Bundesliga Week 22, Saturday Scores: Dortmund, Gladbach Win Away From Home, Freiburg Hold Bayern To Draw
Nürnberg picked up a massive three points at home against fellow relegation-zone-threatened Köln. Alexander Esswein scored a rocket shot just before the half hour mark to give the hosts the lead. Esswein continued to frustrate the Köln defense, but the match turned slightly after the half. Milivoje Novakovic found the equalizer in the 66th minute with a shot that just crawled over the line before Raphael Schäfer could knock it out.
Instead of pushing for a winner, Köln shrunk back in their own half to absorb the Nürnberg attack. Tomás Pekhart made them pay with five minutes remaining when he headed the ball in off the post off of a cross by Esswein for the winner.
Kaiserslautern 1 - 2 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach continue their magnificent form with a thorough victory away to Kaiserslautern. Mike Hanke was forced out of the game due to injury, but Marco Reus was able to play after missing the majority of training this week. Igor de Camargo started in place of Hanke, and provided the assist on Patrick Herrmann’s goal after only nine minutes. Lautern nearly equalized minutes late when Pierre De Wit’s curling free kick smashed against the crossbar.
Reus provided the assist on Gladbach’s second goal when he played a perfect pass behind the defense to Juan Arango. The Venezuelan international lifted a deft chip over the head of Kevin Trapp to double the visitor’s lead. Kaiserslautern cut the lead in half in the 63rd minute when Leon Jessen’s left footed blast found the back of the net beyond the reach of Marc-André ter Stegen. Gladbach held on for the victory.
Things were not all great for Gladbach however, as Herrmann was forced out of the match with a suspected broken collarbone.
Hertha Berlin 0 - 1 Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund picked up a victory in Berlin thanks to a Kevin Großkreutz goal in the 66th minute. The win pushed Dortmund a full three points ahead of Gladbach in the table.
Lucas Barrios stared up top for Dortmund, and Robert Lewandowski dropped deeper to replace the injury Shinji Kagawa. Barrios' rustiness was on display when he stumbled over a ball that he normally puts away allowing Thomas Kraft to save easily.
The loss is Hertha’s six straight since the new year. The club announced before the match that Otto Rehhagel was returning to the Bundesliga as the club’s new manager.
Bayer Leverkusen 4 - 1 Augsburg
Leverkusen came out of the match struggling to get going against second from bottom Augsburg. Stefan Kießling finally got things going in the right direction for the hosts with a header in the 25th minute from Gonzalo Castro’s free kick. Both sides went into the half feeling that they deserved more.
Augsburg came out firing in the second half. Koo Ja-Cheol, on loan from Wolfsburg, scored a beautiful curling shot past Bernd Leno.
Leverkusen continued their press as the half wore on and were rewarded with three goals courtesy of Castro, Kießling, and Andre Schürrle.
Hamburg 1 - 3 Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen picked up a big three points on the road to send Hamburg manager Thorsten Fink to only his second loss since taking over of the club.
Marko Marin (Remember him?) scored the opener just nine minutes in the match. Then, just before halftime, Tom Trybull headed a corner kick into the goal to give Bremen a 2-0 lead.
Mladen Petric's free kicked deflected off the wall and past Tim Wiese to cut the lead to only one. Some shocking defending led to Bremen's goal just four minutes from time. Wiese's long
Freiburg 0 - 0 Bayern Munich
Bayern supporters are wondering what has happened to their season. Freiburg did an excellent job pressuring the Bayern midfield into simple mistakes.
Holger Badstuber did put the ball in the back of the Freiburg net in the first half, but it was correctly ruled out for offside. For the remainder of the match, the best opportunities fell to Freiburg. Jerome Boateng and Philippe Lahm were forced to make last ditch tackles to prevent Freiburg attackers from going in on Manuel Neuer alone. Neuer came up huge in the 84th minute when he blocked a shot by Daniel Caligiuri at the near post.
The result is a massive disappointment for Bayern and they fall four points behind leaders Dortmund, and one point behind second place Mönchengladbach.
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