Bundesliga 2012, Week 17: Leverkusen cut Bayern’s lead to single digits

Werder Bremen will count themselves lucky to come away with a 1-1 draw against Nürnberg in a match that they controlled throughout.

It was a very busy day for Raphael Schäfer. The Nürnberg goalkeeper deflected a shot from Kevin De Bruyne off of his own goal post in the eighth minute. A few minutes later he was called upon to make a save on a header from defender Theodor Gebre Selassie. Nils Petersen scored in the 14th minute, but it was ruled back for offside.

Borussia Dortmund will look to put last week’s controversial loss behind them with a visit to Hoffenheim. BVB haven’t won in their last three matches and will be hoping that Sunday’s match will be a cure for what ails them.

Last week against Wolfsburg, Marcel Schmelzer was incorrectly sent off for a handball in the penalty area. Down to ten men for 55 minutes, BVB was unable to keep their normal level of pressure and conceded three times against Wolfsburg’s rather poor offense. The sending off masked what has become an issue for BVB in the first half of the season: They’ve already dropped eight points at home. They only dropped five at home all of last season.

At the sound of the opening whistle, Schalke took control of the match. Wave after wave of attack was thrown at the Freiburg goal, but Oliver Baumann and his defense did well to repel the attacks.

Schalke grabbed the lead after 20 minutes. Lewis Holtby and Jefferson Farfan beat the offside trap and went at Bauman. Holtby dished to Farfan at the last second, and the Peruvian put his shot into the top of the net to give Schalke the 1-0 lead.

Bayer Leverkusen host Hamburg on Saturday afternoon in Matchday 17’s biggest clash. If Leverkusen manage to take all three points, they can cut Bayern Munich’s lead atop the Bundesliga table to single digits. The Bavarians currently lead by 12 points. Last weekend, Leverkusen lost to Hannover ending a four match winning streak, and Hamburg extended their unbeaten run to three matches. The two sides are separated by only 6 points in the table and six places in the table.

That defense will be tested by Leverkusen’s constant threat Stefan Kießling. The sometime German international has scored the most goals in Germany during the calendar year of 2012 with 26. Hamburg’s defense does concede a lot of shots, so Kießling will focusing to be in position to capitalize on any loose balls in the penalty area.

Borussia Mönchengladbach walked out of the Allianz Arena on Friday evening with a 1-1 draw thanks largely in part to the heroics of Marc Andre Ter Stegen. The goalkeeper was a barrier in front of the Gladbach goal throughout the match, especially in the second half when Bayern stepped into an extra gear trying to find a winner.

The hosts took control from the opening whistle with early possession in the Gladbach half of the field. Bayern began to ratchet up the pressure along the Gladbach back four, but the visitors were holding them at bay. Ter Stegen, in particular, was lively with a few early saves to keep the ball out of his net.