The international break meant that there wasn't any game action for the Bundesliga clubs in midweek. However, the German national side had a high-profile draw in a friendly against Italy and the league witnessed its fifth coaching change of the season as Steve McClaren was sacked by VfL Wolfsburg.
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Miroslav Klose scored his fifty-ninth goal for the Nationalelf to move within nine of Gerd Müller's all-time scoring record, but the Giuseppi Rossi equalized for Italian in the waning minutes to deny Germany a first win against the Azzuri since 1995. McClaren's firing wasn't very surprising either, as he appeared to have been on thin ice for some time. With Wolfsburg sitting just a point above the relegation play-off place despite a good deal of summer and winter transfer spending, the former England manager's performance was seen as unsatisfactory and he was relieved of his duties on Monday. Pierre Littbarski, who played many years for FC Cologne and won over seventy caps for Germany and had been an assistant to McClaren, was appointed caretaker manager.
Because of the international break there was no Friday game in the top flight, although Union Berlin and VfL Osnabrück played out an exciting 3-3 draw in the 2. Bundesliga to kick off the weekend. The biggest games of the early kickoffs in the 1. Bundesliga are TSG Hoffenheim’s visit to fifth-place Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen against Eintracht Frankfurt at the BayArena, and a relegation six-pointer between St. Pauli and Borussia Mönchengladbach. The late Saturday kickoff sees leaders Borussia Dortmund travel to Kaiserslautern, while on Sunday Mainz 05 and Hannover 96 will try to keep up in the race for Champions League places as they visit FC Cologne and Werder Bremen, respectively.
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