanover

I am not going to say that Bayern played really well. Hanover’s defence was absolutely hapless. They somehow managed to take the lead against the run of play through Jiri Stajner, but Daniel van Buyten equalized with a header.

Klose powered in another header from a Schweini freekick.

Klose then turned provider for Altintop to score a glorious third. The forgotten man, Podolski added a fourth header while Demichellis made it 5-1 with another header.

To think about it, the victory is quite impressive, and to think about it, they did it without Toni or Ribery...

Other Matches

Bielefeld 0-0 Frankfurt

Not much to say about this one. Relegation thoughts are growing amongst the team members of both sides.

The Top Five This Week

Hertha Berlin—46

FC Bayern—42 (GD +18)

Hoffenheim—42 (GD + 18)

Wolfsburg—42 (GD + 18)

Hamburg—42 (GD 0)

Interesting News

Leverkusen kicked Bayern out of the DFB Pokal with a 4-2 victory. Bayern only started playing when they were 2-0 down. They conceded one more which made the scoreline 3-2. Yet unfortunately, they couldn’t find a third, whereas Bayer found a fourth in injury time.

Aristade Bance made history for Mainz. While Schalke were busy giving tips to other teams about how to be unable to score against a second-tier opponent, Mainz were busy creating chances. In the 87th minute, Bance scored to break the deadlock.

The goal resulted due to a defensive error. Fred Rutten’s job is surely on the line especially because Schalke managed to fire a coach like Mirko Slomka who took a below par team to the quarterfinals of the CL.

Ribery and Toni will not be available for Bayern’s clash against Sporting on Tuesday night.

Werder have drawn Hamburg in the DFB Pokal semis while Mainz take on none other than Leverkusen.

Well, that’s about it. Thank God Bayern finally won!