Bayern Hot on Wolfsburg's Heels: Bundesliga Matchday 28

Surprising Results

Arminia Bielefeld 0:1 Bayern

The result is surprising, as it shows that Bayern were made to work hard against a mid table side. Bayern’s only goal came via a Luca Toni header. Toni missed a few gilt- edged chances in the match. The build-up play by Schweini and Ribery was excellent, but Bayern are really missing Klose. Hans-Jorg Butt was back in goal. Demichelis has improved and did a good job against the Armenien.

Hertha 2:1 Bremen

To many people, this result may not come as a surprise, but, to me, it does. I had expected Werder to win, especially because they had gone ahead via a goal from Per Mertesacker. In the last 20 minutes, Hertha came back in astounding fashion. The headed equalizer was scored by Josip Simunic. Hertha’s Brazilian magician, Raffael, then turned up with the winner with a class finishing.

Karlsruhe 2:2 Hoffenheim

Hoff are now sitting eighth in the table while Karlsruhe are stuck at the bottom of the pack. The match also came with a red card for the Hoff, again, this time for Luis Gustavo. Sejad Salihovic and Sebastian Freis traded goals before Selim Teber restored his side’s lead. However, Federico turned up with an equalizer to deny Hoffenheim all three points.

Eintracht 4:1 M’gladbach

I didn’t expect Gladbach to go down so easily. Alex Meier opened the scoring while Nikos Liberopoulos scored after the interval. Michael Bradley missed a penalty for M’gladbach, but his teammate, Filip Daems, converted one to send his team back into the match. However, goals from Russ and Michael Fink ended Gladbach’s hopes.

Table-topping Results

Wolfsburg 2:1 Bayer

Grafite opened the scoring via a penalty. Toni Kroos, on loan from Bayern, showed how important he could be to Bayern at their moment of crisis by scoring the equalizer with a wonderfully taken shot. Grafite then scored a second to hand Wolfsburg the win.

Hamburg 2:1 Hanover

Hamburg sailed to victory. Mladen Petric opened the scoring from close range. He added a second when he shot into an empty net after Robert Enke failed to deal with a shot from Piotr Trochowski. Hanover came back into the match thanks to a Mikkel Forssell penalty, but it was too little too late for them as their dismal away form continued.

FC Köln 0:3 Stuttgart

Stuttgart are doing exactly what they did in 2007. They are gathering wins and keeping their title hopes alive. Mario Gomez (who else?) scored a hat trick for Stuttgart to deny Köln a win.

The DERBY

Vfl Bochum 0:2 Dortmund

Dortmund haven’t given up hopes of a European spot. They are currently seventh and have the same number of points as Schalke in sixth. Patrick Oyomoyela opened the scoring with a header and Nelson Valdez added his name to the score sheet ten minutes after the break.

The MATCH

Schalke 4:0 Cottbus

I had to give the award to Schalke this week; they deserve it. Christian Pander, Halil Altintop, Jermaine Jones, and Kevin Kuranyi all scored to keep alive Schalke’s title hopes, or, at least, a spot in Europe.

The top five this week are:

1. Wolfsburg—57
2. Bayern—54 (GD: 23)
3. Hamburg—54 (GD: 7)
4. Hertha—52
5. Stuttgart—51

News

Bayer Leverkusen defeated Mainz in the DFB Pokal at the LTU Düsseldorf Arena after extra time. Charisteas, Vidal, Rolfes, and Kadlec all scored for Bayer while Aristide Bance scored for Mainz.

Werder played Hamburg in the second semi. After goals from Merte and Olic, the tie had to be taken to extra time. Finally, Werder got the better of Hamburg in the penalty shoot-out. Hamburg played with ten men as David Jarolim was sent off.

The final will be played on May 30^th between Bayer and Werder in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

Troubles are arising in the Volkswagon Arena. Misimovic and Alvin got into a fight in training and had to be separated.

Nelson Valdez has extended with Dortmund till 2012 while David Jarolim has extended with Hamburg.

Bayern are apparently now chasing Rafinha, the Schalke defender.

A German site has stated that Bayern would be top of the Bundesliga had the referees made correct decisions.

Well, that’s about it for this week. Hamburg and Werder fans will be unable to sleep peacefully, as they will face off with each other three more times in 18 days: twice in the UEFA Cup and once in the Bundesliga. I am predicting that Werder will come out on top, though......