Week eight was an odd one in the Bundesliga. Bayern Munich, who were looking for all the world like runaway league leaders after a ten-game winning streak, dropped points at Hoffenheim but found their lead extended thanks to losses by both Werder Bremen and Borussia Monchengladbach. It was Borussia Dortmund who benefited most from the weekend’s action, hammering poor Augsburg to move into sixth place, just six points back of Bayern at the top.
German Bundesliga 2011, Week 8 In Review: Top Teams All Drop Points As Dortmund Emerge From Slump
TSG Hoffenheim 0-0 Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich's ten-game winning streak came to an end against TSG Hoffenheim, who blunted the league leaders' attack and came rather close to giving them their first reverse since the opening week of the season. Despite having almost 60% of the possession, Bayern were held to just five shots, and the closest they can to scoring was when Bastian Schweinsteiger put a rebounded Daniel van Buyten header into the back of the net from an offside position. If Hoffenheim's finishing had been a little better, they'd have won this match.
SC Freiburg 1-0 Borussia Monchengladbach
Somehow, Freiburg won this match. Against a surprising Borussia Monchengladbach, who started this round of games in third place, Freiburg were dominated. The visitors had more than double their shots, and they weren’t too far off doubling up on their hosts’ possession, either. That turns out not to have meant anything, because a Johannes Flum caught out Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and 1-0 was enough for Freiburg to win. Weird.
Nurnberg 3 - 3 Mainz
A thriller at the Frankenstadion ended up all square as Nurnberg came from behind to tie things up in the 82nd minute. It was strange that the hosts would have to mount a fight back at all after goals by Markus Feulner and Robert Mak put them 2-0 up within the first 20 minutes, but Mainz then struck with three unanswered goals; Niko Bungert, Maxim Choupo-Moting and Andres Ivanschitz each finding the net in the 30 minutes around halftime. Nurnberg, of course, had the last say, with Mak squaring for Tomas Pekhart to steer in from close range with eight minutes left, denying Mainz what would have been a deserved victory.
Borussia Dortmund 4-0 FC Augsburg
You know who I would not want to be facing right now? Borussia Dortmund, who’ve been ridiculously unlucky all season despite almost always being the best team on the pitch. The defending champions were coming off a 3-0 hammering in Marseille - a game they ought to have won - and they took their frustrations out on poor Augsburg, with Robert Lewandowski nabbing a hat-trick and Mario Goetze getting on the scoresheet as well. The final score of 4-0 probably doesn’t adequately reflect Dortmund’s performance. They were excellent, and they finally have something to show for it as they chase their way back towards the business end of the table.
Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 VfL Wolfsburg
Bayer Leverkusen defeated Wolfsburg in a match that will be remembered more for a wonderful individual effort by Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok than anything else. The spectacular effort, coming immediately after Wolfsburg's Mario Mandzukic had cancelled out Gonzalo Castro's opener, turned out to be the winner, although Stefan Kiessling added another with five minutes to go for good measure. But seriously, it's all about that goal. Superb.
Hamburg SV 1-2 Schalke 04
Hamburg were looking for a second league win of the season against Schalke 04 and didn’t really look too bad in the process. However, they were undone by a Klaas Jan Huntelaar brace, the striker notching in the 13th minute to give the visitors a 1-0 lead and then an hour later after Mladan Petric had evened things up. Considering how Hamburg have looked at times this season, a fighting loss against Schalke isn’t the worst thing in the world, although one has to imagine they’d have also taken a boring draw and a point.
Hannover 96 3-2 Werder Bremen
More dropped points for a top-of-the-table team win here. Hannover, who’ve been pretty good themselves this season, raced out to a lead and never looked back, scoring through a Mohammed Abdellaoue penalty (conceded by Philipp Bargfrede for a foul on Lars Stindl) in the second minute and then doubling their advantage when Abdellaoue got his second shortly before halftime as Hannover sprung an expert counterattack. There was time enough for the visitors to reply, with Werder Bremen’s Marko Arnautovic notching in first half injury time, but Abdellaoue struck again fifteen minutes into the second half to grab his hat-trick. Things went from bad to worse for Bremen as Arnautovic was shown a straight red card for a foul on Sergio Pinto, but they were still able to grab one goal back through Claudio Pizarro. They just couldn’t get the second.
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