Bayern Munich Collapse In Cologne, VfB Stuttgart Win Crucial Six-Pointer

It wasn’t the first time that Germany’s record champions have been turned over by a spectacular comeback, but this occasion may sting more for Bayern Munich fans because of the manner of their defeat. Cruising 2-0 ahead at halftime thanks to goals from Mario Gómez and Hamit Altintop, the Bavarians looked set to claim victory over FC Cologne for the first time since 2008.

However, Cologne came out fighting in the second half, and after Christian Clemens pulled a goal back ten minutes after the re-start, another comeback looked to be on the cards. Milivoje Novakovic leveled in the sixty-second minute, and although Bayern fought back a bit just after, Novakovic popped up again in the seventy-third minute to give Cologne their first lead of the game. The Bavarians weren’t able to exert consistent pressure on Cologne in the waning minutes, and Franck Ribéry’s return proved to be more of a hindrance than a help in their search for an equalizer. FC Cologne stay in sixteenth, but are now level on points with St. Pauli and FC Kaiserslautern.

Kaiserslautern thought they had pulled off a similarly spectacular comeback away to TSG Hoffenheim, as they too rallied from two goals down at halftime to 2-2 with a half-hour to play. However, Vedad Ibisevic scored what would ended up being the winner in the sixty-second minute; Hoffenheim picked up a second consecutive win even though Edson Braafheid was sent off on his debut -- just seven minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Elsewhere, an equalizer in the second minute of stoppage time by Claudio Pizarro gave Werder Bremen a potentially vital point away to Mainz 05 after Andre Schürrle had put the hosts ahead in the first half, Christian Eigler scored the only goal and was sent off late on as Nürnberg handed Bayer Leverkusen their first defeat away from the BayArena, and a fourth-minute strike by Sergio Pinto (which Diego Benaglio should have saved) was enough to give Hannover 96 a win at home against Wolfsburg.

In the late kickoff, Borussia Mönchengladbach stormed to a 2-0 halftime lead against VfB Stuttgart but saw their advantage disappear after the break. Pavel Pogrebnyak cut the lead to one just six minutes after halftime, and Stuttgart were level five minutes later through Martin Harnik. The momentum had swung towards the visitors, and Timo Gebhart completed the comeback with the winning goal from the penalty spot with just three minutes remaining of normal time.

‘Gladbach may have had a right to feel a bit aggrieved about the award of that penalty and the second yellow card Thorsten Kinhöfer gave to Dante, but they failed to conjure up an equalizer in the few minutes that remained, and they stay bottom of the table, still six points from safety. Stuttgart are still in seventeenth, but just three points from the security of fifteenth after claiming their first away win of the season -- ‘Gladbach still haven’t won in the league at home this season.