Bundesliga Week 15: Borussia Dortmund Beat Nürnberg, Stretch Lead To Ten Points

Jürgen Klopp’s side knew coming into this game that they would lead the Bundesliga through the winter break. Despite an average first half (by their very high standards) that may have led some to believe that BVB were getting complacent, Dortmund were much improved after the interval and earned a deserved 2-0 victory thanks to a late goal by Robert Lewandowski. The league leaders are now ten points clear of second-place Mainz, and have won all eight of their matches away from the Westfalenstadion this season.

Although Dortmund were far better in the second half, Nürnberg had some chances early on after the break. The best of them fell to Julian Schieber on fifty-four minutes - he was one-on-one against Weidenfeller but opted to square for the onrushing Robert Mak, allowing Marcel Schmelzer to clear. BVB were largely in control after that spurned opportunity, and Lewandowski and Shinji Kagawa both had opportunities to double Dortmund’s lead. Despite holding just a one-goal advantage, the visitors stayed composed as the half wore on and were rewarded with the second goal they’d been looking for on eighty-eight minutes. A brilliant interchange of short passes around the edge of the penalty area between Nuri Sahin, Mario Götze, and Antonio da Silva (who had come on for Kagawa) ended with the latter laying the ball off for Lewandowski to slice past Raphael Schäfer, his fifth goal of the campaign in just his first start.

Borussia Dortmund have held their 1-0 lead through to halftime on a frigid afternoon in Nürnberg after an open first half. The visitors have looked the more threatening of the two sides since Mats Hummels’ opening goal, but Nürnberg have not been intimidated by the league leaders. Most of the hosts’ chances have come from shots outside of the box, but they have been able to take advantage of space provided by the gap between Dortmund’s fullbacks and wide attacking players.

Still, BVB have looked the more likely to score -- Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski have both had close-range efforts blocked, and Kevin Großkreutz went close with a powerful volley. Lewandowski’s first-half performance will be particularly heartening for Jürgen Klopp -- the young Polish striker has stepped up admirably in place of the injured Lucas Barrios and looked dangerous throughout. The main concern for Klopp, though, should be that his side have been using Lewandowski as a target man too often. He has played well, but the Dortmund manager would probably prefer to see Mario Götze more involved in his side’s attacking play.

It’s been a pretty cagey first twenty minutes at the Easy-Credit Stadion, but Borussia Dortmund have taken the lead through an excellently-worked set piece goal by Mats Hummels. Both sides have have gone close - Julian Schieber had a good chance from a corner kick, and Robert Lewandowski troubled Raphael Schäfer with a well-struck volley from Shinji Kagawa’s chest-down.

The opening goal came after Schieber fouled Sven Bender near the centre circle. Nuri Sahin took the resulting set piece, and lofted it over the mass of players on the edge of the Nürnberg penalty area. Hummels, up from the back, ghosted in from Dortmund’s left and placed a great diving header to the opposite post, beyond the reach of Schäfer. Dortmund have been barely worth their lead, but FCN have been surprisingly fiesty considering their poor recent form. The hosts do have a good record at home, and with just the one-goal advantage there’s still plenty up for grabs here.

Yesterday’s matches were a bit shorter on goals than we’ve come to expect this season in the Bundesliga, but today’s pair of fixtures already look better -- with ten minutes to play, Bayer Leverkusen lead Cologne 3-2. Patrick Helmes opened the scoring on twenty-one minutes, only for Pedro Geromel to equalize just before halftime. Tranquillo Barnetta and Stefan Reinartz gave Leverkusen a 3-1 lead with just a half-hour to go, but Martin Lanig has pulled one back for the visitors. If that result stands, Bayer will re-take third place from Hannover and close to within a point of Mainz, who are in second.

The late kickoff is also an important one for the title race -- with Mainz 05’s loss yesterday, will be Herbstmeister (fall champions), but can go ten points clear of Thomas Tuchel’s side with a win over Nürnberg. Dortmund have been on cracking form all season and show no signs of letting up, so this is going to be a tough afternoon for FCN, who have lost three on the bounce. It looks all set for BVB to continue their perfect away record, but the excellent football that they play should be more than enough to keep the match exciting.

Schalke 04 2 (Jurado 58’, Höwedes 67’) - Bayern Munich 0

Bayern Munich’s first-half profligacy came back to haunt them after the interval as Schalke 04 bounced back from their hammering at the hands of Kaiserslautern last week with goals from José Jurado and Benedikt Höwedes. Bayern started the second half on the front foot, but weren’t able to create the quality of chances that they had in the first half. On fifty-seven minutes Raúl got past Breno and Bayern failed to clear after his shot was blocked. The ball fell to Jurado, whose shot crashed off the post and into the back of the net to give Schalke the lead.

Borussia Dortmund will have the chance to stretch their lead at the top to ten points on Sunday after Eintracht Frankfurt beat second-place Mainz 05. Frankfurt controlled most of the first half and should have been ahead through Halil Altintop, but the Turkish midfielder was just a bit late as he slid in on the back post. Mainz’s Radoslav Zabavnik was fortunate to stay on the pitch after a cynical foul on Pirmin Schwegler after he’d already been booked, but the hosts took the lead on thirty-five minutes as Marco Russ took a loose ball on the full volley in the middle of the penalty area and hammered his shot past Christian Wetklo. However, Frankfurt’s lead didn’t last long as Altintop fouled Marcel Risse just inside the box to give the visitors a penalty, which Andre Schürrle took and scored.

Mainz came out a bit better after halftime, but despite the introduction of Lewis Holtby, they failed to create many good chances. It was Frankfurt who played the more confident football, and re-took the lead with just six minutes to go. Jan Kirchoff was adjudged to have handled in the box, and Florian Meyer pointed to the spot again. Theofanis Gekas took up the responsibility and scored the penalty, giving Frankfurt their first win in a month, and ending Mainz’s resurgence.

It was a good midweek for the German teams in Europe - Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart each secured top spot in their groups, and Borussia Dortmund kept themselves in with a chance of advancing to the knock-out phase (a win against Sevilla in two weeks time will put them through). All three have important league games this weekend; Leverkusen will be looking to get back up into second after their slip up last week as they face Cologne, Stuttgart are under pressure again and take on Hoffenheim, while Dortmund can ensure that they enter the winter break in first place with victory against Nürnberg.

In the late kickoff on Friday, St. Pauli picked up three big points in their first victory since mid-October. They won 1-0 against Kaiserslautern thanks to a second-half own goal by Christian Tiffert. ‘Lautern dominated the play but couldn’t hit the back of the net, just a week after thrashing Schalke 04 5-0. The win moves St. Pauli up to thirteenth, level on points with ‘Lautern, who are ahead of the Hamburg side on goal difference.