Saturday’s early kickoffs provided plenty of good news for Bavarian football fans, as victories for Bayern Munich and FC Nürnberg moved both closer to qualification for European football come the end of the season. Bayern responded to the midweek announcement that Louis van Gaal will be leaving the club come the end of the season by thrashing Hamburg SV 6-0 at the Allianz Arena. Arjen Robben scored a 15-minute hat trick (broken up by the halftime interval), Franck Ribéry added a fourth, Thomas Müller a fifth, and former Schalke 04 defender Heiko Westermann put through his own net in the final minutes for the sixth.
Bayern Munich Hammer Hamburg SV, FC Nürnberg Grab Late Win Over VfL Wolfsburg
Nürnberg fell behind against VfL Wolfsburg midway through the first half, but were level just before halftime through a Philipp Wollsheid header, and FCN won it in the 92nd minute from a Per Nilsson goal off of another set piece. The northern Bavarian side is now just a point behind Mainz 05, who face Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday, for the final European place, while FCB are within two points of Hannover for the last Champions League spot.
Elsewhere, FC Kaiserslautern pulled themselves out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win over slumping SC Freiburg, who have now lost three straight games, all to relegation-threatened sides. Adam Nemec scored an own goal before leveling the match for ‘Lautern in the first half and Erwin Hoffer scored the winner three minutes into stoppage time. Eintracht Frankfurt have finally scored in 2011, but Giorgios Tzalvellas’ goal against to Schalke 04 was not enough for a first win of the year as Angelos Charisteas scored the winner, and his first goal in a year, six minutes from time. Finally, Borussia Dortmund’s quest to break the Bundesliga’s points record took a hit as BVB fell 1-0 to a Vedad Ibisevic goal midway through the second half.
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