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.
Schalke 04 Hammer Woeful Werder Bremen, Mainz 05 And Borussia Dortmund Come From Behind To Win
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.
Dortmund were prevented from stretching their lead at the top by a stirring comeback from Mainz 05 at Borussia-Park. After a goalless first half, Marco Reus twice gave Borussia Mönchengladbach the lead before being pegged back by goals from Andre Schürrle and Sami Allagui, and it was the substitute who won it just two minutes from time as he headed in his own chip for die Nullfunfer to claim their first win four matches.
There was plenty of action elsewhere as well, as a missed penalty from Andreas Wolf prevented Nürnberg from staging a late comeback at home to Kaiserslautern. ‘Lautern had taken a 3-0 lead in the first half thanks to some awful defending, but Robert Mak had pulled one back for the hosts with just over twenty minutes remaining. Wolf’s penalty could have set up a frantic finish, but the FCN captain’s effort hit the bar as Nürnberg slumped to a second successive defeat. Hoffenheim ran riot against Eintracht Frankfurt at the Commerzbank-Arena; Boris Vukcevic had given Hoffe a halftime lead before two goals in as many minutes from Vedad Ibisevic and a late Peniel Mlapa strike gave the visitors a deserved victory. Hannover 96 grabbed in ninetieth-minute winner against Hamburg SV through Mike Hanke after the visitors had come from behind to lead in the second half thanks to a brace from Heung-Min Son, with both goals set up by Jonathan Pitroipa. Christian Schulz leveled matters shortly after Son’s second, and Hanke headed in the winner in the final minute of normal time.
