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Relegation battle stays hot as is the race for the Champions League places on this edition of the Bundesliga round up.
Champions Bayern Munich were saved by their French star Frank Ribery as the Bavarian’s came away with a 1-0 victory that didn’t necessitate the hosts to get out of first gear against relegation threatened Eintracht Frankfurt.
Frankfurt Niko Kovac, a former Bayern Munich player, set up Eintracht in a fashion that halted what Bayern does best with their star studded line-up. Robert Lewandowski was marginalized but the squad shows that Pep Guardiola is looking towards their first leg clash with Benfica in the Champions League quarterfinals.
Borussia Dortmund will look and thank Adrian Ramos as the Black and Yellow came back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 over relegation threatened Werder Bremen.
The first half was anything but interesting but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang broke the deadlock and the match was on. Bremen went ahead via a lovely pair of goals from Alejandro Galvez and Zlatko Junuzovic. But as Bremen weakness is their defense, no clean sheet this season, substitute Shinji Kagawa and Ramos scored to seal the victory.
The phrase El Plastico fits this match as both Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg faced off in a bout that had European implications. Chicharito and the pharmaceuticals came away with a domineering 3-0 victory.
The Wolves looked as dysfunctional as ever, a team full of talent but lacking in a focus. Julian Brandt scored a first half goal that had the defense pointing fingers. Mexican starlet Chicharito and Vladlen Yurchenko sealed the match but it was never close. Real Madrid will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing Wolfsburg in this weeks Champions League.
Hamburg showed that they are not the same old Dinosaurs as they came away with a decisive 3-0 victory at all but relegated Hannover 96 from the Bundesliga.
More of note than the match itself was the firing of Thomas Schaaf as manager of Hannover. Brought in to save the club from relegation Schaaf did anything but. The Lower Saxony side has been the definition of pathetic and with their change in ownership at the end of this season more change is sure to follow.
Hertha Berlin was looking to consolidate their position of third but playing Monchengladbach on the road was too much as the hosts showed their sheer strength at home with a 5-0 drubbing.
A brace from Thorgan Hazard and goals from Ibrahima Traore, Patrick Herrmann and Andre Hahn completed the demolition of the capital city club. Funny enough while Hertha has been good under manager Pal Dardai the reverse fixture also ended in a big Borussia win. Both teams now find themselves each in the Champions League places with others nipping at their heals.
Schalke 04 manager Andre Breitenreiter looks out of his depth at the helm of the Miners. Their 3-0 loss to newly promoted Ingolstadt only showed that change will continue to occur at this club.
While all credit should go to the way that all season long Ingolstadt has been good and organized and difficult to break down Schalke was rudderless. A club of their stature should be making more strides. Falling out of the Europa League they way they did and not having the spine to be able to win the difficult games means that again the Miners will be without Champions League football and perhaps a change at the end of the season is bound to happen.
Darmstadt continue to not go away as their equalizer against Stuttgart puts them now in 13th place in the Bundesliga.
Sandro Wagner started off the scoring in the 26th minute but a pair of end of half goals from Christian Gentner and Lukas Rupp made things look bleak for the hosts. Peter Niemeyer got the quick equalizer after the start of the half meant that a valuable point was gained to help in ensuring Bundesliga survival.
Mainz have been everyone’s darling this year and look towards European qualification as they dispatched relegation threatened Augsburg 4-2.
Mainz have been the surprise package this Bundesliga season and are currently in 6th in the table with Schalke 04 looking on. An early goal for Augsburg was rectified by two first half goals from Christian Clemens and Pable De Blasis. A Ja-Cheol Koo end of half goal restored level terms but Clemens and De Blasis scored second goals each to put the Reds on their way to next years Europa League.
Hoffenheim knew what they needed to get playing on Sunday but left it late for Kevin Volland to score an equalizer to gain a valuable point against FC Koln. 1-1 at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena.
FC Koln have been a conundrum in the ruckrunde. A great start in the first half of the season the Goats have found only two wins in the second half and if they didn’t pick up as many draws they would be in the relegation scrap. Simon Zoller’s 69th minute goal looked to give hope to those fighting off relegation but with the seconds ticking away Volland found the equalizer in the first minute of stoppage time.
Fun German Football Words
Abstaubertor– a poacher’s goal
European Adventures
Borussia Dortmund hosts Liverpool at the Westfalenstadion and a return for Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp, reunions aren’t always as successful as the first go around. Dortmund to win 2-0.
Bayern hosts Benfica and historically this is one-sided. Never has Munich lost to the Portuguese giants and each time they have encountered each other they made the final. Bayern dominate 4-1.
Wolfburg host Real Madrid and will be happy to get this far. Real Madrid has enough to get past the Wolves while still in second gear. 2-0 Real
