Bundesliga Week 22: Bayer Leverkusen And Bayern Munich Win, Kaiserslautern Grab Draw With Borussia Dortmund

This match looked set to be Borussia Dortmund’s second scoreless draw in succession, but with nine minutes to go Sven Bender popped up to score his first goal of the season. However, BVB didn’t have things go their way in the closing minutes as Neven Subotic capped off a poor performance by being sent off shortly after Bender had given the visitors a slender lead, and Kaiserslautern took advantage in the ninetieth minute as a beautiful half-volley from Jan Morávek prevented the home side from losing their fifth in succession.

Dortmund’s lead came after Lukasz Piszczek played a good ball into the box for Mario Götze, whose shot was blocked, The ball fell to Bender, who hit it on the turn into the far corner of the net, beyond Tobias Sippel. BVB looked like they had the game won at that stage, but Neven Subotic fouled Srdjan Lakic on ‘Lautern’s left side, about fifteen yards outside of the box. It was not totally clear why Subotic received a second yellow card -- it could have been either for a tactical foul or for complaining to the ref after Florian Meyer called the foul.

Borussia Dortmund have come out slightly better in this second half, but haven’t yet been able to find a way into the Kaiserslautern net. The home side have continued to play with energy and drive, and deserve credit for disrupting BVB’s short and medium passing game.

Just a few minutes into the second half, Florian Meier turned down penalty appeals for each side. First, Robert Lewandowski barged into the back of Ivo Ilicevic (who went to ground very easily) after a ‘Lautern corner, and then down the other end Thanos Petsos’ hand appeared to graze the ball just inside the box as he was challenged from behind by Mario Götze just a minute later. Götze was again involved on fifty-three minutes, as a flick from Kevin Großkreutz put him in against Tobias Sippel, but the hosts’ goalkeeper was equal to his task and grabbed the ball away from the young German attacking midfielder.

There’s been plenty of fight on both sides of this game, but neither has found a way through in the first half. Borussia Dortmund have been the better side, but haven’t looked at their best or made anything out of their relatively few chances. Kaiserslautern have been winning the ball back more than most teams against Jürgen Klopp’s side, but haven’t been able to keep possession themselves and will need to improve up front in the second half as keeping a clean sheet against BVB is a very tall order.

The best chance in the latter part of the first half came on thirty minutes when Mario Götze again supplied good service, whipping in a nice ball across the face of goal from near the right corner flag despite being closed down by Leon Jessen. Unfortunately for BVB, Barrios missed the ball near the back post and they spurned perhaps their best chance to take the lead. Tobias Sippel made another positioning gaffe in the late minutes of the first half but was not punished, and the two sides headed into the break level.

It’s been an entertaining opening at a buzzing Fritz-Walter Stadion, with the relegation-threatened hosts giving Borussia Dortmund a bit of a test so far. Dortmund have had a bit more of the ball, but don’t look as sharp as they did last week when they ripped into Schalke 04 in the early minutes.

The hosts were the first to look like scoring, as Roman Weidenfeller had to save from Martin Amedick on ten minutes. ‘Lautern had another chance on seventeen minutes, as a mix-up between Weidenfeller, who had come out, and Mats Hummels almost allowed Kaiserslautern to take a surprising lead. Shortly after, Mario Götze found Kevin Großkreutz with a short pass on the edge of the penalty area, and it looked like BVB would take the lead but a saving tackle from Rodnei prevented Dortmund from scoring. Dortmund had another chance on twenty-two minutes, after a defensive mix-up left Tobias Sippel standing in the middle of the penalty box, but a tame shot from Götze allowed him to make the save.

The early Saturday kickoffs in the Bundesliga had plenty of goals to go around, with eighteen scored among six matches. Mario Gómez set the tone early on, putting Bayern Munich a goal up within two minutes as they rebounded from defeat in Cologne with a 4-0 thrashing of TSG Hoffenheim. Thomas Müller scored the second and Arjen Robben picked up a late brace to move the Bavarians back into third place. Bayer Leverkusen ensured that they will keep hold of second as they beat Frankfurt 3-0; Simon Rolfes scored his fourth goal of the season to set the tone early on, Renato Augusto doubled the visitors’ advantage before the break, and substitute Hanno Balitsch wrapped the game up with the third goal with six minutes to play.

Down at the bottom end of the table St. Pauli turned around an early deficit against Borussia Mönchengladbach to win 3-1 and move three points clear of the relegation zone. Igor De Camargo had ‘Gladbach a goal ahead inside of ten minutes, but was sent off just over ten minutes later and St. Pauli took advantage, dominating the game and picking up the win with goals from Max Kruse, Gerald Asamoah, and Matthias Lehmann. Elsewhere, Nürnberg continued the Bavarian success as they ran out 4-1 winners over VfB Stuttgart, a lone goal from Jefferson Farfán gave Schalke 04 a 1-0 victory over SC Freiburg, and Hamburg SV piled more problems on VfL Wolfsburg as a Mladen Petric penalty was enough for a 1-0 win at the Volkswagen Arena.