The Fundesliga

Defensive shambles and a lack of ferocity currently hindering Dortmund

Stefan Bienkowski — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:28:00 GMT

When Ivan Perisic equalised in the opening moments of the second half of Saturday’s showdown against Hamburg, Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp turned to his bench and let out an animated sigh of relief.

As they had done at Nuremberg in their previous away fixture, Die Schwarzgelben had come from behind and looked set to maintain their long undefeated run in the Bundesliga – one that had stretched back 31 matches to September 2011.

But this time there was a sting in the tail, as goals from Son Heung-Min and Ivo Iličević quickly gave HSV a two goal buffer Dortmund could do no more than half before the fulltime whistle.

The ever-present Bundesliga side had shaken off their relegation form to conquer the reigning champions, winning the game and ending Dortmund’s undefeated streak in the process. It almost seemed as though some kind of divine force was intent on seeing Hamburg’s own 36-match unbeaten spell of 1983 remain German top flight football’s longest.

Son Heung-Min celebrates Hamburg's decisive third goal

Of course, the reality was that this was in no part due to some mythical deity - Jurgen Klopp’s side have been coasting through games since the start of the new season and it was only a matter of time before a team hungry for points, such as Hamburg, were going to cause a shock.

Being fifth in the league with eight points from five games doesn’t signal the strongest start to a title challenge, especially with habitual title contenders Bayern Munich is such impressive form.

Bayern top the table having taken the full fifteen points from their five matches, scoring 17 goals to Dortmund’s 11. But if we dig in to the finer details, such as average number of passes per game (Bayern lead by 591.2 to Dortmund’s 514.4) or average attempts on goal per game (Bayern again lead with 19 to Dortmund’s 17.6), it’s obvious that Dortmund aren’t attacking teams with the same ferocity as their Bavarian rivals.

One of the key factors in this recent attacking malaise has been the lethargic debut of Marco Reus. Initially signed as an instant replacement for Shinji Kagawa, the German international has yet to spark the Dortmund attack in the fashion he previously did for Gladbach. In his final season at the Foals, Reus scored eighteen goals in thirty-two games – roughly a goal every 154 minutes. Since joining Dortmund, that figure has risen to one goal every 192 minutes.

Reus start at Dortmund has been far from perfect

When we compare Reus’ stats to those of predecessor Shinji Kagawa, who managed a minutes per goal ratio of 185 minutes before departing for Manchester United, we begin to understand the gaping hole in the production of goals in the Dortmund midfield.

Such symptoms aren’t specifically restricted to Dortmund’s new signing - his compatriot Mario Gotze has similarly stumbled through his club’s opening fixtures, scoring twice, but not yet fully hitting his stride.

While Polish pair Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek have chipped in with three and four goals respectively, this hasn’t been enough to secure maximum points from the opening run of fixtures. This is because the troubled troop of trequartistas is only half the story at the Ruhr side, with an equally incompetent defence adding misery to an increasingly frustrating start to the new campaign.

In shipping eight goals in five matches, the club have already conceded more than they did in the opening ten games of last season, with the six goals conceded against Hamburg and Frankfurt – two sides considered fit for relegation prior to the start of the season – seen as particularly concerning.

Anderson heads in Frankfurt's third on Tuesday evening

Perhaps even more worrying will be the manner of the goals conceded in their midweek draw with Frankfurt. The champions blew a 2-0 and then 3-2 lead, thanks in part to the newly-promoted side twice finding acres of space between the Dortmund midfield and defence - a feat considered nigh on impossible last season. Frankfurt’s third – a set-piece drill straight off the training pitch which didn’t see a Dortmund player touch the ball until it was in the back of the net – was similarly farcical.

‘Uncharacteristic’ would seem the perfect word to describe the performance, especially when compared to the standards Klopp has set over the past two years, yet the real fear is that this isn’t just a blip, rather the start of a permanent decline of a side who had shone so brightly, so quickly.

“The fact is we are going through phases when we are conceding lots of goals.” the Dortmund coach admitted after praising the perfect football of Frankfurt, who now sit three places and five points above Dortmund.

Whether or not this is just a phase is yet to be seen.

Forget Gomez: Germany need a false nine – and they already have him

Stefan Bienkowski — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 06:17:00 GMT

The next phase in German progression is in front of goal, says Stefan Bienkowski, with a very modern type of front-man

Evolution, rather than revolution, continues to be the word on everybody’s lips at the DFB this summer as Germany returns home to lick its wounds after a disappointing conclusion to Euro 2012.

Despite an impressive tournament performance from die Nationalelf, the fateful semi-final clash with Italy was enough to knock the wind from a nation that found itself believing its own hype.

The crushing defeat, as unexpected as it was thorough, was without a doubt the darkest 90 minutes of Joachim Low’s time as Bundestrainer and pointed out above all else that this Germany side were far from the finished article.

Manuek Neuer was impenetrable in goal; tournament-preceding fears about the defence were quickly laid to rest as Dortmund’s young Mats Hummels thrived in the middle of the park; and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil controlled and dominated one game to the next. Yet Joachim Low showed constant torment with his front men.

Starting the group games with Mario Gomez seemed a stroke of genius after three goals is as many matches, including an impressive brace against Holland. Then Miroslav Klose was picked for the quarter-final showdown against Greece, only for Low to switch back to the Bayern striker for the semi-final against Italy. Neither striker truly fits his team, and he knew it.

Klose and Gomez: Good, but not right?

Miroslav Klose, however grand his international record may be, is now 34 and will surely be out of the picture before Brazil 2014. Mario Gomez, of able body and mind, has a remarkable ability of turning one touch into a goal – yet his relationship with the national team, and Low, will always be an awkward bond due to what the side lack when he plays up front.

When facing goal, the towering Bayern striker can pick his spot and calmly slot home from any angle, as he did so well against an open and disorganised Dutch side this summer. But when asked to play with his back to goal – as is expected of any forward in Low's system – he becomes a lumbering obstacle for any German attack. Compared to Mesut Ozil or Mario Gotze, the small, technical midfielders that buzz around him so elegantly, Gomez looks slow, uncomfortable and outdated.

As Spain demonstrated so systematically in Kiev on Sunday, the notion of a 'true' No.9 is all but extinct in the modern game if a side is resolute on controlling the game and their opponent. If Germany are to finally make the step up and stake a claim to the best in the world again, they could do a lot worse than applying this theory to their own forward problems.

Fortunately for Germany, the solution to this riddle in front of goal lies closer than expected in the form of a small, blond-haired kid from the football-mad city of Dortmund. Marco Reus’ rise through the ranks of German football and fearless battle for the spotlight at this summer's European Championships are a testament to the hunger and skill that has made the forward the hottest property in Germany.

Whenever he came on at the Euros, Reus immediately fitted in with the forwards around him, as if he were a regular starter. A conventional one-two with Klose, a short intricate pass to Ozil, or a simple lay-off for Schweinsteiger; the 23-year-old forward seamlessly synchronised with the squad's style and mentality without hint of nerves or struggle. This was most apparent after his wonderful volley against Greece in the quarter-finals, only his eighth cap.

The future? Ozil and Reus celebrate that goal against Greece

At the Euros, Reus was generally regarded as a wide player – reasonably enough, considering Low was alternating between Gomez and Klose up front and usually brought on Reus to replace Thomas Muller on the right wing. However, Reus truly thrives in the middle of the park.

Quick, nimble and only ever content with the ball at his feet, Reus depicts a modern forward in all its glory. Whilst single-handedly dragging Borussia Moenchengladbach to fourth spot and Champions League qualification, he scored 18 goals and contributed nine assists in 32 appearances.

He was voted Bundesliga Young Player of the Year after a superb season persuaded Borussia Dortmund to pay €17.5m – for a kid who'd been on their books from the age of seven to 17, when they let him slip into the regional leagues. He battled back from there and is still hungry to improve.

Reus's 2011/12 clipreel (warning: awful soundtrack)

Although most likely to play off Dortmund’s more traditional frontman Robert Lewandowki, Reus will benefit from playing in Jurgen Klopp’s possession-based system – a set-up not unlike that of the national team – with fellow German protégés Mario Gotze and Mats Hummels.

With the ability to run past opponents, hold up the ball, or cut back and begin plays from scratch, the new Dortmund forward not only offers an alternative to the more conventional Mario Gomez, but an opportunity for Low to make a progressive move towards the final piece in the puzzle of his domineering Germany side.

On August 15th Germany face Argentina in a glamour friendly in Frankfurt before beginning their campaign for qualification towards Brazil 2014 – the 18th anniversary of the national team's last trophy. A new set of foes awaits Low’s side as they continue to evolve among an increasingly anxious search for international silverware.

Call that a close title race? THIS was a close title race...

Guest Writer — Tue, 01 May 2012 09:46:00 GMT

Manchester City and United are locked together atop the Premier League, and as the season nears its climax, dare we hope for a finale as exciting as Germany's in 2001? Gerard Brand tells the story...

The first 19 years of the Premier League have seen two truly dramatic last-day title wins: Blackburn relying on a West Ham brick wall in 1995, and Manchester United’s 2-1 victory from behind against Spurs in 1999 denying Arsenal. The other last-day wins – Chelsea’s 8-0 Wigan walloping in 2010 and Manchester United’s routine victories over Middlesbrough in 1996 and Wigan in 2008 – were barely worth checking Ceefax for.

The Premier League’s final day is better known for relegation candidates battling it out in matches not even a Mystic Meg would dare predict. But what's more entertaining? Drop-dodging battles may induce pain, euphoria, mass financial homicide and ill-advised on-pitch karaoke but staying up by the skin of the teeth can't compare to winning a title at the death, even if it is for the most hated club in the country.

The final fortnight of the 2000/01 German Bundesliga season featured a Schalke side looking for their first title since 1958 in their last season at the Parkstadion, lederhosen-to-lederhosen at the summit with one of the most successful Bayern Munich teams in recent history.

This wasn’t just a last-day drama. This was a two-part series with more twists and turns than even the most enthusiastic (and unrealistic) soap opera writer could spit out, beginning on the penultimate weekend of fixtures.

Going into stoppage time at home to Kaiserslautern, Bayern were being held 1-1 while Schalke were goalless at Stuttgart. That would leave both teams level on 60 points heading into the final round, where Schalke’s superior goal difference and remaining home fixture with relegation candidates Unterhaching would put them in good stead, while Bayern faced a long trip to Hamburg.

Cue the first twist. In a frantic final minute, the pendulum swung toward Ottmar Hitzfeld’s Bayern. In Munich, Alexander Zickler’s ferocious 90th-minute volley turned one point into three for Bayern; simultaneously, relegation-threatened Stuttgart scored through Krasimir Balakov to beat Schalke. Advantage Die Bayern, three points clear going into the final week.

Enter round 34 of 34. In Gelsenkirchen, Schalke fans were in celebratory mood for the final match at the outdated Parkstadion, their home since 1973. However, Bayern only needed a point in Hamburg to claim the title, and most fans around the country expect a third successive title for 'FC Hollywood' – especially when Schalke went 2-0 down within the first half-hour against Unterhaching. They came back to level the scores by half-time, to regain some hope with Hamburg-Bayern still goalless. Schalke pushed for a goal to take the lead, but Jan Seifert’s strike for Unterhaching put them 3-2 behind.

They needed to win their match and hope that Hamburg nicked three points. Joerg Bohme helped them do their bit: a quick-fire double put Schalke 4-3 up, before joint league top scorer Ebbe Sand put the game beyond doubt.

Unbelievably, part two of said miracle was realised 200 miles away, with Sergei Barbarez’s brilliant 90th-minute header for Hamburg. Hitzfeld looked speechless, his bench slumped in despair, his team 1-0 down. If Hamburg could hold on, Schalke would win their first league title in 43 years on goal difference.

Bayern still needed a draw. Schalke’s game had finished, and the pitch filled with thousands of anxious yet excited supporters, watching the dying minutes of the Hamburg-Bayern game on the Parkstadion's big screen.

In the fourth and final minute of added time, Hamburg's former Schalke goalkeeper Mathias Schober picked up a backpass 10 yards outside his area. Up stepped Patrik Andersson, whose indirect free kick somehow deflected its way through a wall of Hamburg players.

The last kick of the game retained the title for Bayern, seen live by 60,000 back in Gelsenkirchen. Cue wild celebrations from Bayern players, many of whom had suffered their own last-minute agony two years before in the Champions League final defeat to Manchester United.

Schalke fans were openly sobbing, some in realisation and some in disbelief. The players watched on in the stands, sharing the disappointment with the ardent support. Meanwhile, up in the northern port city, Stefan Effenberg lifted the salad bowl for Bayern, confirming one of the most dramatic conclusions to any season.

In Schalke's situation, many would hide behind their grief, give their post-match interviews, woefully describe their disappointment and disappear for the summer feeling mightily sorry for themselves. Schalke general manager Rudi Assauer took a different route, addressing fans outside the ground after the game and rallying them to be proud of the team – not something you could envisage Sir Alex or 'Bobby Manc' doing if the situation gets as dramatic on May 13th.

Scant consolation for Schalke came with a 2-0 German Cup Final win over Union Berlin just seven days later, but a much coveted Bundesliga title has eluded them ever since, with another two second-placed finishes. Bayern immediately went on to win the Champions League with a penalty shoot-out victory over Valencia, and have won the league five times since, making a record 22 titles overall.

Looking back on the last two weekends of the 2000/01 Bundesliga campaign shows how football provides unrivalled glory, before regurgitating it as a heap of bile-ridden anguish. And repeat. A spectacular irrelevancy it may be, but the beast that is the beautiful game showed here what it is capable of, and here’s to hoping for some of the same a bit closer to home in the coming weeks. For us neutrals, anyway.

Resurgent Bayern face biggest test yet at glorious Gladbach

Stefan Bienkowski — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:01:00 GMT

This season’s Bundesliga has been a journey full of surprises. So much so that it's big news when the most successful club in German football, Bayern Munich, win three games in a row – and that Borussia Moenchengladbach, who flirted with relegation last season, would be the definitive test for the in-form Munich side.

Bayern have welcomed the business end of the Bundesliga season with an ease that has eluded them until now. With 20 goals in their past three games, the Bavarians have not only rekindled hopes of a title challenge, but also restored the fascination with this season’s Champions League final at their own Allianz Arena.

The winning spree started on Saturday 10 March when a slapdash Hoffenheim side were mercilessly torn apart 7-1. But the trigger for the good form was the previous Saturday, when Leverkusen overcame a travelling Bayern side, that had too often seen disappointment on the road, by two goals to nil.

Considering that was just 10 days after an embarrassing first-leg Champions League defeat in Basel, many feared this was the beginning of the end for Jupp Heynckes and his squad. Sporting director Christian Nerlinger publicly denounced the result, stating that Bayern had effectively handed the title to Dortmund and – after the Basel humiliation – managed to rule themselves out of another trophy. For most, this is what Arjen Robben & Co deserved: a fruitless season that embodied little progress on the pitch or off it.

THE FUNDESLIGA, Tue 21 Feb: Which Bayern will turn up in Basel?

Yet in a plot twist befitting the club nickname FC Hollywood, this criticism seems to have awoken a passion in Heynckes' ego-filled squad and inspired a siege mentality that will have no doubt saved the German coach a few blushes come the end of the season.

Three days after demolishing Hoffenheim 7-1, Bayern crushed Basel 7-0. Such a scoreline instilled confidence that the previous result wasn’t simply a blip, but also marked the return of the Bayern side that had shown a real hunger for European success earlier on in the season by battling through a Champions League group of death containing Manchester City, Napoli and Villarreal.

Immediately after brutalising Basel, Bayern travelled to the Olympiastadion to make short work of a Hertha side that are well and truly self-destructing. After brushing aside the Berliners 6-0 – making Bayern's aggregate score for the week 20-1 – Heynckes was quick to declare that his side’s rapture wasn’t down to a fault in the opposition, but a mixture of team spirit and camaraderie that only the greatest sides could obtain.

Robben's hot streak has helped rejuvenate Bayern's season

Whether Heynckes can take credit is up for debate. Throughout the three games in question, Robben – often overlooked by his coach this season – has been the key man with seven goals and five assists, which is definitely better than any form he’d shown for the club beforehand.

If Bayern’s inconsistency can be put down to relying solely upon Franck Ribery for most of this season, then this current run of form is certainly down to the addition of their Dutch superstar, with no thanks from the coach.

Similarly, the side still struggles from defensive blunders and tactical deficiencies that would be picked up on by most coaches, but not Heynckes. For better or for worse, this Bayern side will continue to rely upon its exquisite attacking parts to make up for deficiencies in not only its defensive aspects, but also its general make-up. Whether Heynckes would be willing to admit it or not, Bayern’s ‘togetherness’ is only more coincidental than the easy run of games his side have had over the past two weeks.

However, such a system will be put to the test this Wednesday when Bayern travel to Monchengladbach to face Marco Reus & Co for the third time this season. Having lost both league games 1-0, Bayern will have their resurgence severely tested in the DFB Cup semi-final.

THE FUNDESLIGA, Fri 10 Feb: Last year's drop-dodgers clash as rejuvenated title challengers

A side built from the ground up by the fine tactician Lucien Favre, Gladbach define everything that this current Bayern side seem to stand against: order, tactical knowhow, defensive awareness, and a collective ability to attack as a team.

Although very much built upon the ability of playmaker and talisman Marco Reus, the Foals' unequalled ability to adapt around their manager’s tactics has helped them pick up league points off the other big-four teams, Schalke and Dortmund. The champions and leaders, Dortmund await the winners in the DFB Cup final, having overcome second-tier Greuer Furth on Tuesday night with a goal in the last minute of extra time.

There is arguably no tougher German side than Gladbach to face in a one-off test between two sides. Bayern’s tilt at domestic and European success may well be defined by how well they do in this tie, come Wednesday night.

Just which Bayern side will show up in Basel?

Stefan Bienkowski — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:23:00 GMT

For most fans, this weekend showed a return to the joyful nature of the German Bundesliga: of the four title-chasing teams, Schalke won, Gladbach won, Dortmund won and Bayern slipped up.

RESULTS Fri 17 Feb Hoffenheim 1-1 Mainz Sat 18 Feb Nurnberg 2-1 Koln; Leverkusen 4-1 Augsburg; Kaiserlautern 1-2 Moenchengladbach; Hertha 0-1 Dortmund; Hamburg 1-3 Bremen; Freiburg 0-0 Bayern Sun 19 Feb Schalke 4-0 Wolfsburg; Hannover 4-2 Stuttgart

From FFT's Bundesliga stats page

This time Bayern slumped to a weary goalless draw at 18th-placed Freiburg, whom they had beaten 7-0 at home back in September. The dropped points leave them four points adrift of leaders Dortmund, with an equally obliged Gladbach slipping into second place.

The Bavarians' coach Jupp Heynckes described the performance as "sluggish", but it was hardly surprising. There had been equally uninspiring performances against Wolfsburg three weeks previously – where they had required a fortunate handballed Arjen Robben goal to beat Felix Magath's men – and the following week's draw at a rejuvenated Hamburg.

This week, Heynckes made an interesting point about his side’s inability to appreciate Freiburg’s desire to move off the bottom of the league – a hunger evidently absent in his own team, which could explain why Bayern are so inconsistent in the league.

Robben complains to no avail at Freiburg

With a group of players that shouldn’t encounter nearly as much trouble as they make for themselves, Bayern seem determined to make every game a challenge, as if to live up to their FC Hollywood title. Each game encompasses a weekly ritual of doing enough to dominate the opposition without truly making a real effort on goal.

The inability of Robben, Thomas Müller and Franck Ribery to provide efficient build-up play has undermined the spectacular goal tally of Mario Gomez – so much so that in the past few weeks, Heynckes has resorted to subbing the German targetman for Ivica Olic, in the hope that the Croatian's sheer willingness to run at everything will disrupt the opposition enough to allow his midfield to capitalise.

Stood against the hard-working, perfectionist utopia of Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund and Lucien Favre’s Gladbach underdogs, it’s hard not to see this Bayern side as the incoherent ruler of a league determined to eject them from their throne as the largest club in the land. If the Bundesliga truly is as unpredictable as people think it is, then it owes a lot of that to Bayern Munich.

Inconsistent at home, Bayern have been anything but flaky in Europe. In eight games so far they have a 100% home record and have only been held at Napoli and beaten at Manchester City with a weakened final-matchday side, having already ensured qualification and top spot.

Concentrating on the Champions League rather than the Bundesliga would be neither unexpected nor ill-advised for a club that has always weighed its worth in European – rather than domestic – success. This squad, with its outstanding imported wing pairing of Ribery and Robben, was assembled with the main purpose of returning to the glory years of the 1970s.

The club’s near-perfect continental form is a clear indicator of where their ambitions lie. They may have the odd domestic hiccup but the Bavarians have disposed of England’s expensively-assembled table-toppers, the surprise package of Italian football (Napoli), and a reliable old guard of Spanish football (Villarreal).

Hart despairs as Gomez scores at the Allianz

So how will Heynckes' men approach their knock-out tie with Basel, starting in Switzerland on Wednesday night?

Champions, top of the league and unbeaten in 14 domestic fixtures, Basel have been no slouches in Europe either. They qualified from the group stages at the expense of Manchester United, from whom they took four points; they also got a draw at fellow qualifiers Benfica.

True, the Swiss side’s best player – 20-year-old Xheridan Shaqiri – has already signed a pre-contract for Bayern, but that may mean the German side (further) underestimate their opponents.

To the famous Bayern Munich, FC Basel will be one of two things: another small club that they should beat, or an opponent that stands in the way of their goal. Are they another formidable foe that the superstars from Munich await with great enthusiasm, or are they just another contractual obligation for Ribery & Co to fulfil?

Last year's drop-dodgers clash as rejuvenated title challengers

Stefan Bienkowski — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:14:00 GMT

From avoiding relegation to aiming for the stars – it's very possible in Germany, says Stefan Bienkowski

This weekend’s Bundesliga promises a game of local and national interest as Schalke travel 40 miles south-west to face fellow surprise package Borussia Moenchengladbach in a ripe encounter between third and fourth.

Having vastly improved since last season’s flirts with relegation – Schalke finished 14th out of 18, while 16th-placed Gladbach only stayed up after a play-off with VfL Bochum – the two Northern Rhineland sides are chasing Dortmund and Bayern Munich in a four-way race for the title.

From the outside, the Bundesliga seems pleasingly erratic. Eschewing the usual European model of regular champions or settled elites, it has produced four different winners in the last five seasons, and none of them are the team which perhaps best depict that unpredictability: Schalke 04.

The team from Gelsenkirchen have truly turned it round from last season. Despite an impressive run to the Champions League semi-finals, they suffered abysmal league form. After replacing Felix Magath in March 2011, makeshift manager Ralf Rangnick was trying desperately to keep the club from falling apart.

Despite Magath’s pantomime-villain persona within German football, his role was undermined by their inability to perform in the league. Magath’s men failed to pick up a single point in their first four games of last season, and Schalke lost 12 further times to rack up 16 defeats in 34 games.

Under Rangnick, the club began the 2011-2012 campaign in better form, winning three of their first four games of the season and topping the table with Bayern. In typical Schalke fashion, they lost their next two games, dropping to ninth.

At this point, Ralf Rangnick decided he could no longer put up with the pressures of the job, and resigned with immediate effect. But every cloud has a silver lining which came in the form of a Dutchman by the name of Huub Stevens. Since his appointment, the club have only lost two of 13 games and have maintained a level of form equalled only by champions and leaders Borussia Dortmund.

The changes under Stevens are evident from the manner in which the former Netherlands international gets the most out of his players. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – a player seldom praised under Magath – has already scored twice as many goals as he did last season, with six games to spare. Similarly, Raul has contributed 13 goals in 28 – remarkable considering it took him more than 50 games to reach 19 under Magath.

KJH (centre) and chums celebrate a win at Koln

This strike partnership has been the cornerstone to Stevens’ success, as the coach has done all he can do distinguish his side from the regimented, defensive side of Magath’s tenure. Schalke's goals-against column is almost twice as bad as their title rivals, but nobody has won more games.

And so to this weekend's trip to Gladbach. Like Schalke, Borussia have been entertaining this season, have experienced a comparable renaissance under new coach Lucien Favre, after an unpleasant experience in the last campaign went as far as to threaten the club’s Bundesliga status.

Michael Frontzeck had an unfortunate season with the club, winning only four games before losing his job in February 2011, when Favre then took over. At that point, Gladbach were dead last in 18th position, with a goal difference of -24.

Favre won his first game in charge – against Schalke – and the club won six of their last 11 games to drag them out of the automatic relegation spots. They then fought for their Bundesliga lives in a play-off against VfL Bochum, winning the two legged tie 2-1 on aggregate – a young Marco Reus scoring the late equaliser to ensure the victory and his club’s safety.

Gladbach's young bucks (Reus second right)

Swiss coach Favre has rejuvenated die Fohlen (the Foals), distilling his excellent tactical knowledge into a squad full of fantastic young players. The very definition of a counter-attacking team, Gladbach have been admiringly termed the ‘sit and hit’ side.

Of course, all this hasn’t simply been down to tactics. If Favre has built a stage for the promising young performers, Marco Reus has certainly been the star attraction. The midfielder has contributed 12 goals and three assists in 17 games, and despite agreeing to join Bayern in the summer, the 22-year-old shows no sign of letting it get in the way of his duty for Gladbach.

Schalke travel to Monchengladbach after dropping their first points in six games last weekend when they were held to a 1-1 draw against relegation battlers FC Mainz. Likewise, Gladbach dropped two points to Wolfsburg last Saturday after brushing aside Bayern and Stuttgart in the two weeks prior to the game.

Whatever the result, goals and attacking football are promised from two sides who seem determined to put as much distance between themselves and their dark past.

What a difference a year makes: The curious case of Lucas Barrios

Gareth McKnight — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:26:00 GMT

Borussia Dortmund striker Lucas Barrios had an up-and-down 2011 at Signal Iduna Park, with the ecstasy of winning the German top flight blighted by a dramatic fall from grace. From talisman, goal machine and Bundesliga winner to outcast in just six months, the Paraguay international was reportedly close to making a deadline day departure from the German champions; but what does 2012 have in store for Barrios?

Signed from Colo Colo in July 2009, Barrios quickly became an integral part of a young and exciting Dortmund team, continuing the goalscoring form which had seen him become a star his homeland. Barrios was the North Rhine-Westphalian club’s top scorer for his first two campaigns, and last season was the making of the South American marksman, as his 19 goals fired Jurgen Klopp’s men to their first Bundesliga title in nearly a decade.

BVB must have been rubbing their hands together after reviewing their capture of La Pantera (the Panther) for just over €4 million; rumours linking Chelsea with a £30 million move for the Paraguayan were rife in the summer of 2011.

But the promise of leading the line for the ambitious German club in this season’s Champions League saw Barrios remain. He was on top of the world, but what goes up must come down.

Barrios was part of the Paraguay side that reached the final of the Copa America in the summer, but a thigh injury meant he had to start the last game from the bench, and returned to Germany unfit after the tournament. A poor pre-season compromised by injury meant the striker missed the start of the 2011/12 campaign, and his replacement Robert Lewandowski grasped the opportunity to play with both hands. The Polish striker has bagged 18 goals in all competitions already this term and has cemented himself a place in Die Schwarzgelben's first XI.

Barrios has only started one game in 2011/12, and is yet to score in his 11 appearances for Dortmund. Frustration is clearly setting in for the South American, Fulham were reportedly close to sealing a £7 million deal for him on deadline day, while Liverpool have also been reported to be monitoring his situation.

Despite this, Barrios’ dramatic fall from grace should be taken with a pinch of salt; the hitman’s goal record proves testament to his class and quality. With a reported asking fee of less than £10 million, it is surprising that other bigger clubs did not make more of an effort to sign the striker, with the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal in need of attacking reinforcements.

The next year is an important one for Barrios, as at 27-years-old he is can ill-afford to spend the bulk of his time getting splinters and losing sharpness on Dortmund’s bench. The German champions should not forget Barrios’ heroics in last term’s title charge; given an opportunity he could well play a big part in retaining their mantle as the nation’s top team this season.

With 18 months left on his contract, Jurgen Klopp may well be tempted to sell Barrios this summer if his fringe status continues; if this is the case clubs in England, Italy and Spain should take note.

The old adage that form is temporary and class is permanent applies here, and Barrios’ suitors need only to take heed of the forward’s tally of 84 goals in the four seasons before this one as an indication of his enduring quality.

One thing is for sure; he is too good not to be playing regular first-team football in a leading European league. Whether that is with Dortmund or not remains to be seen.

Germany's 'well of talent' helps rejuvenate game domestically and internationally

Guest Writer — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:30:00 GMT

Bernie Reeves maps the continuing rise of the German game...

There’s no doubting German football is on the up.

The Bundesliga has the best average attendance figures of any European league by a considerable distance this season – 45,556 (according to bundesliga.de) – while 12 of its 18 clubs attract at least 40,000 fans to each home game.

As of next season, there will be four German representatives in the UEFA Champions League, after Germany improved its UEFA coefficient at the expense of Italy’s Serie A. German clubs playing in this year’s Champions League or Europa League competitions boast a strong make-up of young German players, while the national team – along with Tuesday evening’s friendly opponents, Holland – are seen as the only side who could knock Spain off their perch in Poland and the Ukraine.

This will, of course, make the meeting in Hamburg an especially interesting one, with many seeing it as a marker of just how far Joachim Löw’s team has come in the 16 months since the World Cup.

What’s making the national team so strong are the rules on coaching youngsters. The academy system, introduced by the German Football Federation (DFB) following Germany’s disastrous performance at EURO 2000, has since become a compulsory for every club in the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga – fail to participate and they will not receive their licensing money from the German Football League (DFL).

The changes have meant that teams in the Bundesliga are using more and more home-grown players. Figures issued in April by the DFL stated that, of 525 players registered at the 36 clubs of the Bundesliga, 275 – over 52% – were trained at an academy, while the proportion of German players in licensed football was over 64%, the highest figure since the 1998-99 season.

Since the introduction of the academies in 2001, clubs have invested around €520 million in educating young players. The Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga is tapping this well of talent, as is Joachim Löw.

So what results have arisen from all these changes? With an increased number of German players featuring in the Bundesliga, quantity has eventually developed into quality. Clubs from both professional leagues in Germany are producing players able to mix it in a top European league, as well as the German national team, with increasing regularity.

It seems the Bundesliga is fast becoming the first port of call for Europe’s leading clubs looking to augment their squads with new talent. Real Madrid took Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil to the Bernabeu in the summer of 2010 at relatively young ages, before moving for young Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin this summer. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, meanwhile, plunged into the transfer market to take Per Mertesacker from Werder Bremen on the final day of the most recent transfer window. After a difficult baptism to his Premier league career, the 6’7in defender has been a key component of Arsenal’s recent resurgence.

According to rumours, Wenger also had an audacious €35 million offer for Dortmund’s precocious 19-year-old talent Mario Götze rejected by the German club. With Götze continuing to perform so well for his club, and the national team, it seems transfer speculation will surround him for the rest of the season, especially as he looks a sure bet to be on the plane to the Euros next summer.

But as well as Götze, Wenger has apparently been interested in a host of other names from the Bundesliga. Dortmund striker Kevin Großkreutz, who himself admitted that he would love to sign for a club like Arsenal, has been on the North London club’s radar.

Arsenal scout Steve Rowley was seen at Signal Iduna Park earlier this month to witness Großkreutz’s winning goal against Olympiakos in the Champions League. Lukas Podolski’s name has also been quoted as a possible new recruit for the Gunners, as has that of the latest German youngster to light up the Bundesliga, Marco Reus of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Having scored seven goals this season and just been capped for the senior team against Turkey last month, Reus has also apparently attracted the interest of Mr. Wenger, with figures of €15 million being mentioned by sections of the German press.

But aside from those players that have reportedly attracted the interest of other clubs, there are a host other German young players who are excelling in the Bundesliga.

André Schürrle of Bayer Leverkusen has played two full seasons in Germany’s top flight and scored 33 senior goals, as well as having a remarkable five goals in ten games for the Germany team, all achieved by the tender age of 21.

Julian Draxler, born in 1993, has made over forty appearances for the Schalke first team and is already a regular in the side at 18; while his 23-year-old teammate in central defence, Benedikt Höwedes, has been a fixture in the Schalke back four since midway through the 2008-09 season, and is the current club captain.

Meanwhile, Mats Hummels, one of the bedrocks of Dortmund’s title-winning campaign last season, is valued at €18 million and most definitely on the radar of Uli Hoeneß, President of his old club, FC Bayern München.

Then there are the Bender twins, Lars and Sven, playing for Leverkusen and Dortmund respectively; Dortmund left-back Marcel Schmelzer, unlucky not to feature in the Ukraine game last Friday, but in contention to play against Holland at left-back in the absence of Philipp Lahm; goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler, who was handed his full international debut against the Ukraine last Friday after impressing with Hannover 96 this season; and even Marko Marin, currently not enjoying his best season at Werder Bremen, but still a seasoned international, are further names to evidence the number of quality players to have emerged recently in German football.

And we haven’t even mentioned the talent that FC Bayern München have in their ranks, such as Thomas Müller (aged 22), Toni Kroos (21) and Holger Badstuber (22), among others.

This conveyor belt of quality, home-grown players is one of the factors propelling the popularity of the Bundesliga, but it’s also the bedrock on which the success of Germany’s national team has been built.

In the last fifteen years or so, Germany have reached the latter stages of major tournaments with stubborn regularity, despite having, according to many, an average side. But after Euro 2008, and especially after their performance at the 2010 World Cup, when they utterly embarrassed England and Argentina in the knockout rounds, Germany are now going into tournaments looking like real contenders from the off. In qualifying for Euro 2012 they won all ten of their matches, and they made Brazil look distinctly ordinary in a friendly game in August.

Tuesday’s game will be an interesting test for two sides that sailed through their qualifying groups. Bert van Marwijk’s team almost emulated Germany by achieving a 100% record in their qualifying campaign for Euro 2012, losing 3-2 to Sweden in their final match last month.

Both sides, either out of choice or necessity, will be missing some senior players. Robin van Persie will not play after an agreement with his club – a wise move by Arsène Wenger considering his injury record when playing for Holland. Rafael van der Vaart is also unavailable after aggravating a thigh injury in the 0-0 draw with Switzerland.

For Germany, Bastian Schweinsteiger is absent after suffering a broken collarbone against Napoli last week, while captain Philipp Lahm will be rested. Löw also intends to experiment with his starting line-up, although not with his formation. Germany were, to put it simply, awful in the Ukraine on Friday and very lucky to escape with a 3-3 draw, because they weren’t used to playing with three at the back.

Hummels, Basdtuber and Jerome Boateng were exposed on countless occasions by a Ukraine side with bags of pace on the counter-attack, and the second goal which Germany conceded exhibited some of the worst defending to be seen in international football for a long while.

But despite the fact that neither side will be at full strength, games between these two countries can rarely be called ‘friendly.’ This is widely seen as a showdown between the best two current teams in Europe behind Spain, and the most likely to take away the latter’s European Championship title.

Regardless of the result, the number of quality young players to have come through into the Bundesliga in the last few seasons has advanced the German national team considerably, since those grass-roots changes were implemented ten years ago.

Good players are coming through all the time and they seem to be adapting to international football seamlessly. Much of last summer’s youthful squad has been retained, while new players like Götze, Badstuber and Schürrle have all been integrated into the national team fold with apparent ease.

Judging by the current level of interest shown in German internationals, Europe’s top club sides are clubs are taking closer note of the talent that Germany is producing. There should be plenty more interest in German players, be they internationals or not, as the January transfer window rolls around and as next summer’s European Championships draw ever closer.

Arsenal target Reus destined for big move - just not until next summer

Guest Writer — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 18:11:00 GMT

Bernie Reeves takes a look at the latest Bundesliga-based talent to have caught the Arsenal manager's eye...

Lucien Favre, manager of high-flying Borussia Mönchengladbach, this week revealed to the German press that Arsene Wenger had telephoned him to enquire about the availability of midfielder Marco Reus, who was originally brought to Wenger’s attention by ex-Arsenal goalkeeper and Bundesliga veteran Jens Lehmann.

It wouldn’t be overstating the matter to say that Reus, and his club, are having a phenomenal season. Gladbach finished the previous campaign third from bottom in of the Bundesliga, meaning they were forced to face the third best-placed team from the 2.Bundesliga, VfL Bochum, in a relegation play-off. Gladbach won an extremely tight two-legged tie, with a last-minute equaliser at in the home fixture and then a 1-0 win away in the second leg seeing them triumph. Reus, needless to say, scored the winning goal.

This season has been an utterly different story for Die Fohlen. Under the guidance of Swiss tactician Favre, they sit fourth in the league, five points off leaders Bayern Munich, and already have the scalp of beating Gomez & Co on their own patch on the season’s opening weekend in August.

Not only does the club owe Reus a large debt of gratitude for helping preserve their top-flight status, he has also spearheaded most of their wins this term. He’s an attacking midfielder, not a striker, yet already has seven league goals to his name this season. They’ve won 2-1 in their last two games against Hannover 96 and Hertha Berlin, with Reus scoring all four goals, and what is perhaps most striking is varying types of goal he can score.

Favre (left) has taken Reus under his wing

As good on his right foot as he is on his left, he’s found the net from the most improbable of positions this season. He has 24 goals for Gladbach since moving from Rot-Weiss Ahlen in 2009 and has established himself as the key player in Favre’s team. His form hasn’t gone unnoticed by Germany manager Joachim Löw, who handed him his senior debut last month in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Turkey.

And neither has it gone unnoticed by Arsene Wenger. Favre, who was quick to emphasise the cordial relationship he enjoys with Wenger, politely rebuffed the enquiry from the Frenchman. And Reus himself said in an interview with German magazine Kicker at the end of October that he was happy at Borussia and not interested in a move elsewhere.

But a few other factors may soon determine where he plays his football, either from January or next summer. Should he be able to maintain his current levels of performance, his future will continue to be the subject of speculation. He’s now also a full German international, and would surely have featured in the upcoming friendlies against the Ukraine and Holland but for a virus which has rendered him unfit to play.

With Toni Kroos and Mesut Özil ahead of him in the pecking order, he’ll face an uphill battle to secure a place in the travelling party for Euro 2012, which may prevent him from showing other clubs what he can do. But there is still plenty more domestic, and international football, to be played between now and next summer, which will give Reus the opportunity to place himself in the shop window, even if he isn’t yet angling for a move.

The finer details of his contract could also make keeping him more problematic than letting him go. His current deal at Borussia Park runs out in the summer of 2015, but clauses stipulate that he can leave for €18 million next summer, €15 million in 2013 or €12 million in 2014. The 2012 figure certainly seems a good price to pay for a 22-year-old currently showing he can stand toe-to-toe with the best in the Bundesliga. It seems likely he’ll stay with Borussia until next summer, but don’t be surprised if he’s on his way to a bigger club next summer, regardless of whether he’s made a trip to Poland and the Ukraine beforehand.

Fear and loathing in Munich as Neuer falters amid fan discontent

James Horncastle — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:40:00 GMT

Goalkeepers inadvertently share a lot in common with surgeons. To them, the penalty area is much like an operating theatre where interventions are made to either fix what's broken or remove a foreign body and ultimately save a life. In both cases, before work begins, the gloves are pulled on.

Manuel Neuer went through that ritual in the dressing room at the Allianz Arena on Sunday as Bayern Munich prepared for their season opener against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Except the upset in the Germany international's stomach meant that on this occasion he was more patient than doctor.

Neuer isn't the kind to suffer from stage fright. In the build-up to last year's World Cup quarter-final between Germany and Argentina, he told reporters: "I slept well and already no longer get nervous."

But this was different. Indeed, since making the heart-wrenching decision to leave his hometown club Schalke in a €22m transfer earlier this summer, Neuer has had a lot on his mind.

He shed tears during a goodbye press conference back in April. "It wasn't easy," Neuer said. "I wanted to be honest and to explain my reasons. I want to develop further and take a new big step in my career. As a person I want to take a step that will allow me to stand on my own two feet. I know this is not a great moment for Schalke fans, but I am a professional footballer and I am looking from a different perspective. It's clear some fans will be upset."

Neuer certainly wasn't wrong in that assessment, as one even slapped him in the face at the victory parade that followed Schalke's 5-0 tonking of Duisburg in the final of DFB-Pokal Cup a month later. It was clear that some felt betrayed.

Born in Gelsenkirchen in 1986, Neuer has carried a Schalke membership card since his fifth birthday. He grew up watching the Eurofighters, Schalke's 1997 UEFA Cup winning side, and dreamed of emulating Jens Lehmann, the penalty shoot-out hero in the final against Roy Hodgson's Inter.

"Until I became a professional, I was regularly in the stands to encourage the first team," he revealed. None of which of course has gone down at all well with the hardcore supporters of Neuer's new club.

When rumours first surfaced that Bayern were seriously considering a bid for the 25-year-old, some fans reacted by getting behind academy graduate Thomas Kraft. Better one of their own than a player so closely affiliated with Schalke.

And like elephants, the ultras never forget. They remembered how Neuer had flagrantly celebrated a Schalke goal in front of the SüdKurve at the Allianz Arena two years ago and weren't about to forgive him for it any time soon.

Bayern fans appear unmoved by official welcome banners

After completing his move, Neuer turned diplomat and tried his hand at rapprochement. He courageously met the ultras, but to no avail. "Neuer has said how he will behave towards us fans in the future, but our opinion of him has not changed," read a statement. "During the meeting, we explained how he should behave toward us."

For his trouble, Neuer received a 'code of conduct' and was told to keep a 'respectful distance'. He would not be allowed to rejoice with his team-mates in front of the SüdKurve when Bayern scored or even take the microphone and lead the ultras' chants.

In return, they promised not to boo and insult him, but still the protests continued. At a pre-season training camp in Arco, Italy, a banner was unveiled with the words: "You can save the ball as many times as you want, but we will never accept you in our shirt."

Bayern's directors were furious and fought back in paper form. "Due to the events in Arco," they declared, "the people in this group are now persona non grata."

Given tempers are still hot, the situation has yet to calm down. So Neuer walked out on to the pitch to collect his Bundesliga Player of the Year award on Sunday afternoon amid a few discernible whistles from a disgruntled section of the home crowd.

Every coach knows that a goalkeeper's currency is his confidence and it's really not too hard to imagine that, in the current climate, Neuer's has been devalued. Considering the pressure he was under, a mistake against Gladbach was perhaps to be expected.

It came in the 62nd minute, when a long ball from defender Roel Brouwers caught Neuer and Jérôme Boateng in two minds. With the keeper off his line and in no man's land, the uncertainty allowed Igor de Camargo to sneak in and bravely head past Neuer to put the visitors into the lead.

The SüdKurve had more ammunition now, as Thomas Müller's equaliser was disallowed for offside and Bayern lost on the opening day of the season for the first time in a decade.

"I take responsibility for the goal," Neuer said. "It wasn't an easy situation, it was a tricky bouncing ball. But it was my mistake, and unfortunately, it led to us losing.

"We have to stay calm. It was the first match. We were the better team and we should have won, but we’ve lost. However, there are 33 games to go. We need to work hard on creating clear-cut chances, and then we have to take them."

If, according to a poll taken by the German magazine Kicker, Bayern really are the favourites to win the Bundesliga with 64.7% of the vote, then the cold shower boss Jupp Heynckes got from Gladbach – his own hometown club, with whom he won four championship winners' medals as a player – serves as an impromptu reality check.

Bayern's defence let them down last season. They conceded 18 goals more than champions Borussia Dortmund and there definitely needs to be a return on the €41m they've spent on Neuer, Boateng and right-back Rafinha during the transfer window. Otherwise, their annual trip to Oktoberfest might be cancelled for a second year in succession.

Bayern slump keeps Bundesliga managerial merry-go-round turning

Stephen Glennon — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:45:00 GMT

Despite just about every week providing us with a new dainty and delicious treat from Mario Götze, or a meaty main course from Manual Neuer, this year's Bundesliga is starting to feel a little bit like McDonald's. Not many people stay working there for very long.

After Thomas Schaefer last weekend announced his decision to step down as manager of Köln at the end of the season, all but six of this year's Bundesliga teams will have a different man on the bench for the beginning of the 2011/12 than the one who started this term.

Such fickleness is to be expected from a season that has seen a number of the big names struggle. Both Stuttgart and Wolfsburg are on their third coach of the season (Bruno Labbadia and Felix Magath respectively) as they scrabble around at the wrong end of the table, and Frankfurt have brought in the experienced but controversial Christoph Daum to fight their relegation fires.

Bayern left the guillotine dangling over Louis van Gaal's head for months before finally giving him the chop, and Armin Veh's sacking by HSV was just as inevitable for a long time before it actually happened.

This is not to say this managerial merry-go-round is powered solely by rubbish results and unfulfilled expectations. The changes at Bayern created a knock-on effect as Leverkusen's Jupp Heynckes agreed to take control at the Allianz-Arena next season, causing Freiburg's Robin Dutt to get sucked into the Leverkusen managerial vacuum.

Jupp Heynckes will take over at Bayern in the summer

Holger Stanislawski, the St. Pauli coach, did enough to convince Hoffenheim that he's the man for their job next season, although the way Pauli have slumped in recent weeks might be causing a few nervous doubts down in Sinsheim.

Perhaps most bizarrely of all, the reason cited by Köln’s Schaefer for his resignation wasn’t the club’s five defeats in their last seven games, rather personal reasons believed to relate to his religious beliefs and their lack of compatibility with the rough and tumble of Bundesliga life.

Even the league’s longest serving manager, the one thought to be untouchable, doesn’t seem quite as safe as in previous years. Thomas Schaaf’s Werder Bremen have had an extremely poor season, finishing bottom of their Champion’s League group and only over the last few weeks hauling themselves out of the relegation scrimmage.

”If we no longer believe Thomas Schaaf is the right man, we’ll part ways”, said business manager Klaus Allofs. That the club is unbeaten since the indirect threat at the end of February is an indication that the players crave consistency and solidity as much as managers crave it from them.

So why exactly have there been so many changes in this year’s Bundesliga? Well, when Bayern underperform, there are anything up to seven teams that could theoretically consider themselves realistic title challengers. Such tight competition leads to increased expectation, and, in most cases, disappointing underachievement.

In a season like this, Schalke, Stuttgart, HSV and Bremen will be wondering why Dortmund, fifth last season, managed to so comfortably thunder past them to the top of the table, and, consequently, require a scapegoat to whom blame can be attached.

Bremen's Thomas Schaaf has been at Bremen for 39 years

When a managerial vacancy does open up, there’s a tendency to search for a new boss within Germany, with the result that overachieving smaller teams like Freiburg and St. Pauli are always likely to have their bosses swiped by the bigger fish.

Lucien Favre at Monchengladbach is the only non-German coach in the Bundesliga at the moment (barring, of course, Bayern’s caretaker boss Andries Joncker), and, coming from Switzerland and already having Bundesliga experience with Hertha BSC, wouldn’t have been seen as a big risk.

In England, Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger’s longevity, Chelsea’s desire for high-profile appointments and Liverpool’s recent failed Hodgson experiment mean that managers don’t often get to work their way to the very top like their German equivalents do.

Dortmund’s Jürgen Klopp impressed at Mainz for years before being given time to build a successful team in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Robin Dutt worked his way through the regional leagues before getting his chance at Leverkusen, as did recent title winners Felix Magath, Armin Veh and Ottmar Hitzfeld. David Moyes must be wondering what he has to do to be given such a chance.

So, while the recent managerial changes may seem about as predictable as the weather on a bank holiday weekend, there is a method to the madness. The German spirit requires specific proof of qualification for a post before it is awarded, and being able to cut the mustard a few rungs below is often proof enough.

A route to instant success it certainly isn’t, but perhaps a little more wholesome than the ostentatious importation of a well-known name unfamiliar with the league he is expected to dominate.

Van Gaal finally shot down by headstrong Hoeness

Stephen Glennon — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:27:00 GMT

Despite all his computer-enhanced bullet-dodging, Neo bit the dust at the end of The Matrix. His downfall was not in vain, however, as he won out against the nasty, jibing Smith. Cities rejoiced and honoured that had brought back freedom, and his name will live on forever in nerdy sci-fi folklore.

Louis van Gaal had been dodging bullets fired by his Smith - aka Uli Hoeness - for a couple of years now, but finally succumbed last weekend after a 1-1 draw with Bavarian rivals Nürnberg. After the three wins on the trot that followed the announcement that Van Gaal would be leaving in the summer, it was the final straw.

Hoeness described Bayern's performances since Thomas Kraft became number one goalkeeper in January as *** - a word that really doesn’t need the wide variety of translations it has been given in order to accurately convey his opinion.

While Hoeness’ words may lack subtlety, one can understand his frustration. After a swashbuckling league and cup double and a trip to the Champions League final last year, it was difficult to see who would challenge Bayern for this year’s title. World Cup stars Sami Khedira, Manuel Neuer and Fabio Coentrao were all rumoured to be on Bayern’s wish list, specifically to shore up the defensive frailty that frequently undermined the glorious attacking skills of Arjen Robben and, when fit, Franck Ribery.

"Is that the time? I really must be off..."

Yet Van Gaal refused the reinforcements, instead insisting on the strength of the youth system that had just churned out rising stars Holger Badstuber and Thomas Müller. That the team has the third-best defensive record in the Bundesliga and has scored more goals than any other team substantiates his theory, on paper at least - but the team’s propensity for individual errors remains catastrophically high. Kraft’s lazy clearance for Nürnberg’s equaliser on Saturday was just the latest.

One of Süddeutsche Zeitung’s (many) jovial pieces about Van Gaal’s sacking tells us that there have been thirteen different combinations of players making up Bayern’s back four so far this season. That’s chaos by anyone’s standards.

But while it is all too easy to make fun of Van Gaal’s stubbornness and arrogance, his dour, drab demeanour, his guttural accent and his funny squashed face, let’s not forget that he also brought a real joie de vivre back to Bayern. When Robben and Ribery were in full flow, there were few that could stop them.

That most football fans in Germany, usually united in anti-Bayern vitriol, had hoped for a Bayern win in the 2010 Champions League Final against Jose Mourinho’s defensive Inter side was an indication that his intention of creating a mentality of attractive, attacking football was working.

Bastian Schweinsteiger also has a lot to thank Van Gaal for. After years of playing wide, despite a preference for the Sechser position (the number six - a defensive midfielder), the Dutchman finally gave him the role he desired. Schweinsteiger transformed from inconsistent winger to world-class midfielder seemingly overnight, and his outstanding performances with Sami Khedira as Germany romped to the World Cup semi-finals make Van Gaal’s lack of interest in the former Stuttgart man even more baffling.

But, as Schweinsteiger himself said about van Gaal in an interview with 11Freunde last September, “You need to learn how to deal with him...he’s a very particular guy with a very headstrong personality“.

And so van Gaal’s assistant Andries Joncker will take control until the end of the season, charged with the task of qualification for the Champions League ahead of the arrival of new coach Jupp Heynckes, who will take control in the summer.

While no-one in Munich will be particularly sad to see Van Gaal leave, I for one would like to give him a nod of thanks. The way his team played in the second half of the 2009/10 was a joy to behold. Here’s to you, Louis.

Schalke catch Inter cold as Rangnick's tactical gamble pays off

Stephen Glennon — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:06:00 GMT

What happened at the San Siro last night was more of a circus act than a football match - one with an overabundance of clowns, a little bit of tactical juggling, and some courageous lions - although they didn’t need to roar particularly loud to get their opponents cowering into submission. Schalke romped to a historic 5-2 victory as Inter struggled to cope with their energy and industry, but the result could easily have been quite different.

Schalke’s line-up had goals written all over it, but the absence of defensive stalwart Christoph Metzelder - out with a broken nose - indicated it might not be the Königsblauen doing the scoring. Into his place in the centre of defence came nineteen-year-old Joel Matip, usually happier as a defensive midfielder.

Schalke like to line up with what Germans call a doppelsechs – a double-six - two defensive midfielders tidying up in front of the defence. With Peer Kluge out injured, Matip dropping back to defence and Ivan Rakitic and Jermain Jones short-sightedly let go by the since-dismissed Felix Magath in January, it was time for the coach Ralf Rangnick to gamble.

In slotted the usually attack-minded Jose Manuel Jurado alongside Kyriakos Papadopoulos (also only nineteen years of age), and when Inter’s midfield enforcer Dejan Stankovic was hauled off due to injury after twenty-four minutes, the die was cast.

Before last night, Schalke had attempted the fewest passes (3098 - less than half of Barcelona's 6464) of all the teams remaining in the Champions League - and only 75% of them had been successful, another competition low. The only place you’d be likely to see fewer passes would be a nunnery – at least until the slick Spaniard Jurado was given the freedom of the San Siro.

This Schalke side sensed the weakness in the Lucio-less Inter defence, and having been left reeling by Dejan Stankovic’s incredible long-range opener with less than a minute on the clock, had no choice but to go for the jugular (or juggler, if one were to further labour the circus metaphor from the opening paragraph…)

Matip’s equaliser was a deserved reward for the Germans’ positive response to that early blow. The visitors then peppered the Inter box with early crosses that were all dealt with, albeit with foreshadowing of the defensive ineptitude that was to come.

After Milito’s well worked goal, Edu barged his way through on goal with barely a challenge from a black and blue shirt to level the scores again at 2-2 going into the break, during which time the only prediction that felt safe was that there would be more goals.

If Stankovic’s early withdrawal was one turning point, the five minutes that immediately followed were another. Milito shot wide when clean through, and Neuer pulled off an excellent stop to deny Samuel Eto’o. Luck is a bucking bronco at times, but Schalke were riding it excellently.

Jurado was revelling in Inter’s inability to combat Schalke’s unexpectedly attack-minded formation, pulling the strings in the centre of the park. Such bafflement must stem from a fundamental lack of preparation and an arrogant underestimation of the opposition, for which Inter coach Leonardo must take the blame. As must Andrea Ranocchia, who left Raul in space for Schalke’s third, and scored the fourth himself, knocking Jurado’s low cross into his own net.

Schalke continued running riot after Cristian Chivu’s red card, Edu turning at the edge of the box and hammering home the fifth before Jurado hit the base of the post from long range.

But blame is easier to assign than credit. Raul, the old master, never stopped running. Papadopolous was disciplined in his defensive midfield role, often dropping back to create a back five and strangling the Inter attacks. His passing was occasionally poor, but was compensated by Jurado’s precision.

Farfan was wily, as always, but was booked and his trickery will be missed for a return leg in which Schalke will surely find themselves under the cosh. Alex Baumjohann didn’t in any way resemble a player that, two months ago, was playing in the German fourth tier with the Schalke reserves, and repaid Rangnick’s faith in him with an assist for Edu’s first. He might need to work on his dancing skills though...

Logic, and Ralf Rangnick’s tendencies, would indicate that we’ll see a more cautious Schalke in the return leg in a week’s time, although with Inter needing to spend a lot of time at the drawing board over the coming days, the wounded beast could be there for the taking once more.

NEWS: Schalke crush holders Inter

FEATURE: Leonardo left speechless as Inter face up to the end of an era

Felix the cat needs to land on his feet against Bayern

Terry Duffelen — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:40:00 GMT

There is always a degree of fascination in watching old footage of football players who have gone on to become top coaches.
Take Felix Magath. It was his magnificent strike in the 1983 European Cup Final that proved decisive in Hamburg's victory over Juventus. The young Felix is full of life, grinning from ear to ear like the proverbial Cheshire cat.

Who knows what ambitions he had at that age, but it's fair to say that the last thing on his mind would be to look ahead to the distant future and a critical club board meeting in the industrial town of Gelsenkirchen with his job on the line after having presided over a humiliating 5-0 defeat to a newly promoted side.

Magath's career as a coach has not been a complete success. However, after shortish early spells at Hamburg, Nuremberg, Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt, a decent showing at Stuttgart gave him the chance to take the biggest job in Germany at Bayern Munich.

Despite delivering a domestic double twice, his apparent lack of progress on the continental stage was deemed insufficient for a club of FC Bayern's stature. Magath's reputation for being a strict disciplinarian has not made him the most popular individual in some quarters.

He moved to Wolfsburg, where he led the rather anonymous Volkswagen-owned club to an incredible title win. This earned him a shot at the one of the toughest jobs in the Bundesliga but potentially the most rewarding: coaching FC Schalke 04.

The announcement of Magath's appointment sent shockwaves through German football, not because of the appointment itself but the timing of the announcement, before the end of the 2008/09 season, while still at Wolfsburg and with the title race in the balance. The powers that be at Die Wolfe were not happy about the way the transition was handled and chose to announce Magath's departure before it had actually happened.

The controversy didn't affect the team's path to the Bundesliga title, inspired by the goals of Grafite and Dzeko. Amidst a shower of Wolfsburg's official beer, Magath was sent to the industrial heartland and to that huge stadium that looks down on the city of Gelsenkirchen like a giant cathedral.

Grafite soaks Magath, but the gaffer was on his way

Once he arrived and presumably had a chance to look at the books, Magath began to play down Schalke's chances of winning the Bundesliga anytime soon. The club has spent great deal of money supporting a succession of coaches and had accumulated a large squad and a massive wage bill. Club debts were on the verge of crippling the club. Cutbacks would have to be made and the transition may not be a smooth one.

However, last season, with the squad he had inherited, Magath orchestrated a title challenge that saw the club lose out to Bayern and finish as runners-up. With Marcelo Bordon and Heiko Westermann at the back and a revitalised Kevin Kuranyi up front, Schalke played an unspectacular but extremely effective brand of football.

The unexpected outcome fuelled expectations but unfortunately, for the Gelsenkirchen club, Magath was compelled to ship out many of his high earners and radically reshape the first team. Out went Kuranyi, Westermann, Bordon and Rafinha plus mainstay squad members such as Gerard Asamoah and Carlos Zambrano.

While the squad (and presumably the wage bill) was trimmed, Magath did not shirk from spending big in the transfer market – to the tune of about £24m. Attacking midfielder Jose Manuel Jurado was brought in from Europa League winners Atletico Madrid along with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar from Atleti's neighbours Real.

Then, of course, there was Raul who arrived having finished his spell at Real Madrid. Excitement at the arrival of the Spanish legend had reached fever pitch, but the outcome has made for a disastrous first half of the Bundesliga season – culminating in the aforementioned 5-0 defeat to newly promoted Kaiserslautern.

Let's work together: Jurado, Raul, Huntelaar (and an arm)

With half of their Bundesliga games consigned to the defeat column and a baying crowd of fanatical supporters literally turning their back on the team, a weary Magath was brought before the board this week to explain himself. Whatever he said, it worked: the board voted to keep him at the club, presumably on the basis that he got them into this mess so he can bloody well get them out of it.

It's not all bad though. Two wins in the last five (albeit to the struggling St Pauli and abject Werder Bremen) suggested that before the last weekend at least, a corner had been turned. And the club have successfully negotiated their way into the Second Round if the Champions League.

The triad of Jurado, Raul and Huntelaar are showing signs of improvement, with the latter taking to the Bundesliga like a duck to water. Jefferson Farfan is having a good season too.

But Magath still has it all to do if Schalke are to meet the expectations of their vociferous support at the Veltins Arena. Already the winter break has been shortened and the players will have to return early after Christmas in the hope that they can reboot their season and pull away from the bottom four. The Bundesliga is sufficiently fluid that a rise up the table to a Europa League spot is not completely out of the question.

Tomorrow they have to return to their home crowd and face not only their disgruntled fans but a resurgent Bayern Munich. If ever a response was required, it will be this weekend.

Why the German media shouldn't hassle the Hoff

Terry Duffelen — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:48:00 GMT

"I made billions in software and then blew it all on the track" - Groundskeeper Willy

The A-Liga has a certain ring to it, doesn't it? Like A-Number One – the Big Cheese, the top dog! Australia's own top flight is called the A-League.

In Germany, however, the A-Liga is, or was, the eighth tier of competitive football – a sort of Ryman Division One South of Deutschland. And, in 1990 when West Germany were lifting the World Cup in Italy, the A-Liga was the resting place of TSG Hoffenheim, a small village club on the outskirts of Sinsheim, north of Stuttgart.

The year proved to be significant for the club that had spent most of its history providing nothing more than a pleasant sporting diversion for the village's inhabitants. Because in 1990, a prodigal son returned in the shape of ex-Hoffenheim youth-player-turned-software-billionaire Dietmar Hopp.

Slowly and steadily, Hopp began to lend his financial support to the club, and equally slowly and equally steadily they pulled themselves out of the doldrums and up the leagues.

Significant investment began in 2006 with the appointment of Ralf Rangnik as coach. The former Stuttgart and Schalke coach's image in Germany is one of an academic, a thinker, a strategist and a club builder. This was just as well, as that was exactly what he was called upon to do. By this time, Hopp was splashing cash at the club like it was going out of fashion, or as though some hideous banking crisis was in the offing and he may as well spend it while he still had it.

But Hopp's investment was not in the style of Jack Walker at Blackburn or Roman Abramovich at Chelsea. The SAP founder focused his money on the club's infrastructure. Yes, there were players coming in but they were players suitable for the task of climbing the football ladder. A new stadium was developed. The 30,000 capacity Rhein-Necker Arena is probably big enough to fit four or five Hoffenheims, which is probably why it was finally built in Sinsheim.

When TSG finally arrived in the top flight it was amidst controversy. Germany, like England and Scotland, has a strong cultural attachment to the game and a tradition that drives it. Hoffenheim were (and still are) seen as a plastic club, manufactured in a lab by a computer boffin with a weak supporter base. Some supporters went too far and Hopp received a number of death threats but despite their pariah status, there is much to admire about the way they go about their business.

Hopp - neither the German Walker or Abramovic

Despite all the controversy, Hoffenheim exploded onto the Bundesliga scene in 2008. With impressive wins over Borussia Dortmund, Hamburg and eventual champions Wolfsburg, Rangnik's team quickly earned praise for their crisp passing and buccaneering football. In one memorable encounter, the Hoff travelled to Werder Bremen and scored four goals at the Weserstadion only for the home side to score five.

Pretty soon, players like Demba Ba, Luiz Gustavo, Andreas Beck, Chinedu Obasi, Sejad Salihovic and Tobias Weis (who earned a call-up to the German national squad for the game against England) were earning reluctant plaudits from a cynical media.

However, the main man was Bosnian Vedad Ibisevic, who scored eighteen goals in seventeen appearances before the winter break.

In fact it was Ibisevic who scored the opening goal against the mighty Bayern Munich in the penultimate game before the Bundesliga broke up for the winter. The game proved pivotal as Hoffenheim looked to have earned a more than creditable point at the Allianz Arena that would have given them a psychological boost going into the hiatus.

That was until Luca Toni popped up for the then Champions in the dying second to steal the win. Hoffenheim had won the Winter Championship but that cruel blow set off a chain of events that led to a slide down the table. In the end, even European competition was denied them.

Unfortunately for Ibisevic, he sustained a knee ligament injury during the break and never returned for the rest of the season. Then the club finally moved to their new stadium in time for the season restart. Despite winning their first game, the team went on a twelve match winless streak that totally wrecked their chances of playing in Europe the following season.

The 2009/10 season was pretty anticlimactic, given the previous years of upward mobility for German football's yuppie club. Hoffenheim finished eleventh which, given their ambitions, seems disappointing; however, given how far the club have travelled in such a short space of time, it is pretty impressive. Despite that there were rumblings in the German media that Dietmar Hopp was losing patience with coach Rangnik and that Hopp was considering a staffing change.

Rangnik survives, however, and it's just as well too. His experience has guided the club's youth academy and scouting network to bring some cracking young players to the club, the benefits of which are becoming increasingly apparent.

Sebastian Rudy, Boris Vukcevic and the powerhouse striker Peniel Mlapa were starters for the Germany under-21 side and are all Hoffenheim players. Even when Rangnik spends big he does so on youth. Gylfi Sigurdsson may have raise a few eyebrows after his £6m move from Reading but he has raised a lot of voices with his impressive performances and four goals. Currently the club sits eighth in the table after an encouraging start which included a 4-0 thrashing of Werder Bremen.

Whether the traditionalists like them or not, Hoffenheim appear to be for real and are set to shape the future of the Bundesliga for years to come.

And if Fussball fans don't like Hoffenheim, wait until they get a load of the Red Bull-backed RB Leipzig that are scything their way through the lower leagues at this very moment.

But that is another story.

Ze Roberto: A man for all seasons (and virtually all positions)

Terry Duffelen — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:01:00 GMT

Mistakenly written off as past it, the Brazilian is still a key man in the Bundesliga, reports Terry Duffelen

It is the 86th minute of the first game of the 2010/11 season at the Imtech Arena, home of HSV Hamburg. The home side are locked at 1-1 with last season's Bundesliga runners-up, Schalke.

With the ball at his feet, Hamburg's Ze Roberto charges from the left flank into the opposition penalty area. Head back, chest puffed out, in full flow, you can see the whites of his eye flicker as he looks up to spot the run of Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The Brazilian midfielder-slash-wingback's cross is inch-perfect and Van Nisterooy's run is perfectly timed. He cannot miss, Hamburg retake the lead and wrestle three points away from a dogged ten-man Schalke side.

Ze Roberto's assist (the first of seven so far this season) is typical of the man. He is the archetypal selfless runner who seems to derive as much pleasure creating a goal as scoring one. He plays like he knows that when a great goal is scored it is merely an end of a flowing movement – the final chord of a beautiful composition.

Wherever he plays on the pitch (and that could be pretty much anywhere) he is easily distinguishable by his explosive pace, intelligent running and reliable crosses. To watch him could be to mistake him for a player in his twenties. Only his face reveals a man who has charged headlong into northern European winters for over a decade.

Jose Roberto da Silva Jr began his Bundesliga career in 1998 at Bayer Leverkusen. He was part of the 2002 squad that progressed to the Champions League final (which he missed through suspension) against his old club Real Madrid under coach Klaus Toppmoller.

That same season, Leverkusen also came within a whisker of winning the Bundesliga but lost out by one point to Borussia Dortmund, hence the well-earned unofficial nickname Neverkusen.

However, the club Ze Roberto is best associated with is probably Bayern Munich, where he was a double winner thrice in his first spell and again upon his return in 2007, after a sabbatical back in Brazil with Santos.

At 35, in the summer of 2009 he was deemed surplus to requirements at Bayern Munich by incoming coach Louis van Gaal – a decision the Dutchman later regretted. Hamburg wasted no time in signing the former Brazil international and he took his place in coach Bruno Labaddia's team, either on the flank or through the middle.

For a while it looked like HSV were the real deal and would become genuine title challengers. They notched up impressive wins against Bayern and their bitter local rivals Werder Bremen.

However, as the pressure mounted, the wheels fell off. Hamburg missed out on a place in the Europa League final (held at their very own stadium) and failed to qualify for Europe competition via the league. Labaddia didn't even make it to the end of the campaign, sacked as he was in between the two legs of the Europa League semi-final against Fulham.

This season, former Stuttgart and Wolfsburg coach Armin Veh has been given the task of delivering the Bundesliga title to the ambitious but underachieving northern club. While results so far have been have been patchy, at least one man's form has been consistent.

Ze Roberto set up Paulo Guerrero's strike that condemned early pacesetters Mainz to their first defeat of the season, and his pinpoint centre to Mladen Petric last Saturday sealed an excellent win against Hoffenheim, their first three points since mid-October.

Inevitably, questions will arise at the end of the season as to whether the two-time Copa America winner will return to Brazil or stay in the Bundesliga for another campaign. Part of the joy of watching him is that he plays each game like it is his last.

At present, however, Hamburg will be grateful to have his energy, enthusiasm and skill ahead of their visit to Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund on Friday.

Bayern slump as Mainz march on

Daniel Moore — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:46:00 GMT

This time last year the German newspapers (read: rags) were adamant Louis van Gaal wasn’t up to the job of turning Bayern München into Bundesliga winners.

“Replace him before it’s too late!” some were urging. With seven of the 34 games played, van Gaal’s side had 11 points from a possible 21 on offer. How little they knew – it turned out.

A huge improvement in the run up to Christmas and after the winter break nearly led the side to a fantastic treble, with Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan pipping the Münchner in the Champions League final. A year ago they had no excuses for the poor season start, so what now?

Seven games played, the lowest scorers in the league, just two games won and three points worse off than they were at the same stage of season 2009/10. Bayern Münich is a club in crisis – who’d have thunk it?

Club President, Uli Hoeneß, has now come out and laid the blame entirely on the World Cup in South Africa. Surely, if anything, the World Cup should have acted as a massive confidence boost for players such as Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philip Lahm, Thomas Müller and Miroslav Klose – their Germany side defying the odds and nearly bringing the trophy home for the first time in 20 years.

Hoeneß reckons that last season’s long campaign has taken its toll on his team, and they’re now paying for it due to a shortened summer break. A convenient excuse, you might think.

Munich daily newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, assesses the FCB President’s excuses today, concluding that it is indeed a viable reason for their pathetic showing thus far in the new season, as the current top three sides in the Bundesliga, Mainz, Dortmund and Hannover, only had five members of their squad in action in South Africa in the summer.

I’d rather argue, however, that losing Arjen Robben to a long-term injury, plus the injury and personal problems of French superstar Franck Ribery, is a more reasonable reason for their plight.

Forget the World Cup! Aren’t all WC participants usually granted extended holidays over the summer? Let’s face it, how hard can it be to live in a five star hotel for a month while taking in, on average, a game every five days?

Sunday was another majorly below-par showing from Van Gaal’s troops. Away to Borussia Dortmund – a side on a run of five victories in succession – they limped to a 2-0 defeat.

Mario Gomez must be wishing he had been granted a move away in the summer – although probably not to Liverpool as was rumoured at the time - as his misfiring shooting was mainly the reason FCB failed to hit the back of the net. Second half goals from Barrios and Sahin ensured the home side stay within touching distance of Mainz at the top of the table.

A gap of five points has already developed to third place Hannover, with FCB a further five points back. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find new superlatives to describe this Mainz side.

Yesterday’s Cologne-based Express newspaper posed the question “Kann Mainz wirklich Meister werden?” [Could Mainz really win the league?] – well, what do you think? Are they ‘doing a Hoffenheim’ from two years ago, or is Thomas Tuchel’s team truly the real deal?

Indeed it was Hoffenheim who they faced this weekend, with the Baden-Württemberg outfit becoming the latest club to succumb to Mainz’s energetic and hustling brand of football.

Seven wins on the spin means Mainz maintain their status as the form club of European football, with no other side in any of the top European leagues [we’re obviously not including the SPL here…] having racked up a 100% record.

Impressive stuff, and they go into the international break in high spirits. One does definitely feel, though, that they will be cursing having to put domestic football on the back burner for two weeks, as they will need to maintain their momentum for three massive upcoming games against Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund.

I guess then we will see what Tuchel’s boys are really made of. If they can do the impossible and actually win all three games, then that will be ten wins in a row, and will surely make them absolutely massively hot favourites to win the top division for the first time. Quite the fairytale might be developing!

Indeed, if Mainz’s season start can be deemed a fairytale, then what of poor Schalke 04’s? Four points from their last two fixtures against Freiburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach probably filled their fans with all sorts of false hope.

Finally the purchase of Real Madrid’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has been vindicated, you could almost hear them screaming. Three goals in three Bundesliga games for the Dutchman before matchday seven – as well as four points from the last two outings for Felix Magath’s men - almost, just almost, made things look a little rosier for the Königsblauen.

Well, his great run of scoring continued this weekend against Nürnberg, yet it wasn’t enough to earn his side even a share of the spoils. They went down 2-1 at the Easy-Credit-Stadion in Bavaria, and a massive improvement in form will be required if this summer’s big spenders in Germany harbour any hopes of playing in Europe next season. To make matters worse, their superb goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, has today come out and said he is no longer happy playing with the Gelsenkirchen club and is “considering a change”. Music to the ears of Sir Alex Ferguson, perhaps?

Newcomers St Pauli again upset the odds to gain a massive victory over the hugely-improved Hannover [0-1], while Freiburg defeated FC Köln [3-2] to leapfrog their southern rivals Bayern Münich in ninth place.

Borussia Mönchengladbach and Steve McClaren’s VfL Wolfsburg could only play out a 1:1 draw – the home side having now conceded 20 goals in their opening seven league games.

Stuttgart’s shocking season start slumped to a new low as they went down 1:2 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt – Matthieu Delpierre getting himself sent off in the process – while Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok was to thank as his goal ten minutes from time ensured Bayer Leverkusen avoided defeat at home against Werder Bremen [2-2].
Time for an international break!

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Fri 01 Oct Hannover 96 0-1 St Pauli Sat 02 Oct SC Freiburg 3-2 FC Köln, Hamburger SV 2-1 Kaiserslautern, FSV Mainz 4-2 1899 Hoffenheim, Borussia M'gladbach 1-1 VfL Wolfsburg, FC Nürnberg 2-1 Schalke 04 Sun 03 Oct Stuttgart 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Bayern München, Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Werder Bremen.

Mighty Mainz maintain momentum

Daniel Moore — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:42:00 GMT

Schalke 04 - Points 0, Games 4. That's the story for Felix Magath's men at the end of matchday four in the Bundesliga. As they had done previously on matchday three against 1899 Hoffenheim, the Royal Blues once again lost against what many people assumed to be lesser opponents in Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.

This time, however, at home inside their imposing Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen. Despite a lavish spending spree in the summer, with superstar names Raúl and Klaas Jan Hunterlaar – as well as a certain Christoph Metzelder – all brought to the club amid great expectation, Felix Magath must already be feeling the pressure.

The Bavarian has seen his team amass a mere three goals in four games, with nine already having been fired past poor Manuel Neuer at the other end. Time to panic? Probably not. Should Magath be concerned? Certainly. After all, this is supposed to be an improved Schalke, a team with the intention and ability to dethrone Bayern this year. Out with players such as Kuranyi and Rafinha, and in with proven internationals Hunterlaar, Raúl and Metzelder.

Whatever way it is dressed up, the facts show they've now already shipped in just under a third of the goals they did during the whole of 2009/10. Their next game is away to a rapidly-improving SC Freiburg, and the Fundesliga would suggests it isn't one to put down as an away win on your accumulator!

Joining Schalke in the relegation zone at the end of matchday four is Steve McClaren's VfL Wolfsburg – despite beating Hannover 96 at the weekend. They, again, are a team who splashed the cash rather heavily in the summer, but seem to be struggling to find fluidity in their starting XI.

New signing Simon Kjaer has been the target of plenty of criticism over the past couple of weeks, but following a relatively straightforward 2-0 win over Hannover 96 this weekend, Stevie Mac told how the Dane had “stood up and shown what he is made of”.

Indeed he did, as did Diego, the little Brazilian signed for a modest €15 million from Juventus in the summer. His well-taken overhead kick was accompanied by a Edin Dzeko goal to dismiss the 96ers. See Diego's effort here:

1899 Hoffenheim have made a splendid start to the season. With the backing of billionaire Dietmar Hopp, they rose from Regionalliga obscurity to Bundesliga also-rans in the space of a few short seasons. Their defeat of Schalke on matchday three put them top of the Bundesliga – a feeling which will have evoked fond memories of their maiden Bundesliga season during which they went into the winter break looking proudly down on the 19 other teams in the league.

This weekend they faced Kaiserslautern, a side still hurting after a 2-1 matchday three defeat by Mainz. The Red Devils, as they are known in Germany, had failed to take the performance levels from their stunning victory over Bayern into the third matchday, and one can't help but feel they are going to have a very up-and-down campaign.

Despite taking a half time lead through Luiz Gustavo’s first goal for the club, Hoffenheim, without their first choice central defenders, failed to extend their lead, and instead conceded two goals to Erwin Hoffer.

But for a magical managerial decision from head coach Ralf Rangnick, Hoffenheim could have been staring at their first league defeat of the season. Instead Rangnick, who after the match said he was “about to bring all three subs on, but decided on just sending Gylfi on on his own”, sent ex-Reading man Gylfi Sigurdsson onto the field of play with his side about to take a free kick 20 yards out. The Icelander's masterful free kick earned his side a share of the spoils – just a matter of seconds after he entered the match.

A pair of teams who can't be accused of attempting to buy success are FSV Mainz 05 and SC Freiburg. The latter, having won two games on the bounce, played away at Eintracht Frankfurt, and came out of the encounter with a 0-1 victory. Freiburg had escaped a relegation dogfight by a mere four points last season, and their promising start to this campaign will be music to the ears of their fans.

Mainz, on the other hand, managed to dig out yet another victory, and now sit proudly atop the Bundesliga. An away game against Werder Bremen is never a game you're going to relish when it crops up, but Mainz's gritty determination and organisation ensured they came out of the game with three valuable points.

Tim Borowski missed a gilt-edged chance for the home side on 52 minutes, before two goals in 10 minutes settled the game. First Marcel Risse, then Andrea Schürrle with his third of the season. The latter's goal must have been incredibly bittersweet for Mainz, though, as Schürrle last week signed a five-year pre-contract with Bayer Leverkusen, set to begin new summer.

As for Bremen, a lot of hard work is ahead for Thomas Schaaf's men as we go into matchday five. Can they successfully handle a season with four competitions on the roster? I am sceptical...

Bayern München, as you might expect due to them not featuring so far in this blog, are hardly setting the league on fire at the moment. Four games played, five points in the bag. It must be said, though, that two consecutive nil-nil draws - both at their wonderful Allianz Arena – is very un-Bayern München like.

There are real fears in and around the club that Oranje superstar Arjen Robben's injury is much worse than first anticipated, and whispers have been heard that the club is preparing for a season without their talented wing man.

Proof, were it needed, of how much he makes them tick can be displayed by the team's performances in his absence. Matchday 3's 0-0 result against Bremen can be counted as very lucky, particularly with Hans-Jorg Butt's unbelievably fluky save (see below) - while Saturday's 0-0 result against FC Köln was just poor.

St Pauli welcomed Hamburger SV (their fans have their own particular style of welcoming opponents, if you didn't know...) for a crunch Hamburg derby on Sunday. St Pauli hadn't beaten their fierce rivals for 33 years, and the game was set to be the first Bundesliga game to be played at the host's Millerntor-Stadion. With a victory in sight – and celebrations set to commence like only St Pauli know how – Mladen Petric decided to act the party pooper with a lovely 15-yard curling effort from the edge of the area to settle the scores and ensure no maiden Bundesliga victory was to be had for the hosts.

While there was a distinct lack of goals in the Leverkusen-Nürnberg game at the weekend, with the match ending a boring 0-0 affair (to make matters worse for the Werkself they also lost Stefan Kießling and Patrick Helmes to injury – the former set to be out for some time), the same can't be said for VfB Stuttgart.

Bottom of the table after matchday three, Christian Gross' side produced an absolutely sumptuous display to blow away Borussia Mönchengladbach. Five different scorers for the hosts, including a marvellous hat-trick from Russian Pavel Pogrebnyak scraped Gross' men from the foot of the table and finally gave their fans plenty of reason for optimism going into matchday five.

Wonder if Schalke can make it a magic five when they face Freiburg on Wednesday?

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Fri 17 Sept Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 SC Freiburg Sat 18 Sept Bayern München 0-0 FC Köln, Werder Bremen 0-2 Mainz, VfB Stuttgart 7-0 Borussia M'gladbach, VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 Hannover 96, Kaiserslautern 2-2 1899 Hoffenheim Sun 19 Sept St Pauli 1-1 Hamburger SV, Schalke 04 1-3 Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 FC Nürnberg.

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Another topsy-turvy weekend in Germany

Daniel Moore — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:54:00 GMT

What an absolutely unbelievable weekend of football action in the Bundesliga we have just enjoyed.

It started with Kaiserslautern – promoted this season from the second division - rolling back the years to defeat current German champions Bayern München 2-0 in front of their own fans - and ended with a nine-goal thriller at the Bayarena in Leverkusen.

This was a weekend that averaged over four goals per each of the nine games, absolutely unheard of in modern day football! It was, of course, helped no end by Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 3-6 mauling of last season’s pre-Christmas wonders Bayer Leverkusen, the latter of whom – before the game at least – were buzzing after Sami Hyypiä agreed a new contract with the club. Six goals later and maybe that new contract wasn’t such a wise idea after all...

Perhaps it’s better to simply start from the top, as it’s verging on impossible to pick an individual highlight out from this weekend. Last season’s champions Bayern München kicked off the weekend by travelling to the Red Devils of Kaiserslautern – Bundesliga champions twice in the last 20 years.

Having last picked up the honours in the 1997/98 campaign they are now desperate to kick on in the upper echelons of German football having spent the last four years in the second division. Despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession over the game, a two-minute double whammy from the hosts ensured the current champions of Germany left with nothing but their tails between their legs.

The hosts even finished the game a man down, with goalscorer Ivo Ilicevic handed a second yellow card in the dying minutes of this famous result. It was his goal in the 37th minute that put Kaiserslautern in front, before Srdjan Lakic added a second a mere 90 seconds later. Try as Bayern might, they were unable to find a way past Tobias Sippel in goal, and the three points were taken by home side – much to the delight of the fans in the sold out Fritz-Walter-Stadion. Check out Ilicevic's fantastic strike here.

If that game was a shock, then try the next one out for size. Schalke 04 against Hannover 96. That is UEFA Champions League competitors Schalke 04, home of Spanish superstar Raúl, against the team who had to negotiate a tricky relegation playoff with Augsburg to maintain their top flight status at the end of last season.

Schalke never lose the first two league games of the season. Well, they haven’t done so in the last 23 years, and you’d have bet your house on them winning this one when the fixtures were first announced before the start of the campaign. Hannover 96, though, seem to be made of sterner stuff this time around. The star of this particular show was new signing Mohammed Abdellaoue, whose assist and goal settled the contest for the travelling visitors.

Coach Mirko Slomka will be delighted with their season start – two games, two wins.

So what about Steve McClaren in his new role at the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg? He’s shuffled his squad up. Edin Dzeko has been made captain, Simon Kjaer, formally of Palermo in Italy, has been brought in to strenghten the defence, and McClaren has parted with €15 million to bring Brazilian Diego back to the Bundesliga.

Things were looking even better when they were three to the good after just thirty minutes. Dzeko just has to be the best striker in Europe at the moment, and part of me is failing to see how a bigger club than Wolfsburg has so far failed to snare his signature this summer. Diego capped his debut with a great (real) Ronaldo-esque goal; through on goal with just the goalkeeper to beat, he did four or five step-overs before waltzing around the goalie and passing the ball into the net. Beautiful stuff.

God only knows what Mainz boss Thomas Tuchel said to his side at the break (3-1 down at the time), but his side came out like something possessed in the second half, and smashed three more goals past the hosts and celebrated a glorious victory, one that will live in the memory for years to come. Adam Szalai netted the winner on 86 minutes to make it 3-4 to Mainz. Truly mind-blowing. Highlights here.

Listen to this: 1899 Hoffenheim are top of the Bundesliga. In a game that was far from filled with fantastic football, Ralf Rangnick’s men defeated newcomers St Pauli 0-1 at the Millerntor-Stadion to record their second successive win and put them on top of the pile. Isaac Vorsah was the hero for the Kraichgau club, with an 87th minute goal sealing the contest in front of the predictable volatile crowd.

Game of the day on Sunday, and arguably game of the World in all eternity, was Bayer Leverkusen against Borussia Mönchengladbach. The final score? 6-3 to the visitors – the Werkself’s biggest home defeat in over 25 years, and a massive moral boost for Mönchengladbach against their Nordrhein-Westphalia rivals.

The pre-game feeling was good for the home side, with Hyypiä back from injury and Ballack back in the starting eleven. That’s about where their good mood ended, however, with the away side taking a 4-1 lead after 56 minutes. There was still time for another four goals – two for each side – before the referee blew the whistle on a truly remarkable affair. The game had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster: Nine goals, eight different goalscorers, Leverkusen the unlucky losers. Arango's goal, to put the away side 4-1 to the good, was a fantastic 25-yard free kick that curled and bent into the postage stamp area of the goal. See it here.

You couldn’t even make this sort of stuff up. Of the nine games over the weekend only two home sides managed to take any points. Werder Bremen joined Kaiserslautern in taking maximum points at home, bouncing back from opening day defeat to beat FC Köln 4-2. Ruud van Nistelrooy, following his brace against Schalke 04 on the opening day, managed to net once again in Hamburg’s decent 3-1 away win at Eintracht Frankfurt, with team mates Joris Mathijsen and José Pablo Guerrero scoring their side’s first and third goals respectively. If RVN carries on in this sort of form he'll have eclipsed his total number of Bundesliga goals from last season before he's even bought his Halloween costume!

SC Freiburg lost on the opening day against newly-promoted St Pauli, while Nürnberg held Borussia Mönchengladbach to a 1-1 draw. The two sides met on matchday two, both looking to improve on their performances on day one. The difference between the two sides? Papis Demba Cissé.

The January signing's two goals, after the home side had taken an early lead, ensured that Freiburg became yet another away team to grab all three points. It was one of those games where the home side had plenty of possession, looking confident and fluid in control of the ball, but couldn't quite get it together in the final third. Freiburg, on the other hand, will be delighted with what they got out of the game, and they now sit happily on four points.

Stuttgart lost their first game away to Mainz, and this week took on Borussia Dortmund to try and put things right. Christian Gross - arguably manager of the season last time round - was helpless as his side went three down after just 40 minutes. Khalid Boulahrouz scored an own goal after five minutes, then Lucas Barrios (26) und Mario Götze (37) further compounded the Swiss coach’s misery. Peripheral figure at the World Cup, Cacau, got his name on the scoresheet in the second half, but it was a case of too little, too late.

So the table now reads, Hoffenheim, Kaiserslautern, Mainz, Hamburg and Hannover – played two, won two. Six points, thank you very much indeed. Roll on the end of the international break!

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Bundesliga big boys pushed aside

Daniel Moore — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:20:00 GMT

The new Bundesliga season opened on Friday evening, with the only game of the day settled in dramatic injury time fashion by one of Germany's World Cup heroes - Bastien Schweinsteiger.

The Allianz Arena in Munich was packed to the rafters for Bayern against Wolfsburg and just nine minutes had passed before World Cup golden boot winner Thomas Müller broke the deadlock, volleying home following a fine passage of play that ripped the Wolves' defence to shreds.

This was former England boss Steve McClaren's first league game in charge of Wolfsburg, and if he has shown anything in the last two years with FC Twente in the Eredivisie in Holland, it's that we ought not to judge his managerial skills by his tenure in charge of the English national team.

Many might say that his best bit of business this summer was the capture of Danish star Simon Kjaer from Palermo, but that would be tripe: keeping hold of Bosnian hitman Edin Dzeko is without doubt the most important piece of news for Wolfsburg this transfer window. His loyalty has been rewarded with him being made the team's new captain

It was Dzeko who brought his team level with a towering header just after the break - home keeper Butt's clumsiness conceding his side a corner from which the striker got on the end of with success.

With the game opening up more and more as it progressed it seemed unlikely that it would end up a draw. Miroslav Klose was foiled on more than one occasion from an in-form Diego Benaglio, while Hans-Jorg Butt did well to keep Bayern's goals against column to just one.

Yet in the 90th minute it appeared that a draw would indeed be the end result – until Bastien Schweinsteiger ghosted in at the back post to get a foot onto an absolutely fantastic in-swinging Franck Ribéry cross from the left. Benaglio, one of his side's best players on the night, helplessly caught out by ball in from Ribéry.

If a Bayern opening day victory was predictable then victories for promoted St Pauli and Kaiserslautern - as well as relegation playoff winners Hannover 96 - were less so.

First up – surely every non-German's favourite Bundesliga team - St Pauli, who you may have expected to be daunted by the prospect of a trip to SC Freiburg on the opening day. Indeed, going into the last 10 minutes a goal down, you may have expected them to make the long journey back up North content with nothing but a hard day's work to their names.

Well then you, sir, would be wrong. A superb last seven minute fightback allowed them to leave the Badenova-Stadion with all three points. Freiburg were stunned, but St Pauli's last 10 minutes were magnificent – Fabian Boll, Richard Sukuta-Pasu and Fin Bartels – hardly household names, even in Germany - with the goals to secure the win. Bartels' goal coming on the counter after Freiburg went desperately searching for an equalising goal.

Equally impressive were the Red Devils of Kaiserslautern. Despite going a goal down away to FC Köln following a terrible fumble from the goalkeeper, they managed to turn the game on its' head and emerge 1-3 victors. Croatian Srđan Lakić scored a brace – his first a 25-yard thing of beauty, while Ivo Ilicevic put the game to bed with a late third.

Meanwhile Hannover 96, a team who, as well as enduring a relegation dogfight last season, also suffered a traumatic time of things following the suicide of much-loved goalkeeper Robert Enke, started the season with a decent win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Ivory Coast striker Didier Ya Konan scored their winner midway through the second period.

Stuttgart and Schalke suffered an opening weekend of misery, going down to Mainz and Hamburg respectively. It was Stuttgart's first game without Sami Khedira following the midfielder’s move to Real Madrid two weeks ago, and they were easily turned over by an impressive Mainz.

Schalke, on the other hand, have had no such transfer traumas this summer. Kevin Kuranyi and Rafinha have gone, but Spanish legend Raul has been brought in. He has been joined at the Veltins Arena by fellow ex-Madrid man Christoph Metzelder, yet the pair were unable to prevent a superior Hamburger SV from taking the points. Ruud van Nistelrooy, so ineffective at stages last campaign, grabbing both of the goals for the home side.

But team of the weekend has to be Hoffenheim. They hammered Werder Bremen 4-1 to put them top of the Bundesliga table at the end of match day one. Bremen, still reeling from the loss of Mesut Özil to Real Madrid, had made the perfect start to the game with Thorsten Frings' third minute penalty putting them in the driving seat. But a superb comeback from Hoffenheim – whose four goals all came before the half time whistle – handed them the points.

What a fantastic feeling it must be for Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp, whose investment over the past five or so years has turned them from a Regional League team to an established Bundesliga outfit, to see his side looking down on the rest of the teams. It might only be the first game of the season, but their excellent performance will leave the fans more than positive about the rest of the campaign.

The other two games from the opening weekend were between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Nürnberg, and Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen. They ended 1-1 and 0-2 respectively. Not a great deal to discuss really, apart from Michael Ballack's successful return to Germany

Isn't it lovely to have the Bundesliga back?

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Fri 20 Aug Bayern München 2-1 VfL Wolfsburg Sat 21 Aug FC Köln 1-3 Kaiserslautern, FC Freiburg 1-3 St Pauli, Hannover 96 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim 4-1 Werder Bremen, Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-1 FC Nürnberg, Hamburger SV 2-1 Schalke 04; Sun 22 Aug Mainz 2-0 VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen.

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Bundesliga gearing up for kick-off

Daniel Moore — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:44:00 GMT

Well. The end of an exciting 2009/10 Bundesliga campaign was followed by a terrific German effort in the World Cup in South Africa.

Who’d have thought that Jogi Löw’s young guns could smash four past both England and, even more impressively, Argentina? Of the Germany squad at the World Cup every single player plied his trade in the Bundesliga, and I am certain one or two of the slightly lesser-known players have become household names worldwide.

That is no longer the case, however, since Sami Khedira – virtually unknown outside of Germany prior to June - has signed on the dotted line to join Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid for about €14 million. Madness, he’ll never get a game!

The only winners in this transfer are VfB Stuttgart, who will be able to invest heavily into their squad with their new found fortune. Stuttgart, of course, the team who performed an incredibly resurgence under the stewardship of former Tottenham Hotspur manager Christian Gross towards the end of last season.

Khedira’s replacement at the Mercedes Benz Arena is Christian Gentner, signed from VfL Wolfsburg – where England’s favourite umbrella-holding manager – Schteve McClaren - will be taking charge of things this campaign.

But the biggest transfer story of this pre-season in the Bundesliga is, without doubt, the transfer of Real Madrid Galactico and ex-captain Raúl to Schalke 04. Fantastic! And within a couple of days the Spaniard had collected his first trophy with the Königsblauen – the Liga-Cup.

Although the final was Schalke versus Bayern München, don’t be fooled that it was anywhere near Bayern’s strongest team; it wasn’t. In any case Raúl stole the show with two goals, the second of which was an outrageous chipped effort from 20 yards. Good to have such a footballing legend in the Bundesliga. The real test comes on Saturday when the two teams meet once more to contest the newly-reinstated Supercup.

So, apart Real Madrid swapping Raúl for Khedira and Jogi Löw’s team receiving plaudits from across the globe, what has been going on in German football recently?

Arne Friedrich – so impressive at the World Cup – has joined McClaren’s green and white revolution at Wolfsburg, while they have also snapped up highly-rated Danish defender Simon Kjaer from Palermo.

Khedira’s ex-team mate at Schalke, Rafinha, has upped sticks and headed for Genoa in Italy. Strange move, that one. Other transfer news worth mentioning comes in the form of Christoph Metzelder who has made his Bundesliga return, joining Raúl in ditching Madrid for Gelsenkirchen. One player they won’t be enjoying the company of, though, is Heiko Westermann – he has made a move north to Hamburger SV. Oh, and Michael Ballack has joined Bayer Leverkusen. No biggie.

Of the many pre-season friendlies that have taken place there is one that sticks out like a sore thumb as a game that I really ought not to have missed. Hannover 96 comprehensively demolished local side TSV Dollbergen 0-30 in a match that provided, on average, a goal every three minutes for the away team. Didier Ya Konan was the hero of the hour, grabbing a superb treble hat-trick. He was only allowed to take the one football home with him.

It’s always nice to see Manchester City get beat, and that was exactly what Borussia Dortmund fans witnessed this week as their side ran out 3-1 winners over the big-spending Premier League outfit at Signal Iduna Park. Lucas Barrios opened the scoring with a penalty on nine minutes, but Jo (remember him?) levelled things shortly after with a goal for City.

Second half goals from new signings Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski were enough to win it for the bumble bee look-a-likes of Dortmund, while Manchester City’s owners will probably attempt to throw another couple of hundred million pounds at their problems.

Devestating news for Bayern München this week, as Dutch hero Arjen Robben was ruled out of action for up to eight weeks with a torn muscle. No problem though, according to “wonder healer” Dick van Toorn, who told German website spox: “It’s an old injury – of course he can play!”.

Well, he can’t, and will be missing for up to five Bundesliga games. No surprise, then, that his club are fuming, as the injury was seemingly undetected by the Dutch national team during the World Cup: "Of course FC Bayern München are very annoyed. Once again we as a club are paying the price for a player who injured himself with a national team," a rather annoyed Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told the Bundesliga website.

Just a week to go until the big Bundesliga kick off, and the Fundesliga is stupidly excited to provide weekly analysis and bloggage to you lucky, lucky souls.

Bayern setting sights on superb treble after Bremen battering

Daniel Moore — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:10:00 GMT

With the Bundesliga title wrapped up last week following their victory over relegated Hertha Berlin at the capital city's Olympiastadion, Bayern München paid the stadium a second successive visit on Saturday, as they aimed to take home more silverware by beating defending DFB Pokal champions Werder Bremen.

And yet, despite the holders’ scintillating end-of-season form, there were no real surprises as the Bavarians effortlessly brushed them aside 4-0 and sent a clear statement of intent to José Mourinho and Inter Milan; you're next.

Going into the game it was Bremen who sat atop the Bundesliga form table; four wins from five and just three goals conceded in the process, with their opponents a place and a further conceded goal behind.

But it was just all too easy for Louis van Gaal's men in Berlin, with yet another inspired Arjen Robben performance leading to an emphatic Bayern victory. The Dutchman scored a penalty, Ivica Olic tapped one in, Ribéry slotted one home and 'Schweini', Bastian Schweinsteiger, finished the scoring off to make it 4-0, and secure FC Bayern's eighth domestic double. Highlights here.

Ribéry played his part – aside from getting kicked all over the field and having Torsten Frings sent off (to be fair, though, he did deserve it...) – but will that be his last ever performance in the red and white of Bayern? He's suspended for Saturday's Champions League showdown with Inter. Might he be following José Mourinho to the Bernebeu next season?

Aside from Bayern dominating the headlines this week, though, the big news in Germany is that national team captain, Michael Ballack, will miss the World Cup in South Africa following his injury at the hands of ex-Bundesliga player Kevin-Prince Boateng in last weekend's FA Cup final.

According to the Guardian newspaper, following a chat with Boateng's father, the Portsmouth midfielder's apology following the game might not be as sincere as first thought – he has apparently never forgiven Ballack for an argument they had four years ago during a Bundesliga match when KPB scored a goal, to which Ballack told him “You've scored one goal, and you think you are the best”. I'm not sure I believe that though, I definitely don't think I'd hold a grudge for that long, for something so trivial...

In any case Joachim Löw has so far failed to call up a replacement, with many Bundesliga and Germany fans scratching their heads as to why Torsten Frings hasn't been called upon; the national team's midfield is suddenly not looking so world-beating at the moment. Surely Schweinsteiger won't be asked to perform the Ballack role? Please no!

Back to domestic matters now, and full back Phillip Lahm is in bullish mood ahead of Saturday's mega clash with Inter, telling the Munich club's official website that they're “determined to win the treble. The double is great, but the treble is even better”, while club president Uli Hoeneß reckons the team is even better than when they last won the Champions League in 2001.

Can't disagree with that. Ribéry and particularly Arjen Robben would, barring an incredibly small handful, walk into any European team's starting XI at the moment, while Olic up front is in the mood for some UEFA Champions League Golden Boot action. If only they had a top goalkeeper, though... Oh, and definitely expecting a new centre back to be brought in in the summer. Apart from that!

Bayern's opponents, Inter, will themselves fancy their chances at the weekend though, fresh from securing a domestic double of their own after claiming the Scudetto in Italy's Serie A. Post your predictions below, please!

Meanwhile the Fundesliga is thoroughly delighted that FC Nürnberg have successfully negotiated their two-legged playoff against 2. Bundesliga's third-placed team Augsburg to keep their position in the top league next season. A 1-0 home win followed by a 0-2 away one – goals from Ilkay Gündogan and a Maxim Choupo-Moting penalty - keeps them in with the big boys next campaign.

So that makes it, officially:

Down from Bundesliga: Bochum, Hertha Berlin

Up from 2. Bundesliga: Kaiserslautern, St Pauli

Saturday's Champions League fixtures, as well as the Fundesliga's prediction:
FC Bayern München 2-1 Inter Milan

Werder seal Champions League berth as Bundesliga says willkommen to McClaren

Daniel Moore — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:13:00 GMT

Steve McClaren's career is really starting to rebuild itself quite nicely.

Fresh from winning the Dutch Eredivisie with FC Twente - the clubs' first ever title victory – the miraculously Dutch-sounding Englishman has now moved to last season's Bundesliga champions, VfL Wolfsburg, to replace coach Lorenz-Guenther Kostner.

Kostner, at least, signed off his half-year tenure at the Volkswagen Arena with a 3-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, as striker Edin Dzeko grabbed his 22nd league goal of the campaign to put him one ahead of Leverkusen's Stefan Kiessling in the scoring charts.

Kiessling, having failed to score in Leverkusen's 1-1 draw with Munchengladbach, ends the season in second place in the race for the Bundesliga’s golden boot. That's now 48 league goals for Dzeko in two seasons – an incredible haul, especially with his team struggling this season to finish anywhere near a respectable position.

Not even a brace in Bayern Munchen's 3-1 win at relegated Hertha Berlin could keep Arjen Robben in contention for the honour, as the Oranje winger ended the season on 16 league strikes; still, a fantastic achievement for a winger (although didn't Cristiano Ronaldo play on the wing for Manchester United last season?).

Bayern's title winning celebrations can be found here. Well-deserved, it must be said. And they're still on for the treble, with the DFB final against Bremen on Saturday, and the Champions League final against Inter Milan a week later.

Schalke's season-long search for a maiden Bundesliga success ended in disappointing fashion, with a drab stalemate away at Mainz.

Kevin Kuranyi, tipped by many to play a part in Germany's World Cup campaign until coach Jogi Low put an end to that by leaving him out of the squad last week, has since agreed a move to Russia to join Dynamo Moscow, having previously been linked with Juventus.

The consolation for Schalke, of course, is an automatic place in next season's Champions League, meaning a minimum €20 million boost to their currently decimated finances.

But this weekend gone by was all about the relegation battle, and who would follow Hertha Berlin out of the Bundesliga.

Well, the answer is Bochum, as they turned in a performance fully worthy of relegation to the 2. Bundesliga, going down 0-3 at home to fellow battlers Hannover.

And with Hannover's victory comes FC Nurnberg's 16th place finish – meaning a two-legged playoff with 2. Bundesliga third-placed team FC Augsburg for the spot in the top league next season.

I'm going with Nurnberg to stay up, just.

So, in effect, it didn't really matter what Nurnberg did on Saturday with Hannover's victory, but they won nonetheless, against a FC Koln team seemingly already on their summer holidays. 1-0 to the home team, goal scored by Bayern Munchen loanee Andreas Ottl.

SC Freiburg ended the season on a high by beating Dortmund 3-1, and they'll be hoping to take their end of season good form into 2010/2011 – 10 points from their last five games allowed them to go into the matchday 34 with absolutely no concerns for their Bundesliga future.

And the big derby game up north, Werder Bremen at home to Hamburger SV at the Weserstadion, ended up a stalemate, but a stalemate good enough to put the home team into the qualifying stages of the UEFA Champions League next season.

Leverkusen will be gutted to only end up in the Europa League after their pre-Christmas form, but only have themselves to blame as Bremen took full advantage of their drop in form to secure third place with two points to spare.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, who it's fair to say hasn't really enjoyed the sort of maiden Bundesliga season that he'd have hoped for, scored Hamburg's equalising goal, taking his tally to five league goals for the season. Rather disappointing for the once-prolific ex-Manchester United frontman.

The only other game, Hoffenheim against Stuttgart, ended up 1-1, with neither team having anything to play for apart from putting on a good show for their fans, although they obviously weren't that bothered about that, either!

That’s probably a bit harsh on Stuttgart’s Brazilian striker Cacau, who scored a spectacular opening goal where following a quick succession of slick passes, as Stuttgart took the ball from the edge of their area to the back of the Hoffenheim net within about 15 seconds. Great goal, more of that at the World Cup please, Cacau.

Definitely the Bundesliga goal of the week.

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Sat 08 May Hertha Berlin 1-3 FC Bayern Munchen, 1899 Hoffenheim 1-1 VfB Stuttgart, Werder Bremen 1-1 Hamburger SV, SC Freiburg 3-1 Borussia Dortmund, FSV Mainz 0-0 Schalke 04, Borussia M’gladbach 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen,VfL Bochum 0-3 Hannover 96, FC Nurnberg 1-0 FC Koln, VfL Wolfsburg 3-1 Eintracht Frankfurt.

This week's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:  

Wednesday
Relegation playoff, first leg.
FC Nurnberg 2-1 FC Augsburg

Saturday
DFB Pokal final
FC Bayern Munchen 3-1 Werder Bremen

Sunday
Relegation playoff, second leg.
FC Augsburg 1-1 FC Nurnberg

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Müller lights up Allianz Arena with title-clinching hat-trick

Daniel Moore — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:49:00 GMT

Well, they started off slowly, were also rans at the midpoint stage and showed their superiority towards the season's finale; now Bayern München are Bundesliga champions for a 22nd time in Germany.

But did you really doubt that they would be? For all of Bayer Leverkusen's early form, you'd have been forgiven for thinking that they had peaked far too early – and they did - now the Werkself look unlikely to even qualify for that third Champions League spot in the Bundesliga.

As for Schalke, for all of their endeavour, Kevin Kuranyi's fantastic 18 league goals, and they fact they were able to keep up with Bayern towards the latter stages, they just didn't have the quality to put lesser teams to the sword when it mattered - and it ultimately cost them.

Yes, Bayern are die Meister, again, and can you really see a team stepping up the pursuit next season to dethrone them of their title?

In a season that threatened, on more than one occasion, to go completely off the rails, Bayern are now on for spectacular treble. A DFB Pokal final date with Werder Bremen awaits them in less than two weeks, before they travel to Real Madrid's grand Bernebeu stadium a week later to lock horns with Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan.

This weekend it was youngster Thomas Müller who first received the adoration of the Allianz Arena's 60-odd thousand spectators with his hat trick, before his team mates joined in after the final whistle to kick off their title-winning party.

Müller, incidentally unlikely to be on the plane to South Africa with Germany, delivered a glimpse into the future of the national team's front line with his finishing.

His hat trick goal was something else, with his quick feet, vision and cool head leaving virtually the entire Bochum defence scratching their heads as to where he'd disappeared to with the ball...

Bundesliga runners-up, Schalke, ended their home campaign with a whimper, going down 0-2 to the now-hot favourites for the vital third Champions League spot, Werder Bremen.

Klaus Allof's men produced the kind of display that, had they matched regularly over the course of the season, would surely have been enough to mount a serious title challenge of their own. Maybe next year?

Hamburg were also top performers on Saturday. After their recent turmoil they produced exactly the kind of result that their fans would have hoped for as they roundly thrashed Nürnberg 4-0.

Late season wonders Stuttgart played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Mainz, while Bosnian hotshot Edin Dzeko scored a cheeky back-heel following some quite disgraceful Borussia Dortmund defending as last season's Champions Wolfsburg drew 1-1 at their neighbour's home ground. Could that be Dzeko's final goal for die Wölfe? I've heard Arsene Wenger is quite the fan.

Yet as much as the title race and general top-half-of-the-table-stuff interests us, it's really all about the relegation scrap now.

Hertha Berlin are gone, but Hannover are still very much alive. They're now out of the drop zone after a very un-Hannover like 6-1 mauling of Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Bochum and Nürnberg drop down a place with their defeats, away to Bayern and Hamburg respectively.

And what an ending it is set to be; next up for Bochum? Hannover. For Nürnberg? FC Köln.

Two of the trapdoor spots are now left tantalisingly ajar for two teams, so here are the various ways that each team can avoid falling into one of the said spots:

Hannover:

− Victory away to Bochum
− Draw at Bochum as long as Nürnberg don't win.

Nürnberg:

− Victory against FC Köln as long as Hannover and Bochum draw.
− Victory against FC Köln as long as Bochum don't win by more goals than Nürnberg.

Bochum:

− Victory against Hannover as long as Nürnberg don't win.
− Bigger winning margin than Nürnberg.

My brain hurts. In any case I predict Bochum and Hannover will draw, while Nürnberg will win, meaning Bochum slip into the playoff relegation spot on goal difference and Bochum automatically go down.

That would then mean a game between Hannover and 2. Bundesliga team Augsburg to decide who plays in the top league next season! If only the relegation in this season's Premier League was even half as exciting as this!

Meanwhile in other news, punk football is back in the Bundesliga! That's right, 2. Bundesliga outfit St Pauli have all but confirmed their place in the top league next season after a thumping 1-4 win at Greuther Furth.

Their win kept them three points ahead of third-placed Augsburg, but crucially stretched their goal difference advantage to 16 goals. What with Hamburg's season going somewhat down the pan this campaign, St Pauli will be salivating at the mouth already just thinking about next season's clash at their Millerntor-Stadion...

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Sat 01 May: FC Köln 2-2 SC Freiburg, Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Hertha Berlin, Bayern München 3-1 VfL Bochum, Borussia Dortmund 1-1 VfL Wolfsburg, Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 1899 Hoffenheim, Hamburger SV 4-0 FC Nürnberg, Hannover 96 6-1 Borussia M’gladbach, Schalke 04 0-2 Werder Bremen, VfB Stuttgart 2-2 FSV Mainz.

This weekend's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Saturday
Hertha Berlin 1-3 FC Bayern München
1899 Hoffenheim 2-2 VfB Stuttgart
Werder Bremen 2-0 Hamburger SV
SC Freiburg 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
FSV Mainz 1-3 Schalke 04
Borussia M’gladbach 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen
VfL Bochum 1-1 Hannover 96
FC Nürnberg 1-0 FC Köln
VfL Wolfsburg 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

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Bayern now one step from glory on two counts as Hamburg choke

Daniel Moore — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:08:00 GMT

It’s safe to say there were mixed fortunes for the sides representing Germany in European football this week.

Bayern München, leading 1-0 from their first leg clash with Lyon last week, thoroughly battered their French counterparts at the Stade Gerland, with a hat-trick from tireless Croatian schemer Ivica Olic sealing a 3-0 win.

Hamburg, the country's only other European competitor, meekly went down 2-1 to Fulham in the Europa League.

That bit of sad news aside, though, The Fundesliga is sporting a massive smile today, as its prediction of a Fulham and Atlético Madrid final has finally come true - that really is a turn up for the books!

But in an effort to grab The Fundesliga's glory, Hamburg this week parted company with manager Bruno Labbadia, presumably also hoping that a change of manager would provide a huge morale boost in their season-defining game at Craven Cottage.

And it looked like it was working early on, when Mladen Petric nestled home an inch perfect 30-yard free kick to make it 1-0 on the night, and put HSV up on aggregate with a vital away goal.

But the joy was to be ultimately short-lived. Goals from Simon Davies and Zoltan Gera put the hosts in the ascendancy, and they held on to record a victory on a night that must surely go down as the club's most historic ever. Still, cracking goal from Petric though...

It seems this sudden manager-axing is rather contagious at the moment in Deutschland, with Heiko Herrlich this week also being shown the exit door by Bochum.

With the team once known as Die Unabsteigbaren (the unrelegatables) needing something of a miracle on Saturday when they travel to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern, one can only presume the directors are pinning all their hopes on a new face achieving the impossible.

So, sort of what Hull City tried in appointing Iain Dowie, and we all know how that turned out...

Over to matters on the pitch, and it's yet another action-packed weekend of Bundesliga action ahead of us.

This will be the weekend when, finally, Hertha Berlin say 'auf wiedersehen!' to the Bundesliga, with Kaiserslautern already promoted to take their place next season.

Bayern München can't wrap up the title this round of fixtures, and only a brave man would bet against both them and Schalke winning their respective games this weekend.

And if that does indeed happen, then Stuttgart will be looking to take full advantage of Werder Bremen's slip up; with Bremen travelling to Gelsenkirchen to face Schalke.

As Leverkusen and Dortmund both have favourable fixtures, we might see the second-half-of-the-season-wonders, Stuttgart, be within a point of Bremen and European football come the final day.

The bet of the day for me has to be FC Nürnberg away to Hamburger SV. You can get 3/1 on them coming away with a win, against a deflated side just knocked out of the Europa League and mathematically unable to qualify for the competition again next season.

Aside from Hannover, who have an absolutely massive chance to record three points at home to Mönchengladbach and put themselves in with a chance of survival in a week's time, the other two games not mentioned are really a much of a muchness; nothing really to play for apart from pride and a few extra Euro by finishing a position or two higher up the table.

Penultimate weekend of the campaign; squeaky bum time, as Sir Alex would put it...

This weekend's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Saturday

Borussia Dortmund 2-0 VfL Wolfsburg
Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Hertha Berlin
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 1899 Hoffenheim
Schalke 04 2-1 Werder Bremen
FC Bayern München 3-0 VfL Bochum
Hannover 96 1-1 Borussia M’gladbach
FC Köln 2-2 SC Freiburg
VfB Stuttgart 3-2 FSV Mainz
Hamburger SV 1-2 FC Nürnberg

Schalke go level with Bayern as Hamburg’s season turns to farce

Daniel Moore — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:34:00 GMT

And so the Bundesliga title race takes yet another tantalising twist.

Schalke’s late, late show away to Hertha Berlin, coupled with Bayern München’s inability to take all three points from Mönchengladbach, means the top two are now tied on 64 points.

For the top club, Bayern, it wasn’t usual goal-scoring predator Arjen Robben doing the foraging, but rather a striker that has been terrifying defences in the Bundesliga for years but has fallen out of favour with die Bayern in recent times; Miroslav Klose.

The Germany striker’s header rescued a point for the league leaders, who knew that only a defeat here coupled with a Schalke victory would see them re-surrender top spot.

Schalke duly won their away match against Hertha Berlin, but only in the most dramatic of fashions.

The victory may have allowed Schalke to keep parity with Bayern, but only in the unfortunate knowledge their two remaining fixtures are tougher than the Bavarians’, who also boast a substantial goal difference advantage over them.

Schalke's Marcelo Bordon celebrates his side's late winner

Schalke’s Heiko Westermann was the hero of the hour for the away team, scoring the game’s only goal with just three minutes of the game remaining to all but condemn Hertha to relegation.

They now go into next weekend’s game at Bayer Leverkusen knowing only a win will give them any sort of chance of avoiding automatic relegation to 2. Bundesliga, and even then they will need then to follow it up with another victory on the season’s final day, as well as hope that other results go their way. Unfortunate.

The three teams all vying for that final Champions League berth all got the wins they required, with Lucas Barrios hitting a hat trick for Dortmund as they beat Nürnberg 2-3, Stefan Kießling helping himself to a brace as Leverkusen strolled to an easy win over Hannover, and Torsten Frings converting a 91st minute penalty to give his team, Werder Bremen, a priceless 1-0 win over FC Köln.

Hamburger SV are the team with egg all over their faces this weekend, though, as their 5-1 roasting at the hands of Hoffenheim was the straw that broke the camel’s back for their board, who took it upon themselves to dismiss manager Bruno Labbadia on Monday afternoon after a very poor campaign for his team.

The Rothosen can no longer qualify for the Europa League via the Bundesliga this season, and now know that they’ll need to overcome Fulham at Craven Cottage this week, and then actually go on to win the competition at their own Nordbank Arena in the EL’s inaugural year if they are to be in it again next year.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has but three Bundesliga goals to his name since arriving at the club in January, must be wondering what he has let himself in for.

Chinedu Obasi puts Hoffenheim 3-0 up against Hamburg

Freiburg predictably beat Wolfsburg to take a huge step towards safety, while Stuttgart cantered to an all-too-easy yet quite impressive 0-2 victory away at Bochum.

It’s looking ominous for Bochum at the moment; they next travel to Bavaria to face wannabe champions Bayern München before a do-or-die showdown with fellow relegation-candidates Hannover on the final day.

It’s quite likely that, by the end of next weekend, it will be Bochum and Nürnberg occupying the two final relegation places, but with all still to play for in two weeks time.

The only other game this weekend from the top division, which the Fundesliga has neglected to talk about mainly due to it being drenched in ninth vs tenth nothingness, is Mainz against Frankfurt.

In all honesty it was probably the most exciting game of the weekend, with six goals shared equally between them to ensure both teams earned a solitary point.

But let’s face it; the highest either team can climb to by the end of the season is seventh, so let’s not waste too long discussing them!

In other news this weekend, second division Kaiserslautern have achieved promotion back to the big time, as third placed Augsburg failed to win their game away to FSV Frankfurt.

Germany’s very own red devils are back in the top league for the first time since the 2005/06 season, and it looks like St Pauli will be the second team to join them in the promotion party next week if they can take three points in their penultimate match.

It won’t be official, however, but would require a 14 goal shift in goal difference with Augsburg, who themselves would need to close a three-point gap on St Pauli.

The Fundesliga fully approves of St Pauli’s imminent return to the Bundesliga, by the way... great team, great fans.

Meanwhile, back in the Bundesliga...

Goal of the weekend that meant something:

Three minutes of the game to go, 0-0 away to bottom club Hertha Berlin, and the ball is parried by the HSC goalkeeper and let loose in the six yard box.

Who’d you want it to fall to? Surely not Heiko Westermann, the Schalke defender with just one goal to his name all season?

Well, it did fall to him, and he lashed it home to give them a priceless 0-1 win. South German daily newspaper the Süddeutsche Zeitung deemed it a goal “worth 20 Million Euro” after it guaranteed Schalke 04 a place in next season’s Champions League and kept die Königsblauen hot on the heels of leaders Bayern.

...Goal of the weekend that didn’t:

HSV’s Robert Tesche wins this one with a superb 35-yard lob of Hoffenheim ‘keeper Daniel Haas. The only problem, though, was his team were already 3-0 down. And it got worse.

Hoffenheim surged to a 5-1 victory, Hamburg can no longer finish in the top five and Coach Bruno Labbadia has subsequently been sacked. Dang.

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Fri 23 Apr: VfL Bochum 0-2 VfB Stuttgart; Sat 24 Apr: Borussia M’gladbach1-1 Bayern München, FC Nürnberg 2-3 Borussia Dortmund, Hertha Berlin 0-1 Schalke 04, Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Hannover 96, FSV Mainz 3-3 Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen 1-0 FC Köln; Sun 25 Apr: 1899 Hoffenheim 5-1 Hamburger SV, SC Freiburg 1-0 VfL Wolfsburg.

Ribery will be glad to see the back of his turbulent week

Daniel Moore — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:30:00 GMT

After a quite turbulent week for Franck Ribéry, it went from bad to worse as he was given a straight red card following a reckless challenge on Lyon’s Lisando Lopez.

The Frenchman’s moment of madness means he now misses the second leg next week, a game that Bayern can at least now afford to draw in order to progress to the final for the first time since 2001.

That man Arjen Robben was, again, the hero of Allianz Arena on Wednesday night, his long-range effort taking a deflection to leave goalkeeper Hugo Lloris stranded and unable to keep it out.

1-0 to Bayern, and sights are now firmly set on a place in the final on May 22.

Up at the other end of Germany, on the coast of the North Sea, Hamburg’s Europa League semi-final opponents were Premier League Fulham, playing in their first ever European semi-final.

With Ruud van Nistelrooy playing up front, and with the goal of progressing to the final at their home ground the Nordbank Arena, to target, Hamburg were unable to muster up a goal.

Fulham, on the other hand, didn’t even manage a shot on target, but will be well chuffed with the 0-0 scoreline to take back to Craven Cottage next week.

So, it looks like The Fundesliga might still be on target with its Europa League final prediction...

Own trumpet-blowing aside though, it’s a vital weekend in the Bundesliga.

The question is: will any of the five relegation-threatened clubs make a last gasp bid for survival?

The answer, probably, is: no.

Well, that’s a little bit of a lie. Bochum have a decent chance at home to Stuttgart on Friday night – but with die Schwaben well on form and hungry for a Europa League position next season, I wouldn’t be betting my house on it.

Another team with a chance to sneak a point or three is Freiburg; they’re at home to massive underachievers Wolfsburg, who themselves need a miracle to finish anywhere but in no man’s land this season.

Will Bundesliga top scorer Edin Dzeko notch another couple to put a nail in Nürnberg’s survival coffin?

The others three teams - Hertha Berlin, Hannover and Nürnberg - all face teams in the top five of the league, meaning there will be no chance of their guards being down while the players are dreaming of their summer holidays…

Of those top five teams, Schalke travel to bottom club Hertha Berlin. It’s a must-win for the home team, who can be all but relegated by the end of play on Saturday. And probably will be.

Bayern München are away to Borussia Mönchengladbach, who are another of the ‘no man’s land’ teams. It ought to be nothing else but a comfortable away win.

Leverkusen, who are rapidly realising that even a qualifying position for the Europa League is going to represent a struggle, face Hannover, who will see this as a game that isn’t a ‘must-win’, but one that could yield a huge point.

And Werder Bremen, now in third place and looking to end the season on a high and get back into the Champions League, face FC Köln.

I think we’ll see a surprise or two this weekend…

This weekend's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Friday:
VfB Bochum 1-2 VfB Stuttgart
Saturday:
Borussia M’gladbach 0-2 FC Bayern München
FC Nürnberg 1-1 Borussia Dortmund
Hertha Berlin 1-3 Schalke 04
Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Hannover 96
FSV Mainz 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt
Werder Bremen 3-1 FC Köln
Sunday:
1899 Hoffenheim 2-0 Hamburger SV
SC Freiburg 0-2 VfL Wolfsburg

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Schalke still scrapping as Bayern smash sorry Hannover for seven

Daniel Moore — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:04:00 GMT

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Fri 16 Apr: FC Köln 2-0 VfL Bochum; Sat 17 Apr: VfB Stuttgart 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen, VfL Wolfsburg 2-4 Werder Bremen, Schalke 04 3-1 Borussia M’gladbach, Hamburger SV 0-1 FSV Mainz, SC Freiburg 2-1 FC Nürnberg, Bayern München 7-0 Hannover 96; Sun 18 Apr: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 1899 Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt 2-2 Hertha Berlin.

Three scorers, two braces, one hat trick hero - that's the story of Bayern München's ruthless demolition of Hannover 96 on Saturday evening.

And this time boss Louis van Gaal had no temptation to rest his star wingers Ribéry and Robben; the eleven players selected represented the Dutchman's strongest available selection, with the hammering sending Hannover back into the second automatic relegation place in the Bundesliga.

No bonus points for guessing which on-fire ex-Chelsea and Real Madrid winger grabbed the bulk of the goals. Still guessing? Well, his surname begins with a R, and ends with OBBEN.

Earlier on Saturday, though, it was the Königsblauen of Schalke who had regained top spot, after an Ivan Rakitic-inspired performance led them to a 3-1 defeat of mid-table Mönchengladbach.

This time though there were to be no goals from 18-goal Brazilian-born striker Kevin Kuranyi, who incidentally might this week be offered the chance to rebuild his international career under Joachim Löw for Germany, after he walked out on the national team in 2008 after being left out of the squad for a World Cup qualifier.

Naughty boy. No, Rakitic grabbed two, and Jefferson Farfan scored another. The Croatian international's first goal was pretty good...

And, even if Bayer Leverkusen somehow failed to read last week's Fundesliga blog – where their Bundesliga-winning dreams were written off - hopes that they might capitalise on any potential slip ups from the top two were truly killed off by Stuttgart, who are unbelievably just four points off that third Champions League qualification place.

Just six games ago the gap between Leverkusen and Stuttgart in the league was a massive 18 points; the Werkself were being tipped to take the title, while die Schwaben of Stuttgart were floating around in the middle of the table. The gap is now four points in Leverkusen’s favour, who share 54 points with third-placed Bremen.

What's more, that's now five wins on the spin now for Christian Gross' men. Manager of the season, anybody? I think he's got to be up there.

Unfortunately for him – and his club – they won't make that third place though, as Leverkusen especially have a more than favourable run-in, yet Tottenham Hotspur's best ever Swiss coach can be chuffed with his achievements this season, which, hopefully, will be rewarded with a Europa League place.

"How'd you like me now, Sugar?!"

Current title holders, Wolfsburg, whose home form this season has been sketchy to say the least, shared six goals with Werder Bremen. Trouble was, only two of those came for the home team – with last year's top European strike partnership of Edin Dzeko and Grafite getting one apiece.

It also looks like Hamburger SV are going to have to actually go and win the Europa League this season if they want to qualify for it next time, as a home defeat to Mainz has surely put them too far off the pace now.

With Fulham boss Roy Hodgson this week coming out and saying his team are focussed more on the Europa League than the Premier League for the rest of the season, perhaps Hamburg's players are thinking that too; the two teams meet in the first leg of their Europa semi final this week. Great win for Mainz, though, with the victory representing only their third away win all season.

Meanwhile, with Bochum going down 2-0 to FC Köln on Friday night (side note: yes! I was at least close to calling a correct Köln result!), it opened up the door for one of Freiburg and Nürnberg to seize the initiative when the two met in their relegation six-pointer yesterday.

That win for Köln, by the way, now guarantees their place in the Bundesliga next season, with Manchester United loanee Zoran Tosic helping himself to both goals in their win.

Back to that six-pointer, and it was the home side who scored a huge, huge win, coming out 2-1 victors to tie on 28 points in the Bundesliga table with Bochum and Nürnberg. All to play for in the final three games, then...

The Sunday games didn't produce any exceptional results, although Borussia Dortmund will see it as a two points sorely lost as Hoffenheim held firm to secure a 1-1 draw at Signal Iduna Park.

And in the day's other game between Eintracht Frankfurt and Hertha Berlin, it was the visitors who led twice, only for die Adler to hit back twice to take a point that they'll be bitterly disappointed with.

With the game poised at 2-2 with 70 minutes played - after Ümit Korkmaz and Marco Russ had responded to Hertha goals from Gojko Kačar and Brazilian Raffael – the away team's Swiss defender Steve von Bergen was played clear through, only to inexplicitly pass it to an attacking team mate who was in a clear offside position, when a shot on goal from 12 yards was surely the better option.

It's exactly these awful decisions that have cost Hertha dearly this season, and although their relegation can't be confirmed next weekend, it's now looking likely that their Bundesliga judgement day will be on the 1st of March as they travel to Leverkusen.

So who is going to win the league? Two points the difference as it stands, and three games to play. Fixtures below for the top two:

Bayern: Borussia M'gladbach (a), VfL Bochum (h), Hertha Berlin (a)

Schalke: Hertha Berlin (a), Werder Bremen (h), FSV Mainz (a)

It's now going to take Bayern to lose one and Schalke to win all three for the Königsblauen to take the title...

Likely? As we've seen already this season, absolutely anything can happen at any given time, so it's faaaaar from settled yet...

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Does anybody want to win the Bundesliga?

Daniel Moore — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:28:00 GMT

Does anybody want to win the Bundesliga? That's the burning question on the lips of football fans across Germany this week, with all of the top three seemingly unable to put together a convincing run of form together as the season's end fast approaches...

With all of these crazy results occurring week-in, week-out, it all makes for great drama, and Schalke might even now be thinking that their single point taken from the 'unlosable' six-pointer against Bayern at the weekend may still put them on course to win the title... All will be revealed on the 8th May, I guess!

After spending virtually all season in third place, Schalke leapfrogged Leverkusen on matchday 25 – and they haven't looked back since.

As the Werkself were busy losing 3-2 away to Nürnberg, Schalke travelled to Eintracht Frankfurt, and subsequently smashed four past them to return back to North Rhine Westphalia with a 1-4 victory, and most importantly, the three points needed to be sitting in second place.

But wait! This is the Bundesliga, and nothing ever goes to plan, which might explain why Schalke somehow managed to lose 4-2 at Hannover on Saturday.

Leverkusen and Bayern battled to a draw at the BayArena

Fear not, though, as league leaders Bayern München and Bayer Leverkusen - the latter of whom might not even make the Champions League qualification spot after a shocking run of form – played out a 1-1 draw at the Bayarena.

Hertha Berlin, after a remarkable run of results (by their standards this season, at least...) – earning seven points from their past five games – had the chance to add another chapter to their 'Great Escape' story, but failed miserably, going down 0-1 home to Stuttgart.

Which of course leads us to the other four clubs fighting it out to stay in the league next season; SC Freiburg, VfL Bochum, Hannover 96 and Nürnberg. As we already know, Hannover won against Schalke, but what about the others?

Well, er... they all lost. Oh well.

That's right; Freiburg flopped at Bremen, losing the game four nil, while Bochum and Nürnberg lost home games to Hamburger SV and Wolfsburg, 1-2 and 0-2 respectively.

Good news for FC Köln this weekend though, as their three points taken from a tricky trip to Hoffenheim all but assures them top flight football next season. Maybe Lukas Podolski will come out all guns blazing next year after his year-long vacation during this campaign?

"Noooo, I don't want this vacation to ever end!"

In the other two games from this weekend, Mainz dented Dortmund's dreams of drifting into the Champs League qualification places with a pretty good 1-0 win, and in the Friday game, the team with the stupidly long name, Borussia Monchengladbach, beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0.

Not that it really mattered in the grand scheme of things, as both clubs are floating around mid-table with not a great deal to play for in terms of survival and European qualification.

Silly billy of the weekend:

Manuel Neuer (Goalkeeper, Schalke 04)

God knows why he decided to come off his line, but he did, and I bet he felt a bit silly afterwards. The goal from Hannover's Didier Ya Konan put his team 2-0 up, and pretty much killed off the game...

Hero of the weekend:

Adam Matuschyk (Midfield, FC Köln)

The young Polish international scored a brace – his first goals for the club - to all but confirm his team's participation in the Bundesliga next season.

Goal of the weekend:

Adam Szalai (Striker, FSV Mainz)

The striker, current on loan from Real Madrid's Castilla side, with this sublime display of quick feet, close control and clinical finishing...

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Fri 09 Apr: Borussia M’gladbach 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt; Sat 10 Apr: Hertha Berlin 0-1 VfB Stuttgart, FSV Mainz 1-0 Borussia Dortmund, Hannover 96 4-2 Schalke 04, 1899 Hoffenheim 0-2 FC Köln, Werder Bremen 4-0 SC Freiburg, Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Bayern München; Sun 11 Apr: VfL Bochum 1-2 Hamburger SV, FC Nürnberg 0-2 VfL Wolfsburg.

This week's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Friday
FC Köln 1-0 VfL Bochum

Saturday
VfB Stuttgart 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen
VfL Wolfsburg 2-2 Werder Bremen
Schalke 04 2-0 Borussia M’gladbach
Hamburger SV 3-1 FSV Mainz
SC Freiburg 1-1 FC Nürnberg
Bayern München 3-0 Hannover 96

Sunday
Borussia Dortmund 4-2 1899 Hoffenheim
Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 Hertha Berlin

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Revenge mission completed as Robben rocket blasts Bayern into semis

Daniel Moore — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:09:00 GMT

As the Fundesliga correctly called in yesterday's blog, Bayern München have put English champions Manchester United to the sword in the Champions League following a quite remarkable game at Old Trafford.

And it was the Rib-Rob combination that did it, with the latter scoring a quite ridiculous volley from Ribéry's floated corner to put the Germans through on away goals.

After Rafael's deserved sending off it was a typically efficient (‘typically German’, you might say...) Bayern who took the initiative and dominated United for the last 35 minutes, stretching the play and tiring out their opponents, pinging the ball around the field at will.

Who'd have thought that a Manchester United team could fold so meekly in front of their own fans?

Inside the stadium it was the Bayern fans making all of the noise, lighting up flares and generally embarrassing the home fans who outnumbered them by a ratio of about 23:1. Well, Old Trafford isn't known for it's atmosphere, now, it is...

The game looked like it was running away from die Bayern with 41 minutes gone, after a long range Gibson strike and two classy Nani efforts put the home side three up, home fans hoping for continuing goals glut, only for Ivica Olic to pull one back just moments after Nani's second strike. All what was needed then was for Bayern to score one more, and when it came it was worth the wait – Robben's immense goalscoring record of late continuing with an outrageous volley from his mate Ribéry's corner with 16 minutes to go.

As you'll know if you've read this blog before, the Fundesliga absolutely loves Arjen Robben, and it's fitting that, of all players, it's he who has scored yet another screamer to send his team into the semis.

I'm not sure which of his last two Champions League goals were better, last night’s, or his late goal away to Fiorentina, but the similarities between the two ties are eerie to say the least.

Both against United and the Florence outfit Bayern won the first leg 2-1 at home thanks to a late, late goal, before Robben scored relatively late in the away to seal a 3-2 defeat and take Bayern through on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw.

Tonight's biggest winners:

Arjen Robben. Genius. Just sheer genius. That volley could have ended up anywhere, but it shot arrow-like into the bottom corner of Van Der Sar's goal.

Franck Ribéry. Controlled the midfield after the sending off, although was perhaps a little bit cheeky in waving the invisible red card. But let's face it, United do it all the time, so can't complain..

Louis van Gaal. Tactically perfect. Didn't panic at three down, and got the result he required and deserved.

Tonight's biggest losers:
Wayne Rooney. Wasn't fit to start, it seemed a rare act of desperation by Ferguson to include him in the starting XI. To be frank he didn't do much for the 55 minutes or so he was on the field, either. Perhaps Berbatov would’ve been a better option from the start, with plenty of pace, energy and movement already coming from Nani and Antonio Valencia.

Rafael. After a highly impressive first half his inexperience got the better of him. As if being at United for a few years wasn't enough of a learning curve to show him that players will do anything to get their opponents sent off...

Sir Alex Ferguson.
Typical Germans, ay?

What a game, and what a great couple of evening's football we've been treated to this week.

Auf geht´s Deutschland schieß ein Tor!

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Relegation issue still very much on Bundesliga agenda

Daniel Moore — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:00:00 GMT

So, it seems that it is now a two-horse race between Bayern München and Schalke 04 for the Bundesliga title.

The Fundesliga is now officially writing off Leverkusen's chances of Bundesliga success, six points behind with just five games left tells you all you need to know about their faltering campaign.

Bayern München's incredibly hard-fought 1-2 win over nearest rivals Schalke 04 at the Veltinsarena has put them in pole position to pip their opponents to the title.

In an unusually necessary display of defensive solidarity and steely midfield work (especially after Hamit Altintop was sent off before half time), goals from Franck Ribéry and Thomas Müller helped Bayern record their fourth straight win in front of Schalke's supporters.

The game’s three goals came in just six first half minutes, with Bundesliga leading scorer Kevin Kuranyi replying for the hosts in the 32nd minute after France international Ribéry and emerging German youngster Müller netting within two minutes of one another just beforehand.

Manchester United beware: Bayern are on form, and ready to produce a massive upset to knock the English Premier League leaders out of the Champions League. And with both Arjen Robben and Ribéry set to play, and potentially no Rooney for United, it could well be on the cards.

The tension is growing at Hamburg, as highlighted by their striker Paulo ‘I had a blackout’ Guerrero, who lobbed a plastic bottle at one of his own fans during their drab 0-0 draw against Hannover at the weekend.

With one eye on their UEFA Europa League return game against Standard Liege, HSV will be looking to protect a 2-1 lead from the first leg, after goals from Mladen Petrić and Ruud van Nistelrooy secured a slender lead in front of their home fans last week.

With Wolfsburg ripping apart Hoffenheim at the weekend I was presented with a rather interesting fact regarding their in-demand striker Edin Dzeko – He's scored 17 league goals this season, but just three of them at the Wolves' Volkswagenarena.

This means, of Wolfsburg's 22 away goals so far this campaign, Dzeko has struck 14 of them, an average of a goal per away game.

That's impressive going for the Bosnian striker, but is it also partly the reason why his team have struggled so far this season?

Fellow strikers Grafite and Oba Martins have both scored just one away goal, and only Zvjezdan Misimovic (he's scored three), Christian Gentner and Brazilian Josue can claim to have capped an away performance with a goal so far this season.

At least when Dzeko hasn't struck during a home game there have been plenty of other players stepping up to the plate; 26 other goals from his team mates at their home ground.

With Werder Bremen determined to make things impossibly hard for themselves in qualifying for Europe next season it looks like one of several times might be ready to overtake them in that final quaslifying position.

Eintracht Frankfurt, after a superb 3-2 win over Leverkusen, are looking good, while Stuttgart can't be written off. What a turn around that'd be, after they were languishing in the bottom third for a large part of the season under the management of Markus Babbel.

Also, I can't quite get my head around FC Köln this season. After a massive win over Hannover last weekend, they followed it up with the sort of abject display you'd normally say was deserving of a team going down.

They won't be going down, mainly because they've managed to pull the odd corker of a result off every now and again this season (beating Stuttgart, Wolfsburg and Frankfurt away from home, for starters...), but their form really is baffling.

Oh, and Lukas Podolski still only has the two league goals in 23 appearances.

But what about the other teams in the race to avoid relegation, which, it would appear, is growing more and more exciting by the week.

Will Bochum beat the drop? Will Freiburg fall from Bundesliga grace? Hertha Berlin might actually stay up – ridiculous!

So much to talk about, so little time. There's only one way to find out their fate, and that's by looking at their remaining fixtures...

1. FC Nürnberg:
Wolfsburg(h), Freiburg(a), Dortmund(h), Hamburger SV(a), FC Köln(h)

VfL Bochum:
Hamburger SV(h), FC Köln(a), Stuttgart(h), Bayern(a), Hannover(h)

SC Freiburg:
Werder Bremen(a), Nürnberg(h), Wolfsburg(h), FC Köln(a), Dortmund(h)

Hannover 96:
Schalke 04(h), Bayern(a), Leverkusen(a), M'gladbach(h), Bochum(a)

Hertha BSC:
Stuttgart(h), Frankfurt(a), Schalke 04(h), Leverkusen(a), Bayern(h)

You really do have to feel sorry for Hertha Berlin. I mean, look at those fixtures. That's just mean.

They're currently ahead of title hopefuls Bayern München and Bayer Leverkusen in the form table, and then the fixture computer goes and gives them a truly horrific end-of-season run-in. Still, where there's hope, and all that...

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Sat 02 Apr: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Werder Bremen, FC Köln 0-3 Hertha Berlin, Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 Bayer Leverkusen, FC Nürnberg 2-0 FSV Mainz, SC Freiburg 1-1 VfL Bochum, Schalke 04 1-2 FC Bayern München, VfB Stuttgart 2-1 Borussia M’gladbach; Sun 03 Apr: Hamburger SV 0-0 Hannover 96, VfL Wolfsburg 4-0 1899 Hoffenheim .

This week's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Wednesday
UEFA Champions League
Manchester United v Bayern München, (agg 1-2), QF, L2
Thursday
UEFA Europa League
Standard Liege v Hamburger SV, (agg 1-2), QF, L2
VfL Wolfsburg v Fulham, (agg 1-2), QF, L2

Friday
Borussia M’gladbach 0-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Saturday
Hertha Berlin 1-1 VfB Stuttgart
FSV Mainz 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
Hannover 96 1-2 Schalke 04
1899 Hoffenheim 2-0 FC Köln (God knows with FC Köln, though... It could be 0-4)
Werder Bremen 3-0 SC Freiburg
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Bayern München
Sunday
VfL Bochum 1-1 Hamburger SV
FC Nürnberg 2-2 VfL Wolfsburg

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Could Van Gaal's gamble be about to backfire on Bayern?

Daniel Moore — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:17:00 GMT

One can sort of understand why Bayern boss Louis van Gaal opted to only give his two flying wingers, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry a 45 minute run-out in their home game against VfB Stuttgart last weekend.

Firstly, it was a game they ought to have won, even with an under-strength team (i.e. Without their influential wide men playing the full 90).

Secondly, because the UEFA Champions League is without doubt the biggest prize on offer to Bayern.

And thirdly because, in coming up against arguably the current best out and out striker on the planet in 'Wazza' Rooney, they would need as much firepower as possible to cancel out his inevitable goal, which of course he scored after just one minute at the Allianz Arena.

Dreadful Demichelis defending (x2).

But, on the other hand, surely FC Bayern need to be going on an all-out title charge for the remainder of the season, right? I mean, one title success in the past three seasons is simply not good enough for the Manchester United of Germany.

A few first half goals against Stuttgart and he could've rested them for the final half, or last 30 minutes, instead of throwing them on when the rest of the team was looking leggy and off-form from the first whistle.

The Bundesliga is different from the English Premier League in that there is only one real megarich club, whereas the EPL has Sheikh Mansour's Manchester City, Roman Abramovich's Chelsea, plus other proven massive spenders such as Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and even Sunderland.

Manchester United, incidentally, are only the seventh highest NET spenders in the Premier League over the past five years. See below.

Shocker, no?

And, although the standard of the Bundesliga is rapidly improving - just look at what has happened to Stuttgart and Wolfsburg since they won the league title in 2007 and 2009 respectively. There have been no wholesale changes to the squads, particularly the Wolves' squad, yet they are no nowhere to be seen in the title race this season.

Granted, Mario Gomez made his way from Stuttgart to Bayern after they won the league, but one player doesn't make a squad. Bayern simply spend, massively, on a yearly basis, and don't achieve anywhere near as much as they ought to...

Well, after going on a complete tangent for a few minutes there, I'm definitely sticking to my guns and saying Bayern should be winning the title year-in, year-out.

So that brings me to my conclusion that yes, Louis van Gaal's choosing to leave out Ribéry and Robben from the start against Stuttgart was a complete balls up. Only my opinion, of course…

Predictably, a fresh-again Ribéry scored Bayern's first as they came back from a goal down to defeat the English champions, yet Oranje winger Robben missed the game completely after an injury incurred towards the end of that defeat to Stuttgart.

With Bayern's defeat came Schalke's stunning victory away to third placed Leverkusen, or Neverkusen as their name ought to revert back to very soon.

Kevin Kuranyi is playing like a man reborn, having fired in his sixteenth and seventeenth goals of the season to all but end Leverkusen's title challenge. The Bundesliga trophy, it seems, may just be heading its way to Schalke's Veltinsarena trophy cabinet.

Will Kuranyi be going to the World Cup two years after leaving the squad?

Also, it seems as though FC Köln have been reading The Fundesliga. Well, either that or they've suddenly discovered how to score goals again (apart from Lukas Podolski – he's still playing terribly).

Two goals from on loan Manchester United player Zoran Tosic, with strikes in between courtesy of Petit and Milivoje Novakovic, have almost certainly assured the away team of their Bundesliga place for next season as they defeated relegation-doomed Hannover 96 1-4.

Hamburger SV are in danger of missing out on European football completely next season as they went down 1-0 away to Borussia Monchengladbach, with northern rivals Werder Bremen pulling away from them in fifth and leaving FC Nürnberg with relegation pie all over their faces as they won 4-2.

At least one player on Man Utd's books had a good week in Germany...

The key game this coming weekend sees league leaders Schalke hosting FC Bayern, with the home side knowing that, with just five games remaining after the weekend's fixtures, they can open up a decent five point lead on their rivals. Might van Gaal's decision to rest deadly duo Robben and Ribéry against Stuttgart have cost them the title?

Winnable home games for FC Nürnberg (v Mainz) and SV Freiburg (v Bochum) may leave Hannover deep in the relegation mire come Sunday evening. They've got Hamburg away, while FC Köln can more or less relegate Hertha Berlin when the two sides meet on Saturday.

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS Fri 26 Mar: VfL Bochum 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt; Sat 27 Mar: FSV Mainz 0-2 VfL Wolfsburg, FC Bayern München 1-2 VfB Stuttgart, Hertha Berlin 0-0 Borussia Dortmund, Hannover 96 1-4 FC Köln, Werder Bremen 4-2 FC Nürnberg, Bayer Leverkusen 0-2 Schalke 04; Sun 28 Mar: 1899 Hoffenheim 1-1 SC Freiburg,Borussia M’gladbach 1-0 Hamburger SV.

This weekend's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Saturday
Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Werder Bremen
FC Köln 1-0 Hertha Berlin
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen
FC Nürnberg 2-0 FSV Mainz
SC Freiburg 1-1 VfL Bochum
Schalke 04 2-2 FC Bayern München
VfB Stuttgart 2-0 Borussia M’gladbach
Sunday
Hamburger SV 3-1 Hannover 96
VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 1899 Hoffenheim

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Robben replaces Ribery as Bayern's key man

Daniel Moore — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:54:00 GMT

Whilst attempting to use as many footballing clichés as possible, the Fundesliga has come up with this short but frank preview of the key games of round 28 in the Bundesliga…

With Hertha Berlin seemingly destined to finish in the drop-zone, the question remains about just who will join them.

Nerves are sure to be shattered at the AWD Arena on Saturday (that stands for the Allgemeiner Wirtschaftsdienst, or, German Economic Service, by the way) when Hannover face German hotshot Lukas Podolski's FC Köln.

With the away team dropping down the Bundesliga faster than Tiger Woods pants, you can bet both clubs' fans will be on the edges of their seats all afternoon.

At the business end of the table, though, there's another proverbial six-pointer in store at the BayArena, as Bayer Leverkusen, hoping to stop the rot of just one win in five, play Schalke 04, with both teams still harbouring genuine aspirations of winning the title.

Leverkusen's Stefan Kiessling prays for a much-needed win

Bayern München, after an unexpected defeat in round 27 against over-achieving Eintracht Frankfurt, will be looking to build up a head of steam when they welcome 2008 title-winners Stuttgart to the hi-tech Allianz Arena.

Bit of trivia for you, by the way: Did you know that the outside of their stadium is made up of over 80,000 monitors that can change colour as and when necessary? Cracking ground.

Last season’s champions, VfL Wolfsburg, with their quite frankly shambolic defence (51 goals conceded; more than any other team in the division), must surely have to win a tricky encounter against FSV Mainz if they want to make the Europa League places.

Will they win? Negative, I'd say. Although they do have plenty of firepower in the form of Edin Dzeko, Grafite and Obafemi Martins.

After a humiliating 1-5 spanking by table anchor's Hertha Berlin last week, trainer Lorenz-Günther Köstner had this to say: “The defeat really angered me, and, as a trainer, you don't tend to forget such things.” They'll only have pride to play for if they can't defeat Mainz, though, that's for sure...

The weekend's other fixtures are, as usual, found at the bottom of the page.

In other news, there were two league cup games this week. The semi's of the DfB Pokal took place, and, truth be told, both games were distinctively average.

Bremen strolled to victory over massive underdogs Augsburg, while Schalke and Bayern pretty much cancelled each other out, before Arjen Robben predictably scored the game's only goal in extra time to send his team into the final. Goal below.

Robben - more important than Ribery...and marginally less ugly too...

Robben, in my opinion, is player of the season in Germany. Easily. In fact, Messi, Drogba and Rooney aside, he's up there with anybody in Europe.

If Bayern do, as many expect, lose Franck Ribéry at the season's end, they should be thankful they already have somebody equally as talented in the Oranje winger.

German national newspaper Die Welt also reckons this, reporting “Arjen Robben schon wertvoller als Franck Ribery” - in English “Robben is already more important than Ribery”. Hard to argue against it, I'd say.

Robben has said this week that he loves life in Münich; Will he help die Bayern damage Manchester United's chances of progressing to the Champions League semi finals when the two clubs meet in the in a week's time?

Here's to another nail-biting weekend in the Bundesliga!

This weekend's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Friday
VfL Bochum 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt

Saturday
FSV Mainz 1-1 VfL Wolfsburg
FC Bayern München 3-1 VfB Stuttgart
Hertha Berlin 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
Hannover 96 1-0 FC Köln
Werder Bremen 2-0 FC Nürnberg
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Schalke 04

Sunday
1899 Hoffenheim 1-1 SC Freiburg
Borussia M’gladbach 0-2 Hamburger SV

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Bayern lose, Wolfsburg whipped & the best clearance ever

Daniel Moore — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:40:00 GMT

You may remember The Fundesliga's recent remark regarding the Bundesliga, and how it is definitely not boring and predictable. Well, thanks to another superb weekend of godly German football, that remark once again rings true.

That said, though, The Fundesliga must hold its e-hands up and admit that its prediction for the Wolfsburg vs Hertha Berlin game was as off-target as the home team's shooting – but results like their 5-1 hammering show the quality and entertainment that the Bundesliga provides week in, week out. Absolutely top notch.

RESULTS Fri Mar 19 FC Köln 1-1 Borussia M’gladbach Sat Mar 20 Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 FC Bayern München, FC Nürnberg 0-0 1899 Hoffenheim, SC Freiburg 1-0 FSV Mainz, VfB Stuttgart 2-0 Hannover 96, Werder Bremen 3-2 VfL Bochum Sun Mar 21 Hamburger SV 2-2 Schalke 04, VfL Wolfsburg 1-5 Hertha Berlin

After a simply shocking performance by league leaders Bayern München, one might have expected to see either Schalke or Leverkusen in pole position come Sunday evening.

But no; while Bayer Leverkusen were busy bottling it against bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund at Saturday lunchtime, last weekend's momentary table-toppers from North Rhine Westphalia were preparing themselves for a trip to Hamburg. Could die Königsblauen inflict upon their opponents a second successive league defeat for the first time this season?

No. Despite going into the final 15 minutes 2-1 up, courtesy of goals by the resurgent Kevin Kuranyi and a penalty from Croat Ivan Rakitic, they managed to throw it away and allow the hosts to take a point from the game.

But the equaliser wasn't Hamburg's highlight. With the score still at 1-2 and Schalke having carved open the HSV defence with a sumptuous move down the right, Hamburg's Venezuelan defender Rincón produced what can only be described as a goal-line block and writhing header. While laying on the ground. Behind the goal-line.

Writhe to the occasion: click to see video

If there's been a better goal-saving effort than that, we're all ears: Post a clip in the Comments section below.

But the weekend's most eye-catching result was elsewhere. Isn't it funny what a few hundred pole-wielding maniacs can do to a team's performance? Perhaps the Wolfsburg-Hertha Berlin encounter ought to be put into a bit more context.

The home team are the current Bundesliga champions, top of the form table (and facing Fulham in Europe). The capital-city visitors were facing former manager Dieter Hoeneß with current manager Friedhelm Funkel having already accepted that they are going down.

Just one week ago Hertha had their home pitch at the Olympiastadion stormed by furious fans after they lost to fellow relegation candidates FC Nürnberg. This weekend, though, those same fans were jubilant, rejoicing in a victory against all the odds.

A wonderful hat-trick by Greece striker Theofanis Gekas put Wolfsburg to the sword, and the victory provided Hoeneß with enough evidence that perhaps his team's relegation isn't done and dusted just yet.

Four fingers: Gekas points the way for Hertha

“We've got nothing left to lose," he told Bild (Germany's version of The Sun). "We've now got a chance once again – there are now 'just' five points between us and the final relegation place.”

And it's getting very interesting at the bottom. FC Köln and VfL Bochum's results – respectively, a home draw with Borussia Monchengladbach and an unlucky defeat at Werder Bremen – draw them ever closer to the drop zone, especially with SC Freiburg and FC Nürnberg both picking up points. Is Lukas Podolski heading back to the second league with Köln?

Meanwhile, Stuttgart, adrift below the European slots with pretty much nothing to play for but pride, cantered to a 2-0 win at home to strugglers Hannover. Next up for the away team is a home match against FC Köln – a home win next Saturday and Poldi's goal-shy team could potentially be just two points off 17th place. It's all getting a bit tense down there...

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Old Lady-batterers Fulham face the Wolves

Daniel Moore — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:39:00 GMT

Was it a shot? Was it a cross? Whatever it was, Fulham fans won’t care; Clint Dempsey’s exquisite chipped goal against Juventus has put them into the last eight of the Europa League – where they will play German champions VfL Wolfsburg

Click to see Dempsey's dink

Even better news for Fulham fans is that, should they beat Wolfsburg, they’ll play the winners of the other remaining German team left in the competition, Hamburger SV, or their opponents Standard Liege in the semi-final. Fulham will definitely feel they’re in with a good chance of making the final, and who’d blame them?

The draw in full:
Fulham v Wolfsburg
Hamburg v Standard Liege
--------------------------------
Valencia v Atlético Madrid
Benfica v Liverpool

The Fundesliga is plumping for a Fulham vs Atlético Madrid final. Whaddaya reckon?

Fulham celebrate a famous victory

Roy Hodgson's men will face a familiar foe on April Fool's Day. Former Premier League striker Obafemi Martins is plying his trade at the Volkswagen Arena nowadays.

The Nigerian made a big mark in Wolfsburg's Europa League win over Rubin Kazan. After replacing the injured Grafite – one half of last season’s mega-prolific strike force with Bosnian Edin Dzeko – he scored one and set up the winner just a minute before the end of extra time. Fulham beware!

That said, Wolfsburg aren’t actually very good nowadays, as reflected in their current Bundesliga position of eighth – nearly 20 points behind leaders Bayern München.

Speaking of which, on to matchday 27 in the Bundesliga…

Nürnberg have the chance to put another three points between themselves and the relegation-threatened trio of Hannover, Freiburg and Hertha Berlin, while up at the top there is an absolutely massive local derby between Dortmund and Leverkusen. If the home team are victorious, the gap between themselves and the Werkself would be just five points – which would re-open the race for the third and final Champions League space.

Look out this weekend for the Hamburg and Mainz games. With Hamburg playing title-contenders Schalke, Mainz will really fancy their chances of a win at Freiburg inching ever closer to a Europa League spot. The two teams meet on April 17 in a match that could decide the season’s fate for them both.

Stuttgart have the chance to put another nail into Hannover’s coffin, while Hertha Berlin will be hoping that Wolfsburg’s European heroics last night will lead to tired legs when they meet on Sunday afternoon.

Bayern really ought to beat Frankfurt, and FC Köln have to avoid defeat to fellow Nordrhein Westfalener’s Borussia Monchengladbach if they want to stay away from the relegation places.

This weekend's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Friday
FC Köln 2-2 Borussia M’gladbach 
Saturday
 Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen
 Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 FC Bayern München  
FC Nürnberg 1-0 1899 Hoffenheim 
SC Freiburg 1-2 FSV Mainz 
VfB Stuttgart 2-1 Hannover 96 
Werder Bremen 2-0 VfL Bochum 
Sunday
 Hamburger SV 1-1 Schalke 04 
VfL Wolfsburg 3-1 Hertha Berlin

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Nürnberg win as Hertha fans turn on under-performing stars

Daniel Moore — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:24:00 GMT

RESULTS Fri Mar 12 FC Schalke 2-1 VfB Stuttgart Sat Mar 13 Borussia M’gladbach 0-4 VfL Wolfsburg, VfL Bochum 1-4 Borussia Dortmund, FSV Mainz 1-0 FC Köln, Hannover 96 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt, Hertha BSC 1-2 FC Nürnberg, FC Bayern München 2-1 SC Freiburg Sun Mar 14 1899 Hoffenheim 0-1 Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 Hamburger SV.

Albert Bunjaku nodded Nürnberg back into Saturday's clash

After becoming the first team to beat Bayer Leverkusen this season, FC Nürnberg went into Saturday’s crunch match with Hertha Berlin knowing that a second consecutive win would all but banish the capital city club to relegation (highlights here).

And win it they did – just – with an injury time winner courtesy of Greek striker Angelos Charisteas, after Albert Bunjaku of Switzerland had headed the visitors level.

It was all a bit depressing, really, as not only were the Hertha fans preparing to riot inside the stadium, but The Fundesliga’s prediction of a 1-1 draw was looking perfect until the striker slotted home his first goal of the season and handed Nürnberg the three points.

Accepting that his team is as good as gone, Hertha manager Michael Preetz spoke frankly to the Bundesliga’s official website, stating “We’re now already planning for life in the second division.” The proverbial fat lady, it would seem, has already ensured there is to be no final swansong on their fight to stay in the top league.

According to my estimations Hertha will be gone by the April 16. And even if they aren’t gone, a quick peek at their final few fixtures tells you all you need to know about their chances of survival: their last three games are against Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen, and probable 2010 Champions, FC Bayern.

Nürnberg, on the other hand, are looking like they might actually stay up. Their next four fixtures throw up three home games – win those and they will surely be plying their trade once again in the 1. Bundesaliga next season.

So, those Hertha fans...

As if smashing-up advertising boards and ripping out and lobbing dugout seats onto the Olympia Stadion turf wasn’t evidence enough of their discontent; around 150 of their, presumably mightily peeved, fans then took to the field themselves, armed with flagpoles, fixtures and fists, to set off on a trail of destruction that will surely have huge repercussions for their team.

Aside from the damage caused to the dugouts, advertising boards and fences, 25 fans are reported to have been arrested following the carnage, while four police officers are said to have been ‘lightly’ injured.

"Not the chairs - anything but the chairs!"

Up at the business end of the table it was back to winning ways for Leverkusen.

A Stefan Kießling brace took his goal tally to 16 for the season and helped them to a 4-2 win over Hamburger SV on Sunday, while wins for Schalke and Bayern München mean a tight top three is maintained.

Arjen Robben, arguably alongside Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney as the hottest players in Europe at the moment, scored another couple of goals to give league leaders FC Bayern a harder-than-expected 2-1 victory over SC Freiburg, and Wolfsburg’s Bosnian striker Dzeko also helped himself to two as they strolled to a 0-4 away win over Monchengladbach.

A Mainz victory over strugglers FC Köln now means they are only five points off of a Europa League spot, while a Hannover win at home to Frankfurt leaves them just one point and one place off of safety. Who’d have thought that just a few short months ago?

Our weekly Franck Ribéry story comes courtesy of Bayern chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who says it is their “number one priority” to extend the Frenchman’s contract.

While it might be top of the club’s agenda, however, it seems the winger has other intentions, stating “I want to go to the World Cup with a clear head; I want to have made my decision by the end of March.”

One player who has extended his contract this week, though, is Bundesliga top scorer Stefan Kießling.

He has signed a new deal to keep him at Leverkusen until the summer of 2015, saying the club’s vision was the main reason behind his agreement to stay with the Werkself.

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Germans march on in Europe and look to the home front

Daniel Moore — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:28:00 GMT

There was a small footballing exodus from Germany this midweek. With the exception of Hamburger SV, who hosted Anderlecht in the Europa League last 32, the Bundesliga's continental hopefuls had to negotiate tricky away ties against some of Europe’s more refined sides.

Bayern München took a 2-1 lead from their Allianz Arena to Florence to face a fiesty Fiorentina determined to overturn the deficit and progress to the last eight of the competition.

Meanwhile, over in the Europa League, Werder Bremen travelled to the Estadio Mestalla in Valencia, stamping ground of the two Davids, Silva and Villa – while last year’s Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg travelled to Russia to face Rubin Kazan, Russian Premier League champions and conquerors of FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou in the Champions League group stage.

And the German clubs can be happy with their midweek's work. Both Bremen and Wolfsburg can afford goalless draws in their home legs after each drawing 1-1 away, while Hamburg are all but in the hat for the last 16 after Ruud van Nistelrooy’s 61st European strike helped Hamburg to a 3-1 victory.

Mathijsen, Van Nistelrooy and Jansen mark victory

No wonder daily newspaper Die Welt says "The northern trio from the Bundesliga are all in a good position to progress”. Although Wolfsburg went behind early on in Russia, a goal by Bosnian international Zvjezdan Misimović levelled up a relatively boring game, and the Wolves will be confident of progressing in front of their own fans.

For their part, Bremen will be delighted – firstly not to have lost the game, and secondly to have scored an away goal in a physical (read: dirty) match that saw nine yellow cards plus a straight red for Argentine and La Liga Loca favourite Ever Banega.

Valencia coach Unai Emery said he was “outraged” by English referee Martin Atkinson’s performance in their game, after he awarded Bremen a dodgy-looking penalty which Torsten Frings duly converted.

Game of the week has to be the Champions League thriller between Bayern and the Viola in Italy. Stunning goals by Dutch duo Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben were enough to put die Bayern into the quarters, despite their team losing the leg 3-2. Fiorentina knew they had to win the game, and win it they did, but not without allowing Bayern to score two goals which saw them through on the away goals rule.

In all fairness, Robben’s goal was good enough to win any football match – after cutting in from the right, the ex-Chelsea and Real Madrid man, using only his left foot, jinked round two Fiorentina players before unleashing a thunderbolt of a strike into the top corner.

Click to watch it. It's worth it...

And so to this weekend’s Bundesliga games. Two of the league’s form teams meet tonight, with FC Schalke hosting VfB Stuttgart. The home side can at least momentarily top the league, as three points would put them one clear of Bayern.

SC Freiburg, who have earned 14 of their 20 points this season away from home, travel to the Allianz Arena, knowing that another three points will allow them to climb out of the relegation places. Will they manage to beat the mighty FCB? The short answer is no. And with Leverkusen facing Hamburger SV, die Bayern will be hopeful of extending their lead at the table’s top.

Down at t’other end, there's a relegation six-pointer between Hertha BSC and FC Nürnberg. If Hertha lose, they'll be nine points from safety – and the Bundesliga would be in serious threat of losing its only Berlin-based team.

That would be a real shame. Can you imagine a Premier League without a London team? It’s not exactly the same, but for them to drop out of the league would be devastating for the club, as well as for the league to lose the 75,000 capacity Olympic Stadium from its roster.

This weekend's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Friday:
FC Schalke 2-1 VfB Stuttgart
Saturday:
Borussia M’gladbach 1-2 VfL Wolfsburg
VfL Bochum 0-1 Borussia Dortmund
FSV Mainz 1-1 FC Köln
Hannover 96 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Hertha BSC 1-1 FC Nürnberg
FC Bayern München 3-0 SC Freiburg
Sunday:
1899 Hoffenheim 1-2 Werder Bremen
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Hamburger SV

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Leverkusen the biggest losers on matchday 25

Daniel Moore — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:00:00 GMT

RESULTS Sat March 6: FC Köln 1-1 Bayern München, Werder Bremen 2-2 Stuttgart, Hamburger SV 1-0 Hertha BSC, Eintracht Frankfurt 1-4 Schalke 04, SC Freiburg 1-2 Hannover 96, VfL Wolfsburg 4-1 VfL Bochum, Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Borussia M’gladbach Sun March 7 Nürnberg 3-2 Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim 0-1 FSV Mainz

If ever you thought the Bundesliga was boring and predictable then this weekend’s results will surely make you re-assess.

Granted, Bayern München are leading the way, but not before being given the fright of their lives by their Cologne-loving ex-striker Lukas Podolski.

And just when I was starting to think Leverkusen could go unbeaten all season… how predictable.

This weekend’s action, in short: Comfortable wins for Wolfsburg and Schalke maintained their respective climbs up the league table, while Hannover felled fellow strugglers Freiburg and similarly relegation-threatened Hertha so nearly held their own against high-flying Hamburg (but eventually lost).

Bremen and Stuttgart played out a 2-2 draw while a Lu Lu Lu Lukas Podolski piledriver very nearly punished leaders Bayern.

A 3-0 win for Dortmund against rivals Monchengladbach heightened the former’s credentials for a Champions League spot, and a hard-fought 1-0 victory for Mainz at Hoffenheim can’t go without a special mention.

Game of the weekend, and indeed result of the weekend - or perhaps season – came courtesy of super FC Nürnberg with their defeat of previously unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen.

Trailing 3-0 before the hour mark, the Werkself must have feared a roasting against their lowly opponents. Yet despite an honourable fightback to take the deficit from three goals to one, a late loss of discipline cost them a chance of stealing a difficult point from the Easy Credit Stadium.

Nürnburg well and truly ‘done a job on them’, and three points will help them massively in their bid to avoid the drop.

Who would have guessed it, with the home club previously having failed to win at the ground in nearly five months!?

Nürnburg's Maxim Choupo-Moting and Mike Frantz celebrate their win

Although, being down at the wrong end of the table, there’s got to be some bad news for Nürnberg, right? Yup; their win was marred by a season-ending injury to on-loan defender Breno. He’ll be back to parent club Bayern pretty shortly to begin his rehabilitation.

After such a monumental push in the first two thirds of the season, are the wheels finally coming off the Bayer bandwagon in their quest for a first ever Bundesliga title?

Toni Kroos, their combative midfielder, called the defeat “a blow in the title race,” but The Fundesliga would suggest it’s still all to play for in those top three positions, especially with Schalke performing every bit as well as Bayern in recent weeks.

That’s exactly what Bild is reporting, calling the title race a Dreikampf (three horse race) as well as suggesting that Franck Ribéry has, once again, opened his big mouth and claimed Real, Barca and Chelsea are all pursuing him for a big money transfer in the summer.

Just throwing this one out there, but with Steven Pienaar still having not signed a contract extension with Everton (he’s got just under 18 months left on his current one), could he be the perfect replacement for Ribéry?

He’s flourished at Goodison over the past couple of years and would surely be available for less than €10 million.

After whoring himself out all last summer (not literally, you understand) it seems like it’s only a matter of time before Ribéry ups sticks and leaves Munich; but will he get his dream move to Madrid?

Going back to the Pienaar suggestion for a second here… I mean, who else could Bayern bring in to replace the French international that isn’t already on the books of one of the more fanciful big boys of European football?

It would be quite humorous, though, if nobody came calling for Ribéry in the summer, and it might yet happen. Watch this space, I guess.

What’s going on in Germany this week, then? Schalke entertain Stuttgart in what promises to be a tasty encounter on Friday evening, with Leverkusen v Hamburg is arguably the pick of the bunch from the weekend’s fixtures.

Before that, though, the return legs of the Champions League last 16 stage get underway.

Bayern are taking a 2-1 advantage to Florence to face Fiorentina, while Stuttgart must wait until next week to see what they can do against the mighty Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

In the Europa League, meanwhile, Germany is still represented by Hamburg, Bremen and Bundesliga champions (not for much longer, mind) Wolfsburg. A decent week’s football, it would seem, is assured!

Midweek fixtures:

Tuesday
Champions League last 16 second leg:
Fiorentina (1) v (2) Bayern München

Thursday
Europa League round of 32 first legs:
Hamburger SV v Anderlecht
Valencia v Werder Bremen
Rubin Kazam v VfL Wolfsburg

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Podolski to push Bayern off their pedestal? Unlikely...

Daniel Moore — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:30:00 GMT

Another new regular feature from FourFourTwo.com, and it's a big hello to Daniel Moore, covering all things German...

Let's face it; it's going to take something special to stop the FC Bayern juggernaut between now and the season's end. One defeat in their last 21 competitive games sort of confirms this.

On Saturday they travel to FC Köln's Rhein Energie Stadion, where one man in particular will be hoping to throw a spanner into die Bayern's title-winning works.

“Lu-lu-lu, Lu-kas Pod-ol-ski!” will be ringing around the ground come the weekend, but despite the former Bayern man being a hero at international level, his domestic form of late has flagged somewhat... and that's putting it nicely.

Since his big-money return to Köln last year, the Polish-born striker has but one goal to his name in 19 games.

A few members of Bayern's squad seem to be under the impression that they've got the title all wrapped up since they regained top spot last weekend after a 652-day hiatus.

Speaking to German daily paper Bild, full-back Phillip Lahm poked fun at their nearest rivals Bayer Leverkusen, stating “Leverkusen have enough quality to keep second place.”

The cheek! Maybe someone ought to remind him that, while Bayern are top of the league, Leverkusen are actually the only unbeaten team in the division and are fighting tooth and nail to win it.

Anyway back to Poldi, or Prinz Poldi as he is often referred to amongst the national team's fans. It doesn't take a genius to see that he's got an abundance of talent, but put him in a struggling team and he's seemingly unable to carry them in a way that somebody like Cacau of Stuttgart, for example, is.

Sent off last month, could Poldi be sent from the national squad?

Whilst on the subject of Cacau - just to interrupt the terrible tarnishing of Podolski's name for a slight second – could he be the secret weapon for Joachim Löw at this summer's World Cup?

If he can perform for the national team like he did against Barcelona recently in Stuttgart's Champions League match, then Poldi might have to add another name to the list of people waiting to take away his starting spot. In fact, add young Thomas Müller's name to that list, as national coach Löw this week mentioned him as a possible squad member for their World Cup campaign...

Podolski would be well advised that any talk about a big-bucks move to Barcelona this summer should be put on the back burner, for his performances recently would leave him struggling to break into Burnley's XI. Actually, let's not go OTT – of course he would, but you see the point.

Although it looks like the title is going to either Bayern, Leverkusen or Schalke, the latter of whom will be buzzing after an exciting 2-1 derby victory over Borussia Dortmund last week, the race for a Europa League spot is wide open. Wouldn't it be lovely to see Eintracht Frankfurt back in European competition?

It looks the two spots are to be fought out between Hamburg, Dortmund, Werder Bremen, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Last season's champions, Wolfsburg, are languishing in 11th after a truly, truly horrible season.

This weekend's fixtures, along with The Fundesliga's predictions:

Saturday:
FC Köln 0-2 FC Bayern München
Werder Bremen 2-2 VfB Stuttgart
Hamburger SV 3-1 Hertha BSC
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 FC Schalke
SC Freiburg 0-0 Hannover 96
VfL Wolfsburg 2-3 VfL Bochum

Sunday:
Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Borussia M'gladbach
1.FC Nürnberg 1-2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
1899 Hoffenheim 1-1 1.FSV Mainz 05

Any other predictions, anybody?

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