Energie Cottbus grabbed a lifeline by securing the relegation play-off spot, but ended up having not even close to a chance in their tie against FC Nuremberg, who beat them 5-0 on aggregate to end all eastern German presence in the Bundesliga.

Hertha played one of their best ever Bundesliga seasons, yet the final push necessary to lift the trophy or at least secure Champions League football wasn’t there.

A spirited last minute fight back by Karlsruhe with victories over Bremen, Berlin and Leverkusen wasn’t enough to escape the drop.

For everyone else it’s season 46 episode 34 of the Bundesliga. We’ve already been served 2970 minutes high on excitement and low on answers – the latter will have to be packed into the upcoming 90 minutes. Who’s going to win the title, who will qualify for the Champions and Europa League, who is going down, what is the smoke monster and what lies behind Felix Magath’s wry smile? The league’s script writers have promised us answers to at least half of these questions.

Hannover 0-5 Wolfsburg. Except for the sell out crowd there was nothing really derby-ish about this game (and then, the last match at home usually tends to be a sell out anyway). Hannover fielded a reshuffled team, with 39 year old defender Michael Tarnat given his farewell match, and was consequently ripped apart by the best strike duo of this Bundesliga season. Wolfsburg now only need a draw in their game against Bremen to secure their first Bundesliga title. Can you expect Bremen to put up a fight and possibly repeat their 5-2 DFB-Pokal victory over the wolves despite being in between two cup finals? Well, they were easily beaten 3-1 by Karlsruhe this weekend – make up your own mind… but stranger things have happened.

Hoffenheim 2-2 Bayern. Hoffenheim have overall more quality than Hannover and they were ready to give Bayern a run for their money – e.g. they didn’t give Boubacar Sanogo a farewell match. In fact Hoffenheim wanted to win this game and take revenge for last year’s cruel defeat. They had to settle for a draw though, which will still feel like a defeat for Bayern, who in theory could end up winning the title next Saturday, or drop down to fourth and play in the second tier European competition for the second time in three seasons…

Stuttgart 2-0 Cottbus. And here is the team that will decide Bayern’s fate and who themselves could still win the title or drop all the way down to fourth. A solid performance was enough to overcome Cottbus. Mario Gomez was rested and only had a short twenty minutes cameo, which was enough time for him to set up the second goal.

Hertha 0-0 Schalke. Marko Pantelic scored a perfectly valid goal which was ruled out by the referee and since close games are Hertha’s trademark this season, the game ended 0-0 / the capital’s title hopes. Hertha fans could chose to read a lot into this match, and how this is typical Hertha style choking and apart from being wrong, they would also miss out on the silver lining. A win against Karlsruhe will guarantee Hertha a third place finish, with chances to go second, should Bayern and Stuttgart draw their match. A 63 point haul to date is their best ever Bundesliga result already.

Lucien Favre has some work to do to refocus and motivate his team though. The reaction to the Schalke game was a textbook case of the volatile professional football mercenary team spirit, with Voronin criticizing Favre, Simunic criticizing his team mates and Hoeness unsurprisingly criticizing anyone but himself.

Hamburg 0-1 Cologne. Just a few weeks ago Hamburg could still win the triple. Martin Jol was coach of the year candidate and courted by Bayern. Didi Bayersdorfer was a transfer magician with profit margins unheard of by even the most reckless bankers and Piotr Trochowski kept saying how he is ready for a really big club after every other half decent match he played. 28 days and Werder Bremen later, Hamburg’s season has completely collapsed with a super-poor home performance against Cologne being the icing on the cake. The DFB-Pokal and UEFA Cup were bonus trophies, but qualification for European football was the club’s official goal for this season, which now is in very serious doubt. Apart from the need to somehow raise their own game again and beat Frankfurt, they also need Dortmund to slip up against Mönchengladbach.

Dortmund 6-0 Bielefeld. And can you see this Dortmund team drop points against Mönchengladbach? Well, you could make an argument that Gladbach are a better side than Bielefeld…

Leverkusen 5-0 Mönchengladbach. Marginally better side really. It’s amazing and embarrassing that a 5-0 defeat still helped Mönchengladbach win a one goal advantage over Bielefeld. Bielefeld now have to win their game against Hannover and overcome a five goal deficit (four goals actually, but Gladbach scored more goals overall and thus would still be ranked ahead of Bielefeld) and hope Dortmund beats Gladbach. Based on Dortmund’s form, they’ll probably just have to make sure to beat Hannover and let Dortmund do all the goal scoring…

There’s a mini chance for some title decisive drama and a big chance for drama regarding relegation, Europa League and Champions League and I hope to get a liveblog ready to cover it all.

There wasn’t all that much football on display in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s last two matches against Schalke and Cottbus, which of course wasn’t Gladbach’s fault alone. Schalke can control a game and dominate possession, but they can’t really score goals or come up with a minimum of creativity and incentive. Cottbus are very much like Schalke without the bit about controlling games and possession. Add a healthy dose of negative psychological dynamics, which come free with potentially imminent relegation, and you’ve got games living entirely off the uncertainty of the result – and that’s stretching it a bit. The games were actually meant to be typical 0-0 draws helping neither side.

Then again, you shouldn’t bring meaning into football, because in the 90th minute of each match Borussia Mönchengladbach scored the only and winning goal, moving them out of the drop zone into safety with a three point cushion and a favorable goal difference stat ahead of the final two matchdays. Their competitors Bielefeld and Cottbus now have to travel to Dortmund and Stuttgart respectively, so there is a good chance that Gladbach won’t have to fear the direct drop anymore. To avoid a nerve wrecking relegation play-off, one more point from the two remaining matches could be enough.

It would be great to see the club securing another season of Bundesliga football, as it has the potential to take the next step and become more than just an eternal jojo team. Although, the last time Gladbach wanted to take the next step and target the UEFA Cup spots, they hired Jupp Heynckes, spent big to sign the allegedly next big South American sensation and eventually got relegated…

For an epic Lord of the Rings-esque account of Gladbach’s latest adventures head over to our Borussia Mönchengladbach Offside.

1. VfL Wolfsburg (60pts / +27gd)
Waiting for the title since: 1945, when the club was founded
Run-in: Dortmund (H), Hannover (A), Bremen (H)
The Dortmund game may decide whether Wolfsburg can win their first ever Bundesliga title or not. Wolfsburg are unbeaten at home, while Dortmund have hardly been beaten all season. There could be a draw in this one. The away game against Hannover is a Niedersachsen Derby, but the fact that this is the first time you learned about this derby, tells you that it’s probably not big enough for Hannover to go all out and ruin Wolfsburg’s title chances. Though, you never know – maybe this game could be the start of a long and passionate fiendish rivalry. Bremen will return from either a UEFA Cup triumph or defeat and have another cup final coming up. You have a feeling that spoiling Wolfsburg’s party is not a top priority for them.

2. Bayern Munich (60pts / +25gd)
Waiting for the title for: 12 long, long months
Run-in: Leverkusen (H), Hoffenheim (A), Stuttgart (H)
In the past, Leverkusen always travelled to the Allianz Arena ambitious and full of confidence and left with deflated egos and zero points. The only reason why it could be different this time around is because Leverkusen no longer have any ambitions or confidence. The away game against Hoffenheim could pose a more realistic threat for Bayern though. Hoffenheim, despite their poor run of form, seem motivated to end the season on a high and take revenge for the defeat in Munich last year. They will of course still miss Ibisevic and his replacement Boubacar Sanogo is someone who can turn the game in Bayern’s favor and not the other way round. The game against Stuttgart could turn out be a real showdown and title decider, presuming Bayern and Stuttgart take six points from their previous two matches and I wouldn’t make any predictions in this case.

3. Hertha Berlin (59pts / +10gd)
Waiting for the title since: 1931
Run-in: Cologne (A), Schalke (H), Karlsruhe (A)
Cologne are in safe waters and miss several key players. While Hertha had problems dominating and beating sides from the bottom of the table, I still can’t see anything but three points for Berlin here. The game against Schalke could go either way. Schalke may no longer have anything to play for, but are the kind of side which isn’t vulnerable to Hertha’s counter attacks and they had very little trouble beating Hertha last year. If Hertha beat Schalke they can win the title. The game against Karlsruhe could be a serious test for the fan-friendship between the two clubs – unless Karlsruhe are already confirmed to go down.

4. VfB Stuttgart (58pts / +18gd)
Waiting for the title since: 2007
Run-in: Schalke (A), Cottbus (H), Bayern (A)
The games against Schalke and Cottbus could be tricky, which is my way of saying that I expect six points for Stuttgart but don’t really trust them yet, despite their demolition of Wolfsburg. The best result Stuttgart could get in Munich in recent years was a draw, but then again there were so many clubs, coaches and players who overcame their Bayern jinx this season, that Stuttgart could just as well go there and beat them for an even unlikelier title win than in 2007.

5. Borussia Dortmund (55pts / +20gd)
Waiting for the title since: 2002
Run-in: Wolfsburg (A), Bielefeld (H), Mönchengladbach (A)
With Hamburg hot on their heels and with the easier run-in, Dortmund can’t really afford to lose or draw any of their remaining fixtures. The team is on a club record winning streak, though I have doubts whether they’ll be the first to beat Wolfsburg in Wolfsburg this season. Two relegation threatened sides might put up quite a fight, especially Bielefeld are difficult to play, but Dortmund look too strong to drop any points against them.

6. Hamburger SV (55 pts / 0gd)
Waiting for the title since: 1982
Run-in: Bochum (H), Cologne (H), Frankfurt (A)
You’ve got to feel sorry for Martin Jol’s men. In a bit over two and a half weeks their fierce rivals Werder Bremen turned an excellent season into a bitterly disappointing one. Their chances to win the title are purely mathematical and their chances to play in Europe at all next season could rely on the outcome of the Wolfsburg – Dortmund match. The team’s remaining fixtures all look very easy on paper so it’s not too bold to predict a full nine points here. The psychological blow of the Nothern Derby disaster could stand in their way though.

To round off this post, here’s quick look at the snail race at the bottom of the table:

14. VfL Bochum (28pts / -16gd)
In the Bundesliga since: 2006
Run-in: Hamburg (A), Frankfurt (H), Cologne (A)
I expected Bochum to have booked the tickets for another season of Bundesliga football a while ago. Marcel Koller’s team played some good football and more importantly got results to show for it, different to the first half of the season. With games against Frankfurt and Cologne coming up, I still expect them to convert one of those two matchballs…

15. Borussia Mönchengladbach (27pts / -19gd)
In the Bundesliga since: 2008
Run-in: Cottbus (A), Leverkusen (A), Dortmund (H)
I think Mönchengladbach have to win in Cottbus to have a chance to stay in the league. Leverkusen will be motivated to end their Düsseldorf adventure with one damn home win, so I don’t think Gladbach can expect any gifts from them there unfortunately. Dortmund will most probably be fighting for the Europa League spots (or even more…) and look too strong for Gladbach. I personally hope they stay in the league though, and maybe that’s why I’m so pessimistic.

16. Arminia Bielefeld (27pts / -19gd)
In the Bundesliga since: 2004
Run-in: Hoffenheim (H), Dortmund (A), Hannover (H)
Hoffenheim and Hannover at home will certainly be the key games for Bielefeld. Artur Wichniarek could be the key player in these games after his return from injury. And after all, how can something get relegated which doesn’t even exist?

17. Energie Cottbus (27pts / -27gd)
In the Bundesliga since: 2006
Run-in: Mönchengladbach (H), Stuttgart (A), Leverkusen (H)
With home games against Mönchengladbach and Leverkusen, Cottbus have it all in their own hands. I’m a bit unsure about what Leverkusen side will show up. They might be determined to get a positive result as a confidence boost ahead of the cup final.

18. Karlsruher SC (23pts / -29gd)
In the Bundesliga since: 2007
Run-in: Hannover (H), Bremen (A), Berlin (H)
There is a little glimmer of hope left for Karlsruhe to at least make it to the relegation play-offs. This glimmer stands in stark contrast to their poor performance against Dortmund though. Hannover and Bremen no longer have anything to play for and maybe Karlsruhe are just another freak goal away from an unlikely great escape.

vs Bundesliga Report 2007/2008: The above numbers add up to a combined revenue of €1527,6m, while the official revenue reported by the Bundesliga is €1566,931m. This might have to do with Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich were co-owners of the Allianz Arena but recently bought the shares held by 1860 Munich. In turn Bayern released two revenue figures: the one quoted above and one + Allianz Arena which is roundabout €40m higher. In that case the revenues of the 17 other clubs are more or less correct. The Bundesliga also reported that 15 of 18 clubs turned a profit as compared to 18 of 18 in the previous season. So three clubs from the above list must have had a negative result.

vs Deloitte Football Money League Deloitte further “correct” their numbers by excluding none football related income as well as one offs like transfer fees.

Warning: Revenue figures of football clubs are like possession stats after a football match. A team dominating possession doesn’t necessarily win the game and isn’t necessarily the better team. After all, Manchester City were ranked 20th in Deloitte’s money league but are the richest club in the world…

The 2. Bundesliga revenues of the three clubs promoted to the Bundesliga: Borussia Mönchengladbach (Turnover €68,7m, Profit €6,8m), FC Cologne (€42,6m, Loss €2,27m), TSG Hoffenheim (Turnover €24m, Loss €5,2m)

Bonus
Turnover 1. Bundesliga 2007/2008: €1566,931m (€1456,783m in 2006/2007, +7,3%)
Turnover 2. Bundesliga 2007/2008: €367,508m (€291,032m in 2006/2007, +23,3%)
Turnover Bundesliga 2007/2008: €1934,439m (€1747,815m in 2006/2007, +10,7%)

Combined debt: €469,453m (€510,323m in 2006/2007)
Wages to Turnover Ratio: 40%

***
Friday

[22.00] Schalke 1-0 Cologne
Schalke scored a brilliantly strung together team goal. Schalke played 90 minutes of football, which at no point suggested that the team has the ability to score such a great goal. Cologne was on the pitch as well and had decided that long balls and free kicks ought to be enough for the night. In the last 10 minutes they eventually realized how nervous, inapt and insecure their opponent actually was and tried a little harder to equalize – which they almost did. All things considered it was an abysmal match.

What was far more interesting than the action on the pitch was the reaction of the Schalke fans in the stands. It took only 20 minutes until the fans were at the end of their tether and started booing their team. After 28 minutes Jermaine Jones scored the lead, which calmed the crowd down a little bit. For the rest of the match eerie silence took turns with occasional boos and more pronounced boos (i.e. during substitutions). It was a good night for Kevin Kuranyi though, as he wasn’t booed individually but only as part of the team. When the game had finished the Schalke players reacted by skipping their obligatory visit to the curve. Well, Schalke are probably the only team in the league who wished they had more away games.

***
Saturday

[02.15] Match reports of the Friday night game are up: Schalke Offisde – Cologne Offside.

[02.35] A couple of previews for today’s matches: Hoffenheim Offside vs Bremen Offside, Mönchengladbach Offside vs Hamburg Offside, Bayern Offside vs Hanover Offside, blogless Cottbus vs Hertha Offside, Wolfsburg Offside vs blogless Karlsruhe and Stuttgart Offside vs Dortmund Offside.

[03.00] Countdown: whoever scores first today will have scored the 43000th goal in the history of the Bundesliga.

[06.00] Franck Ribery is out injured today. We’ll have to make do with this singing/jumpsuit wearing performance for our fix of Ribery entertainment this weekend.

[06.40] Drumroll: goal number 43000 has been scored by Stuttgart’s Brazilian midfielder Élson.

[08.35] A double debacle for the Bundesliga’s HSVs and no new team at the top of the table (and no new team at the top of table next week either)…

Cottbus 1-3 Hertha
Cottbus lived up to their bogey team tag in the first half. They put Hertha under pressure and a Drobny blunder worthy of only happening against a bogey team gave them the lead. Cottbus seemed to be on a good way to continue their success story against Hertha. But this season things are just a little bit different. Cottbus had the chances, Hertha converted theirs. And by half-time Hertha (aka Andriy Voronin) had turned the match around. As we by now expect from Hertha, they kept the game open until almost the last minute before Voronin completed his hat trick with a great solo goal.

Bayern 5-1 Hanover
Another crisis at Bayern countered with five goals, but because it’s such a cherished Bundesliga tradition this season, they let the guests score first. Hanover looked like a contender for worst ever team at defending corners and free kicks. The title for worst ever away side is already theirs. Lo and behold: Lukas Podolski played from the beginning and scored a goal. This was HSV debacle number 1.

Mönchengladbach 4-1 Hamburg
And here is HSV debacle number 2. Hamburg probably shouldn’t have shown such a pronounced interest in Marko Marin in the winter, because he felt like giving a job interview today. Instrumental in setting up two goals, scored one himself from the spot and generally ran the show for Mönchengladbach. Frank Rost said about his team’s performance in the midweek cup game against Wiesbaden, that they won’t have a chance against Gladbach if they play like that again – he was right. Big win for Mönchengladbach, who will now go into a relegation triple header with games against Cologne, Bochum and Karlsruhe coming up. After those matches we’ll probably have an idea, whether they can stage a great escape or not.

[09.00] And here’s what happened elsewhere in Germany:

Hoffenheim 0-0 Bremen
This game could have just as well ended with nine goals like the first game between the two teams six months ago. Bremen are still waiting for their first win in the Bundesliga this year. Hoffenheim haven’t won since January.

Wolfsburg 1-0 Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe have been Wolfsburg’s bogey team, but VW’s millions have finally bought them their first ever victory against the leagues new worst team. Karlsruhe weren’t the worse side today, but even as the better team they couldn’t convert their chances.

Stuttgart 2-1 Dortmund
The 43000th goal in the history of the Bundesliga and Mario Gomez’ 43000th goal for Stuttgart seal the victory for a yet unbeaten Markus Babbel – in the Bundesliga; let’s better forget about the club’s performances in the DFB and UEFA Cup.

[09.30] And this is how the table currently looks like (ripped from here):

Props to Hamburg for their goal difference of +/- 0. In a way that’s quite an achievement. Oh, and a small correction to the above table: Bayern and Hoffenheim are joined second.

[09.50] The photo of the weekend straight from the Allianz Arena and beautifully open to interpretation.

[10.50] Two more match reports are up: Bayern Offside and Mönchengladbach Offside.

[13.50] Another drumroll for the DFB-Pokal semi-final draw:
Hamburg vs Bremen
Leverkusen vs Mainz
There goes my Northern Derby for the final, but a Northern Derby after all. Leverkusen look like a sure bet for the final. Mainz are a good side – fighting for promotion to the Bundesliga – but without home advantage it’ll be very difficult to stage an upset.

***
Sunday

[11.30] Time to wrap up matchday 23.

Leverkusen 1-1 Bochum
After their impressive DFB-Pokal victory over Bayern, I predicted: “Now that they played so well again, another nosedive in the league can be expected pretty soon.” All my wrong predictions meanwhile will of course remain hidden deep in the archives of this blog. Leverkusen again looked impressive on paper – i.e. possession and shots on target stats, but on the pitch they needed a stupid handball + penalty to at least draw the match. Bochum continue their fine form this year.

Bielefeld 0-0 Frankfurt
A good result for Mönchengladnach is all I can say about this match.

***
Saturday

[07.35] This edition is a bit late. I was out on Friday and could only catch up with yesterday’s match this morning (by Peru standards very early morning).

Cologne 1-1 Bielefeld
In the first half both teams were kicking the ball up and down the field, in the second half they did it mostly without a ball. The first half was quite watchable and the second half was not. Cologne could have and should have and so on and so forth. Bielefeld get a valuable point away from home. It was a good feeling being a supporter of a stereotypical jo-jo club, and yet having the distinct feeling that you’ve outgrown all of your direct competitors in a matter of just six months – I’m not talking about Bielefeld.

For an in depth review head over to our fierce rivals from Bundesliga Talk.

[08.30] Looking ahead to today’s fixtures: Hertha and Hoffenheim will both try to reclaim the top of the table. Hoffenheim need a win. Hertha need a win and they need help from Dortmund. Meanwhile Toni Kroos may/could potentially give his debut for Leverkusen against Hanover – probably as a sub for the last 10 minutes.

Some previews/press conference quotes/injury updates from the: fearless Hannover Offside, tricky Leverkusen Offside, searching Hoffenheim Offside, confident Schalke Offside, victorious Frankfurt Offside, revengeful Dortmund Offside and challenged Mönchengladbach Offside.

[08.30] A quick first look at two of the more important results. More to follow a few hours later, when I’m back home.

Dortmund 0-0 Hoffenheim
This game had absolutely everything except for goals. Dortmund with their ninth draw at home this season. Hoffenheim now with three draws in four matches this year. Both somewhat depressing statistics.

Hertha 2-1 Mönchengladbach
Berlin raced into a 2-0 lead at half time, then were outclassed in the second half and once again hung onto the lead like only Hertha can. Really quite a strange team but they’ve taken over the top of the table again.

***
Sunday

[12.55] Well, this will be a rather short running commentary. Anyway, another weekend has come and gone and we have a change of guard at the top once again.

Hamburg 1-3 Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg is officially Hamburg’s bogey team. Wolfsburg also continue to be Bayern’s little helper, as they very consistently beat every of Bayern’s direct competitors and very consistently hand Bayern all six points each season. Seems we can expect more of the same for the rest of this season as well. Wolfsburg scored two early goals, both of which Hamburg were a bit unlucky to concede. The first was a trademark Edin Dzeko dive, made a bit less outrageous by the fact that there was a little bit of shirt tugging by Aogo. But when in doubt I’ll always judge against Dzeko. He needs to do quite some fair play work to come close to my good books again. The second goal though was a good counter attack by Wolfsburg. Hamburg were still unlucky, as Demel ruptured a muscle and couldn’t defend the attack. Wolfsburg did well to defend that lead. Hamburg came back into the match for two minutes, before another counter attack killed the game. I guess we have to welcome Wolfsburg to the title race. Or rather, you have to do it. I despise and hate this club.

Hamburg remain second in the table with a goal difference of just +3. Haven’t seen such an odd combination in a while.

[14.00] Time to wrap up the other big Sunday game

Bremen 0-0 Bayern
Angela over at the Bayern Offside has a very detailed match report up already. At the end of the day, the best both teams will get out of this match are a few clips for the highlight reels of their goalkeepers. Bremen were reduced to 10 men after just 15 minutes, so maybe they can be a bit happier with the result. Though, both teams had actually enough chances to win it and Bremen compensated being down one man for so long really well.

***
The Table never lies

[19.30] To wrap up this weekend and to get a few more Bundesliga teams a mention, which were excluded for non-title race relevance and time constraint purposes, here’s a quick look at the table:

Hertha reclaimed the top spot and now lead the table with 43pts ahead of Hamburg (42pts), Hoffenheim (41pts) and Bayern/Wolfsburg (39pts). The way this season is going, it’s difficult to decide whether all, one or none of these teams is seriously in the title race. So in theory Leverkusen and Stuttgart (36pts) might be the ones duking it out for first and second come matchday 34. Leverkusen are in a crisis though, after losing 1-0 against Hanover, while Stuttgart remain unbeaten in the Bundesliga – beat KSC 2-0 – this year and may have a better momentum going for them than Leverkusen. Schalke with 34pts is only 9pts behind Hertha and could be a dark horse bet as well. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think that this is a complete list of all potential title candidates this season.

I will now completely ignore the midtable section to take a quick look at the relegation zone. For now, I’ll start it with Bochum in 14th place with 21pts. In theory Frankfurt and Hanover could be candidates as well, but I’m a bit more certain about which teams might get relegated than about which team might win the title, so I left them out. Bochum won a six pointer against Cottbus this weekend (3-2) thanks to one of those lovely controversial penalty decisions – or better Sestak dived and the ref bought it. Cottbus were furious. Bochum philosophized about eternal justice, after being denied a clear penalty last weekend.

Arminia Bielefeld and Cottbus follow with (20pts), while Karlsruhe (17pts) and Mönchengladbach (16pts) are currently the two clubs, who would win the ticket back to the second division at the end of the season.

I modified the format a bit and introduced timestamps. Due to the time-zone spanning super-global nature of this blog, I decided to feature a different timezone each week. In honor of one of our most frequent commenters, I’ll start with Singapore Standard Time (SST, i.e. CET +7h).

***
Friday

[00.45 Sat] The 133rd Revierderby will kick off this Bundesliga weekend and was it ever more meaningless? Schalke could sink into an even bigger crisis, Dortmund could sink even further back into mid-table mediocrity after what looked like a promising season so far.

Tucker over at the Dortmund Offside has the latest on his team’s difficult injury situation. Porter over at the Schalke Offside is looking for revenge, or rather: he’s quoting people looking for revenge.

[05.50 Sat] Schalke 1-1 Dortmund. Kevin Kuranyi sent in his submission for goal of the season and now scored two goals in the last two matches. He was also guilty of giving away a great chance to score a potentially match winning second goal – just for the old times sake! Schalke were mostly in complete control of the match and it took Dortmund 50 minutes to register their first real chance. It then took Dortmund just 20 minutes to turn the match upside down, equalize and almost run away with an unlikely victory. This result helps neither of the two teams and both could lose more ground depending on tomorrow’s (today’s in Singapore) matches.

This derby won’t take a prominent place in football’s history books, but this Kuranyi goal will make it into the odd YouTube football compilation video in the future.

***
Saturday

[00.25 Sun] It’s a snail race at the top of the table. Bayern lose against Cologne (1-2). Hertha lose against Wolfsburg (same scoreline). Hoffenheim can only draw against Stuttgart (3-3) but go top on goal difference (+18). Bayern are denied a regular goal. Hertha are denied a regular goal. Wolfsburg score an irregular goal. Bayern would have liked a penalty (up for discussion). Hoffenheim miss a last minute penalty. Not a bright day for the Bundesliga’s referees. Hamburg could take advantage tomorrow against Leverkusen, but the way things went so far I would now expect them to lose, just to make it even more close.

[00.30 Sun] And here’s another one for statistic freaks: Christoph Daum had never managed to win against Bayern Munich in Munich until today. Took him 23 years.

[01.05 Sun] Stuttgart – Hoffenheim aftermath: Mario Gomez scored his 23rd and 24th goal in his 31st game for Stuttgart this season. Demba Ba scored a hat trick; an English hat trick, not a German one which requires three consecutive goals.

[01.30 Sun] Things remain close at the bottom of the table and miserable in the mid-table section. Cottbus beat Bremen 2-1 with a last minute goal and book their second consecutive home win, climb up the table and are determined to once again defy all odds and stay in the Bundesliga one more season. Bremen drop down to 11th and are trailing the Europa League spots by a full nine points – the same goes for the relegation play-off spot…

Borussia Mönchengladbach keep feeding this season’s highlight reel with another great Alexander Baumjohann goal. More importantly though, they for once also got a full three points by beating Hanover 3-2. Karlsruhe lost against Frankfurt (0-1). Bielefeld and Bochum shared the points (1-1). Gladbach remain at the bottom of the table, but the relegation play-off spot is only two and safety three points away now.

[01.50 Sun] Bayern fans probably expected an easy win against Cologne and a tough away game against Bremen next week. It could end up being the other way round.

[05.00 Sun] Prior to their match against Bremen, Cottbus were looking for volunteers to help clear the pitch and stadium of snow. In return Cottbus offered a warm drink and a free ticket for the match against Bremen. 30 people showed up to help out, which bumped the attendance number for the match from 14750 to 14780.

***
Sunday

[22.45] A headband on wednesday. A shoe on Saturday. Jens Lehmann is on a roll and should soon own a complete set of football equipment.

[02.00 Mon] Leverkusen 1-2 Hamburg. Another week, another table topper. Hamburg register their first big win away from home.

[02.10 Mon] Patrick Helmes keeps chasing Vedad Ibisevic with this stunning goal from nothing.

[02.15 Mon] Leverkusen tried to pass the ball to victory again. Hamburg tried their luck with long balls and both approaches proved to be equally effective in the first half (1-1). After taking the lead again, Hamburg were granted more space and started to pass the ball around a bit more as well. The resulting counter attacks and chances were all woefully wasted though. They unnecessarily kept the game open until the end.

[02.35 Mon] Man of the match: Marcell Jansen who scored both goals for Hamburg. He seems to be on his way to his old Mönchengladbach self again, which earned him his €12m move to Bayern.
Cameo of the match: Jerome Boateng, came on after 60 minutes, didn’t perform too well, got booked twice and sent to the showers after 86 minutes. It’s not his season.

***
Friday

Trivial pre-match stats: Hoffenheim have lost four out of five top of the table clashes. Hoffenheim will play four of those five top of the table clashes at home in the second half of the season. Hoffenheim are the best home team of the league. Leverkusen are the second best away team of the league. Hoffenheim are in danger of being overtaken by Hertha or Bayern. Leverkusen are in danger of dropping out of the title race and the European spots.

Hoffenheim 1-4 Leverkusen
Hoffenheim’s defense had a “used day” to adopt a German expression into the Bundesliga Offside vocabulary. Leverkusen had Patrick Helmes and also a bit of luck with the second goal, which didn’t look 100% legit. Hoffenheim had some decisions go their way against Cottbus and Mönchengladbach as well, so this balances things out nicely. Stefan Kiessling proved that he’s the perfect replacement for Kevin Kuranyi in the national team. Boubacar Sanogo proved that he’s not the perfect Ibisevic replacement.

Bayern or Hertha could now overtake Hoffenheim in the table tomorrow. With Hertha missing Cicero, Kacar, Pantelic and a whole bunch of other players, it’s difficult to imagine that they will actually get any points from their game though.
***
Saturday

Required reading – pre-match previews from our team bloggers: Angela has a lot of options for Jürgen (Bayern), Abby more or less ignores the big/small brother issues behind the match for a change (Hertha), “if you’re desperate and everything just seems to go wrong, you need to play Bochum next saturday” (Bochum), A world of injuries for Bochum, a world of possibilities for Fred Rutten (Schalke), Ollie tries to keep track of the health of all his players (Frankfurt), “Wolfsburg is a painful-to-watch travesty (…)” (Wolfsburg), Stuttgart will try to take Hanover’s home fortress under Jens Lehmann’s leadership (Hanover), Groundhog day for Stuttgart (Stuttgart), must win for Geißböcke (Cologne), must find Karlsruhe blogger (Karlsruhe), Jackson admirers Mönchengladbach’s siege mentality (Bremen), Otto knows no fear (Mönchengladbach)

Historic pre-match stats: No Swiss coach has ever managed to beat Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. It’s been 22 years since Mönchengladbach last beat Bremen in Bremen. Karlsruhe have beaten no other Bundesliga team more often than Cologne.

Legally dubious viewing options: Here.

Berlin 2-1 Bayern

Wow. Lucien Favre is the first Swiss coach to beat Bayern in the Bundesliga. Hertha have never before topped the Bundesliga table in the second half of the season. Thus it’s a historic victory for all statistic freaks. And to quote myself: “With Hertha missing Cicero, Kacar, Pantelic and a whole bunch of other players, it’s difficult to imagine that they will actually get any points from their game though.”

Bayern can dominate a match and create chances like no other team in the league. So they should still do fine against most Bundesliga sides, but their defence will prematurely knock them out of the Champions League.

Bochum 2-1 Schalke
Schalke just can’t get their season sorted out. Bochum win the small Revierderby and now earned six points from their first three matches in the second half of the season compared to eleven points in the whole first half of the season.

Bremen 1-1 Mönchengladbach
Bremen: see Schalke, with the exception that Bremen really, really tried everything to win this game. Mönchengladbach: A brilliant performance by their new goalkeeper Logan Bailly earned them the point, while Michael Bradley completed, what the NYT called, a trans-atlantic hat trick. A draw away against Bremen is a good result but a win at home against Hanover next week is must. Gladbach’s competition currently seems to be making all the big points.

Frankfurt 0-2 Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg finally break their away jinx. Thanks to Frankfurt’s all around poorness they only needed an average performance and a few penalty decisions going for and not against them.

Hanover 3-3 Stuttgart
Stuttgart took a 2-0 lead. Hannover took a 3-2 lead. Stuttgart remembered Hamburg’s fate last week, reacted and Hitzelsperger made it 3-3. Exciting match according to the highlights.

Cologne 0-0 Karlsruhe
Cologne didn’t score a goal. Karlsruhe didn’t score a goal. Forgettable match according to me, though I switched back and forth between this one and the Hertha – Bayern match – which BTW was also forgettable at times – so maybe I accidentally missed all the exciting bits.

***
Sunday

Pre-match: Hamburg can overtake Bayern again and if they weren’t such a bunch of !#*%?$, they could have even put a full four points between them and the Bavarians. Dortmund can put three points between them and Schalke before Friday’s game of the year.

Hamburg 2-0 Bielefeld
Bielefeld’s Dennis Eilhoff pulled a Rensing and misjudged a Trochowski free kick. Hamburg’s Alex Silva pulled a Gravgaard and conceded a stupid penalty. Artur Wichniarek pulled a Hertha and missed the penalty. Olic pulled an Olic – the old highly ineffective marathon Olic. Overall, a lot of snow, not so much football and this:

Dortmund 1-1 Cottbus
Dortmund fans are proud to announce that this was draw no. 8 in 11 home games this season.