Bundesliga Week 28, Saturday Scores: Bayern Pull Within Three Points Of Dortmund
Augsburg midfielder Daniel Baier went from goat to hero in less than three minutes at the end of the first half. He first fouled Lukas Podolski in what I can only describe as a high boot similar to what Hulk Hogan used to do to his opponents before finishing them off with a leg drop. Except this was to Podolski's back around his shoulders. Podolski calmly finished the penalty. Baier then drew a penalty in the Köln box that Nando Raphael finished to give the hosts the lead for good.
Ja-Cheol Koo scored the opener for Augsburg after some brilliant footwork in the penalty area by Axel Bellinghausen. This was quite the goal. Minutes before Koo’s goal, Bellinghausen had forced a brilliant saved from Michael Rensing.
The win pulls Augsburg out of the relegation zone and passes Köln. Obviously, this is a huge result for the club. Perhaps they can carry this momentum into their next match. What’s that? It’s in Munich? Nevermind. That’s not happening.
Nürnberg 0 - 1 Bayern Munich
Bayern plodded through the first 68 minutes of this Franconian-Bavarian derby, but an Arjen Robben strike in the 69th minute was all they needed to see their way to victory. The win puts Bayern only three points behind the leaders Borussia Dortmund who drew with Stuttgart on Friday.
Manuel Neuer almost had another embarrassing gaffe to cost his team points in the 88th minute. Almog Cohen put a shot on target from about 35 yards out, and Neuer tried to punch it away. He didn't make solid contact with the ball, and it bounced behind him and off of the post. Luckily for the goalkeeper, there were no players close enough to make him pay for his error. Bayern will face Augsburg next week before heading to Dortmund for what will be a massive encounter.
Kaiserslautern 0 - 1 Hamburg
Hamburg hadn’t won a match since February 12 going into Saturday’s match, and they had fallen down into the depths of the relegation zone. What could cure this ailing club? A visit to Kaiserslautern is what the doctor prescribed!
Hamburg needed a bit of heroics from goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny early when Pierre De Wit’s shot deflected off of Michael Mancienne. Drobny’s quick reaction by leaping to poke the ball away saved a sure goal.
Marcel Jansen found the winner for the visitors int he 28th minute. The ball fell to the midfielder’s feet the box, and he took one touch to put him out of the defenders reach and blasted it past Tobias Sippel.
Hamburg’s victory surely dooms Kaiserslautern to relegation. They’re now 10 points behind 16th place Hamburg with only 6 matches remaining.
Werder Bremen 0 - 3 Mainz
Just a few weeks ago, Bremen seemed locked in to one of the Europa League places for the next season. Mainz brought a sword to Bremen and put them to it. The loss sent the hosts to their fourth defeat in their six previous matches.
Mainz stayed compact early in the match, but Bremen still found a few holes. Bremen nearly opened the scoring early, but Philipp Bargfrede's header struck the far post. Shortly after the miss, Mainz took their chance on a counter. Andreas Ivanschitz fed Adam Szalai down the right side. Szalai cut onto his left foot and beat Tim Wiese to give the visitors a 0-1 lead.
Maxim Choupo-Moting picked up a brace in the second half. His first came just after the halftime break, when he finished a cross from Radoslav Zabavnik. The second came in the 74th minute when Wiese and Clemens Fritz tripped each other allowing the easy tap-in for Choupo-Moting.
Bayer Leverkusen 0 - 2 Freiburg
Okay. So you have lost three in a row to Wolfsburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Schalke. That’s not too bad. Come on. Freiburg is coming to town. They’re twelve points behind you in the table. This won’t be that difficult. See last sentence in this section.
Freiburg pressed Leverkusen from the opening whistle, and the struck first in the 8th minute. Gonzalo Castro attempted to clear a ball played in by Mensur Mujdza, but he only flicked it up perfectly on to the head of the sprinting Julian Schuster. Schuster’s “right place at the right time” header found the back of the net, and the visitors were on top.
Leverkusen found their way into the match, but they were never able to successfully challenge Oliver Baumann in the Freiburg goal. Daniel Caligiuri made it 0-2 in the second half with a rocket shot past Bernd Leno.
Robin Dutt, it might be time to pack your things and go.
Hertha Berlin 1 - 4 Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg pulled themselves right into the thick of the Europa League race with a 4-1 victory in Berlin led by a brace from Patrick Helmes.
Hertha struck first in the 9th minute when Diego Benaglio deflected a shot right into the path of Levan Kobiashvili. The ball only needed to be touched by the midfielder to find the back of the net.
Ashkan Dejagah started to push forward for Wolfsburg. After half an hour, he created the first goal when Hertha defender Christoph Janker could only get a foot on his shot. The ball deflected off the post and into his own net to bring the score level.
Dejagah struck again minutes later with a brilliant ball that found Helmes at the near post for the goal. Helmes grabbed a second at the end of the half but not before Mario Mandzukic was able to find his way onto the score sheet.
The loss keeps Hertha second from bottom on 26 points and 4 points from safety. Unless things turn around quickly for them, the Bundesliga could be in for another season without the capital club.
See More:
