German Bundesliga, Matchday 4: Cologne Down Hamburg In An Absolute Thriller

Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund had to settle for a draw after a goalless 90 minutes, but that doesn’t mean the match was boring. Both sides had their chances and the fast paced match did more than enough to entertain those in attendance at Bay Arena. Toss in a red card on both sides and there was plenty of action as last year’s top two teams in the Bundesliga played to a 0-0 draw.

The hosts looked to be the better side in the first half, generating chances and controlling the pace of play, but it didn’t result in a goal. After the break, Dortmund began to find their way into the match and several times looked to have done enough to go on top, but Bernd Leno made some fantastic saves to keep Leverkusen even.

Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund play the big time fixture of Matchday 4 later on this afternoon, but the Bundesliga’s morning fixtures offered up plenty of entertainment as a lead-in to the big show. Bayern Munich clinched a fairly easy three points, while Cologne and Hamburg played one of the most thrilling matches you’ll ever see.

Alexander Esswein scored the winner for Nürnburg, but the real story here is that Augsburg couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. They’re going to have some trouble staying up this season.

Well the game wasn’t pretty. Sometimes, you get 0-0 matches which are the result of tight, intelligent defending that denies each team chances and destroys any opportunity either side has to create something. For the first 86 minutes of the match between Hertha Berlin and Stuttgart, this was most emphatically not the case. Appalling defending met dreadful finishing, and the result was something of a 0-0 farce that could well have ended up at 3-3 or 4-4.

Hertha BSC Berlin vs VfB Stuttgart

Hamburger SV vs 1. FC Köln