Bundesliga Matchday 24: The One Where Schalke Enters Crisis

Clubs in crisis, relegation fights, and title races. This and more on the Bundesliga matchday 24.

Fortuna Dusseldorf has surprised many in the Bundesliga. A squad that was assembled on shoestrings after all should not be beating a Champions League side like Schalke, 4-0, but it did happen.

Schalke has been in the most epic of tailspins. Last season, a lot of failures on behalf of the chasing pack allowed Schalke to be the second best in the league via strong defense that allowed for numerous narrow victories. Now, the defense is leaking and results are hard to come by. Dusseldorf has now all but confirmed that they will be in the Bundesliga next season via guile and good smart moves that changed them from relegation certainties to mid-table security.

Stuttgart know that a match with Hannover meant that if anyone won they would have the upper hand in reaching the safety net of 16th and maybe survival at 15th. What transpired was a 5-1 thrashing of the 96ers.

A first half brace by Ozan Kabak and second half brace by Steven Zuber knocked the stuffing out of Hannover. For Stuttgart it kept only two points between themselves in the relegation playoff and Augsburg in 15th who is currently outside of the relegation zone.

FC Augsburg has had themselves just above the water line for a while, but in shocking circumstances, they welcomed the league leaders Dortmund and properly beat them 2-1.

The title race is on via Augsburg, but for Dortmund they have been dropping points on a week-by-week basis. For BVB to have lost this once nine point lead at the top seems mad, and yet it has happened. For FC Augsburg, its a marvelous achievement and can consign the likes of Nurnberg and Hannover to the relegation places.

Eintracht is on a marvelous vein of adrenaline. A come-from-behind 3-2 victory over challengers Hoffenheim mean they go fifth while maintaining their European adventures.

Hoffenheim going 2-1 up you thought, here they set up defensively and will see it through. After a needless red card, the pressure was on as Hoffenheim were reduced to ten men. In the 88th minute, it finally burst as Sebastian Haller equalized and into injury time Goncalo Paciencia scored the winning goal ahead of leg one of their Europa League match Thursday.

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga

Bayern put old time rivals Borussia Monchengladbach down and showed that they are fighting for their title as they brushed the Foals aside 5-1.

Bayer Leverkusen responded to their recent loss to Dortmund by thoroughly defeating SC Freiburg 2-0.

Hertha Berlin righted themselves in the Bundesliga table to the top half with a 2-1 win over Mainz.

FC Nurnberg held on for a while, but RB Leipzig broke through 1-0 to move to third in the table.

Wolfsburg took on Werder Bremen knowing they could go into European places if they won, but a 1-1 draw sees the Wolves to seventh and Bremen to 10th.

Bundesliga POTW:  Steven Zuber put two goals away and assisted in the opening goal in Stuttgart’s 5-1 win.