Winners and Losers from Bundesliga Week 11
Bayern Munich march on relentlessly at the top of the Bundesliga.
Pep Guardiola's charges stretched their lead to seven points with a seventh home win in a row, while nearest challengers Wolfsburg and Monchengladbach both lost.
Find out more winners and losers from Week 11 across the following slides, which include details of a fresh injury to Marco Reus and a celebrated comeback for Germany's new captain, Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Winner: Bastian Schweinsteiger
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Bastian Schweinsteiger made his long-awaited return to action for Bayern Munich after a knee injury.
"Schweini" hadn't played a competitive game since the 2014 World Cup Final, but Germany's new captain enjoyed a cameo substitute appearance for Bayern in their 4-0 win over Hoffenheim on Saturday.
"Tomorrow #FCBTSG it is good to be back! #Comeback #FCBayern http://t.co/LK7XqnpbFH
— Basti Schweinsteiger (@BSchweinsteiger) November 21, 2014"
Losers: Jurgen Klopp and Borussia Dortmund
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Jurgen Klopp will be exasperated. This was a game that his under-pressure Borussia Dortmund side should have won with ease.
Losing a two-goal half-time lead against minnows Paderborn is bad enough, but to add insult to injury, Klopp lost Marco Reus' prized services for the rest of the year.
Dortmund will also rue Kevin Grosskreutz's perfectly good disallowed goal in the second half, which surely would have wrapped up the points.
BVB drop to 16th—the relegation-zone playoff spot—but they're still only nine points from a Champions League qualification spot.
Winner: Hamburg
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Hamburg moved out of the relegation zone with a gritty 2-0 home win against fellow strugglers Werder Bremen in the "Nordderby."
Late goals from Artur Rudnevs and a Fabian Wolf own goal were enough for HSV to leapfrog Borussia Dortmund into 15th spot.
Losers: VfB Stuttgart and Armin Veh
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VfB Stuttgart still languish at the bottom of the Bundesliga after a disappointing 1-0 derby defeat at home to Augsburg.
Stuttgart were always up against it after Daniel Schwaab's red card midway through the opening half and eventually succumbed to Dutchman Paul Verhaegh's penalty in the 72nd minute.
A league winner with VfB in 2007, under-pressure coach Armin Veh is enduring a woeful second spell in charge.
Winner: Alexander Meier
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Eintracht Frankfurt broke a run of four straight league defeats with a shock 3-1 win at third-place Monchengladbach.
Captain Alexander Meier put the Eagles 2-1 up against Gladbach and joins the slightly more famous Mario Gotze as Bundesliga joint-top scorer with seven goals in 11 games.
Losers : Borussia Monchengladbach
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It's now two league defeats on the trot for Borussia Monchengladbach.
The first, against Borussia Dortmund before the international break, wasn't a real surprise, but Saturday's 3-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt came as a real shock, especially after the Foals had taken an early lead through Norwegian Havard Nordtveit.
Gladbach's first home defeat of the season was compounded by Granit Xhaka's sending off in the last minute.
Winner: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
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Schalke climbed to seventh in the table after a narrow 3-2 win against second-place Wolfsburg.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting again proved to be Schalke's standout player, grabbing a brace in the entertaining five-goal thriller.
The Royal Blues cruised into a three-goal lead after only 25 minutes through EMCM's early brace (his first league goals since September) and a delightful Christian Fuchs free-kick.
Schalke sealed a fifth home success in a row against the Wolves, surviving a furious fightback that included a rare Nicklas Bendtner goal.
""Goal machine! Nicklas Bendtner scored his fifth goal in four games on Saturday (via: @ArsenalObsessed) https://t.co/wG7xdvz4SR
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) November 23, 2014"
"Loser: Diego Benaglio
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Wolfsburg skipper Diego Benaglio blundered as his in-form side narrowly went down 3-2 at Schalke.
The former Switzerland international goalkeeper flapped badly at Christian Fuchs' free-kick as second-place Wolfsburg slipped to a disappointing defeat in Gelsenkirchen.
The Wolves finally tasted defeat after a run of eight competitive wins on the trot.
Winner: Stefan Kiessling
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Bayer Leverkusen striker Stefan Kiessling scored his first league goal since the opening game of the season.
The former Germany international ended his longest Bundesliga goal drought (859 minutes) by scoring Leverkusen's opener against Hannover.
Leverkusen moved up to fourth spot, leapfrogging Hannover, as a result of the deserved 3-1 win.
Winners: Paderborn
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Promoted Paderborn only managed a share of the spoils on Saturday, but it will definitely feel like a win against 2013 Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund.
Andre Breitenreiter's side bravely fought back from two goals down at half-time to grab a memorable point against Jurgen Klopp's charges.
The minnows sit comfortably in mid-table with a record of four wins, four draws and four defeats in 12 league outings.
Loser: Marco Reus
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Marco Reus' injury jinx continues.
His day had started promisingly when he doubled Borussia Dortmund's lead at promoted Paderborn just before half-time.
However, the 25-year-old was stretchered off in the 67th minute following Marvin Bakalorz's hefty challenge.
After suffering ankle ligament damage, Dortmund confirmed that the Germany international had definitely played his last football of the year.
Reus also missed Germany's thrilling World Cup success in Brazil through injury.
Follow Mark Lovell on Twitter.
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