Bundesliga: Late First Half Penalty Pulls Bayer Even With Bayern

Cologne claimed a 1-0 victory over Stuttgart at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in a frenetic match through a late penalty from Lukas Podolski. The visitors started off slightly the better in an even first half, with Martin Lanig threatening Sven Ulreich’s goal a couple of times with long-range efforts. Stuttgart came into the game more before the break, Cacau had a good chance, and the hosts were nearly a man up at the break after Lanig could have been sent off for a couple of cynical fouls.

The match opened up even more in the second half, and Podolski spurned a number of good chances after good combinations with Milivoje Novakovic. Cacau wasted a simple back post header, Georg Niedermeier headed over about ten minutes later, and Pavel Pogrebnyak hit the post with the goal gaping in front of him just after. Stuttgart were on the front foot, but the match swung in Köln’s favour as Niedermeier fouled Novakovic in the area, and Podolski slammed the penalty past Ulriech with just eight minutes to play.

After a tight opening half-hour, Arturo Vidal has equalized from the spot for Bayer Leverkusen after Mario Gómez had given Bayern Munich the lead. The visitors started off on the front foot and thought Bastian Schweinsteiger had put them in front after just two minutes, but the German international’s effort was disallowed for offside. Bayern continued to dominate the possession but didn’t do too much with it, while Leverkusen looked to catch the champions on the break. Despite Bayern having the better of the play, the hosts created several good opportunities - Eren Derdiyok had a free header easily saved by Hans-Jörg Butt and Sidney Sam hit the crossbar.

However, it was FCB who took the lead on thirty-four minutes; Thomas Müller’s cross found Schweinsteiger, who chipped the ball to the back post where Mario Gómez tapped in for his eighth goal of the Bundesliga season. Bayern’s lead didn’t last long, just like in the matches between these two sides last season, Leverkusen were level shortly after Bayern’s opener. Daniel Pranjic tripped the irrepressible Sidney Sam at the edge of the box and Florian Meyer pointed to the spot. Arturo Vidal took up the responsibility, and sent Butt the wrong way to bring Bayer level with the last kick of the first half.

There were goals galore in the Bundesliga’s early Saturday games, with twenty-five in just six matches. At the Veltins Arena, Schalke 04 recorded their biggest win of the season with a four-nil victory against Werder Bremen. The hosts took the lead after twenty-two minutes, as Christoph Metzelder’s header from a Jefferson Farfán corner hit the underside of the crossbar and was deflected in off of Tim Wiese’s back. Schalke added another before halftime as Wiese could only parry Edu’s free kick into the path of Raúl, who tapped in for 2-0. Bremen had not created much in the first half and were similarly poor in the second; they weren’t keeping the ball well and both Aaron Hunt and Marko Marin continued to run down blind alleys. The match was effectively over on fifty-six minutes as Raúl grabbed his second after pouncing on Per Mertesacker’s poor clearance, and completed his first hat-trick for Schalke with a lovely chip over Wiese on seventy-one minutes. Things only got worse for Bremen, as Wiese was forced to make several good saves late on and Philipp Bargfrede was sent off for a pair of cynical fouls on José Jurado.

In the Bundesliga’s other afternoon kickoffs, Borussia Dortmund maintained their lead at the top of the table and stretched their league unbeaten run to twelve matches with a 2-1 win against Freiburg. BVB were behind for much of the game after Mats Hummels had scored an own goal during a frenzied penalty area scramble in the first half, but a Robert Lewandowski header and an own goal by Mensur Mujdza were enough for three points, even though Jakub Blaszczykowski missed an open goal with five minutes to play.

Many of this week’s matches look to be very tight - at least on paper. Six of the nine games are between sides within five points of each other in the table, and there could be some serious shake-ups in both the race for European places and the relegation battle. The biggest game of the weekend is undoubtedly Bayern Munich’s visit to the BayArena to face Bayer Leverkusen, but there’s also a relegation six-pointer between Stuttgart and Cologne, Werder Bremen against Schalke 04 at the Veltins Arena, and Hannover 96 take on Hamburg SV. League leaders Borussia Dortmund could be ten points clear after the early kickoffs on Saturday as they face Freiburg at the Badenova-Stadion, but Mainz 05 will be looking to cut the lead as they are away to Borussia Mönchengladbach. Nürnberg will try to return to their good goalscoring form against Kaiserslautern, Eintracht Frankfurt host Hoffenheim, and St. Pauli will close out the weekend at home against Wolfsburg.