Bundesliga Matchdays 31 and 32: Mario, Franck and Gladbach!

Matchday 31: Mario Gomez: A One Man Show.

Surprising Results:

M’gladbach 1:0 Schalke

Schalke were dealt another heavy blow in terms of qualifying for Europe. A last minute goal from Israeli Roberto Colautti saw Gladbach earn three vital points and escape the relegation zone. Schalke never really challenged for a win against Gladbach.

Bayer 2:2 Bielefeld

Bayer are pretty much down and out of a race for Europe. Stefan Kiessling put Bayer ahead. A Manuel Friedrich own goal alongside a Robert Tesche strike put Bielefeld ahead later. Patrick Helmes had to score to salvage a point for Bayer.

Hoffenheim 2:0 Köln

The Hoff finally earned a win. The result surprised me as I expected better of Köln. Two beautiful goals won the Hoff the match. A Sejad Salihovic freekick was the first of the two goals. The second was a shot from 20 metres out by Demba Ba.

THE MATCH:

VfB Stuttgart 4:1 Wolfsburg

I am not going to say that I didn’t expect Wolfsburg to lose. I didn’t however expect them to go down by such a huge margin. Mario Gomez opened the scoring before the first minute with a header. After good work by Cacau, all Gomez required to do was produce a simple tap-in for his second.

Edin Dzeko got one back from Wolfsburg after some scrappy defending in the Stuttgart penalty-area. Khalid Boularouz’s challenge came a little too late to deny Dzeko.

Gomez’s third goal had class written all over it as he nutmegged a whole host of Wolfsburg players to complete his hat-trick.

He even had time to add a fourth to pile more misery on Felix Magath’s side.

Other Matches:

Energie 1:3 Bayern

Bayern are neck and neck against Wolfsburg now. A first half strike from the inspirational Sosa gave Bayern the lead. The goal was however cancelled out by Ivica Iliev. The initial attempt from Timo Rost was saved by Butt who could do nothing to stop the attempt from Iliev. A second half introduction of Ribery turned the game in Bayern’s favour. A Martin Demichellis header found the back of the net to give Bayern the lead before Lukas Podolski added a third with a left foot shot after good work from Ribery. Ribery even had the luxury of missing a penalty towards the end of the match.

Hertha Berlin 2:0 Bochum

Berlin are one point off first placed Wolfsburg after this win The first of the goals was a Marko Pantelic header and the second one was a volley from Raffael.

Hanover 1:1 Eintracht

The result doesn’t really do either side too many favours. Arnold Bruggink and Umit Korkmaz traded goals in the first half, and that’s about it.

Dortmund 4:0 Karlsruher

Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund made it seven wins on the trot with a win over relegation battlers Karlsruher. Kuba Blaszczykowski scored the first and Nuri Sahin added a second with a freekick. Felipe Santana scored the third before Alex Frei added a fourth to heap more misery on Karlsruher.

THE DERBY:

Werder 2:0 Hamburg

Hamburg had no chance of avenging Werder. Two goals from Hugo Almeida made sure that Werder stole the bragging rights of the north. The first goal was a simple flick from Frank Rost while the second one was a simple tap in after good work by Markus Rosenberg.

Bundesliga Matchday 32:  Franck Ribery, Edin Dzeko and that Grafite!

Surprising Results:

Eintracht Frankfurt 0:5 Werder Bremen

If you call Bayern inconsistent, then take a look at Bremen. They are even more inconsistent than Bayern. They just love to steamroll teams! What surprised me was the scoreline. They didn’t just beat Frankfurt, they steamrolled Frankfurt, and that too in 45 minutes! The first 45 went goalless and in the second half, Patrick Ochs was shown red for his foul on Mesut Ozil. Torsten Frings took the kick and scored.

He added a second with a shot from 18 metres which hit the bar and went in. Greek Alex Tziolis scored the third with a header. Pizarro scored the fourth. The fifth came from none other than Hugo Almeida via a direct freekick.

Bayern Munich 3:0 Bayer Leverkusen

I really didn’t expect my beloved Bayern to roll over Leverkusen. I had expected to them to draw or even to lose. If they won, I expected it to be 2-1, not 3-0! The first goal was from none other than Luca Toni. It was another uncontrolled ball that hit the back of the net with a touch of luck. (What do you expect?) The second was from the genius Franck Ribery from an impossible angle.

Schweinsteiger then ran down half the field only to pass it to his best mate Lukas Podolski at the end. Podolski didn’t wait. He hit it at the first attempt with a lot of power to make it 3-0.

Vfl Wolfsburg 3:0 Dortmund

In all honesty, I expected Dortmund to win after a winning streak of seven games. Edin Dzeko scored twice with Grafite scoring the other. I thought Dortmund were terrible in defence. The goals really could have been prevented. They could have atleast prevented two out of the three goals. (I would definitely want that, as Bayern would be top of the table by now if that happened!)

Karlsruher 2:3 Hanover

Karlsruher lost—I am not surprised. Hanover won away—I definitely am surprised! Karlsruher stormed to a 2-0 lead. The first goal came from Alex Iashvilli who scored from 14 metres out. Midfielder Lars Stindl scored the second one.

Then the unthinkable happened. A Sergio Pinto shot from distance hit the back of the net. The second goal was from Mikael Forssell who tapped in from close range.

Hanover secured only their second away win all season when Hanno Balitsch found the back of the net from 11 metres out.

Morale Boosting Results:

Arminia Bielefeld 0:2 Hoffenheim

Guess what? Hoffenheim are still competing for a place in Europe. They could just nick it if results go their way. An Andre Mijatovic mistake resulted in Wellington scoring. In the second half, Mijatovic fouled Demba Ba earning himself a red card. Sejad Salihovic converted the spotkick to give the Hoff all three points and to put the Arminen in the relegation zone.

Energie Cottbus 0:1 Borussia Moenchengladbach

Gladbach are up to fourteenth in the table. It would really be a shame to see Gladbach go down. A 91^st minute header from Dante following a Marko Marin corner gave Gladbach the win sending Energie into the relegation zone.

THE MATCH:

Schalke 1:2 Stuttgart

This was without doubt, the best match-up on paper this week. It had no end of thrills and spills. Cacau scored the first goal to put Stuttgart into the lead. The second goal was a beauty from Ivan Rakitic. It was scored from a direct freekick. The winning goal was scored by Cacau resulting from a Manuel Neuer error. Kevin Kuranyi missed a header but at the end of the day, the team on form won.

Other Matches:

Hamburg 3:1 Bochum

Hamburg returned to the top five after a win over relegation battlers Bochum. The first goal was scored from 28 metres out by Paulo Guerrero. The second came from an Ivica Olic header. The third was also scored by Olic from a difficult angle. Paul Frier got one back but it was too little too late for Bochum.

Köln 1:2 Hertha

Berlin are still in the hunt for the title. Marko Pantelic went streaming down the field. He then passed to Cicero who scored to give Hertha the lead. The second goal was scored by Patrick Ebert. Koln pulled one back through Adil Chihi in the 90^th minute. However Hertha went on to win and stay third.

The top five this week are:

1. Wolfsburg: 63 (GD-30)
2. Bayern: 63 (GD-28)
3. Hertha: 62
4. Stuttgart: 61
5. Hamburg: 58

News:

Hamburg were beaten at home by Werder in the UEFA Cup semis. Werder booked a place in the finals with a 3-2 win. The goals came via Diego, Claudio Pizarro and Frank Baumann. Ivica Olic scored a double for Hamburg. The scoreline was 3-3 on aggregate with Werder holding the advantage on the away-goals rule.

They play Shaktar Donetsk for the last UEFA Cup crown on the 20th of May in Istanbul. Diego and Hugo Almeida are suspended for the final.

Man United have apparently agreed to pay Bayern 62.5 million pounds for Franck Ribery. Ribery says that he is not sure whether he will be in Bayern next season.

Louis Van Gaal will be taking charge of Bayern next season.

Miroslav Klose was on the bench for the first time in more than a month for Bayern having recovered from ankle surgery against Cottbus.

Bayern’s win over Cottbus came in Jupp Heynckes’ 64^th birthday.

Felix Magath will be taking over at Schalke and stepping down as Wolfsburg coach at the end of this season. The favourite for taking over at Wolfsburg is apparently Michael Laudrup.

Diego will be moving from Bremen to Juventus at the end of this season.

That’s all from this week. Bayern and Wolfsburg are close to touching distance of each other. If you ask me, Stuttgart might just nick the title. I am just glad Bayern won, but next up are none other than Hoffenheim!