Bundesliga Week 31, Saturday Scores: Dortmund Win Revierderby, Virtually Lock Up Title
Stuttgart 4 - 1 Werder Bremen
Martin Harnik scored a brace, and Stuttgart moved closer to clinching a place in next year’s Europa league.
Markus Rosenberg opened the scoring for Bremen, but things went downhill shortly thereafter. Christian Gentner tied the game with a shot high into the far corner beating Tim Wiese. Stuttgart doubled their lead in first half stoppage time when Harnik's header found the back of the net. Harnik got his second goal just after the break when he finished a corner kick from Tamas Hajnal.
After easily swatting away Bremen’s attempts to get back into the match, Cacau put the final nail in the coffin in the 89th minute. The win moves Stuttgart to only four points behind 4th place Borussia Mönchengladbach. They’re currently unbeaten in their last nine including seven wins in that period of time. Serious question: Can they catch Gladbach?
Saturday, April 14
Kaiserslautern 0 - 2 Nürnberg
Nürnberg followed up their impressive 4-1 midweek victory over Schalke with a relatively easy 2-0 victory at Kaiserslautern.
The victory virtually ensures that Nürnberg will remain in the Bundesliga for next season. Unfortunately for Kaiserslautern, the result all but dooms them to a certain relegation. There’s no way they can escape the drop at this point, and the best that they can hope for is the relegation playoff.
Wolfsburg 1 - 2 Augsburg
Augsburg picked up an early goal when Wolfsburg defender Alexander Madlung’s attempted clearance deflected off of Augsburg forward Torsten Oehrl and went into the net.
Wolfsburg battled back and found an equalizer thanks to Patrick Helmes. Augsburg fans rejoiced in the 88th minute when Sebastian Langkamp lept above everyone and headed home the winner past Diego Benaglio.
The win moves Augsburg four points clear of the relegation zone.
Schalke 1 - 2 Borussia Dortmund
The 140th Revierderby kicked off with both sides coming off of complete opposite results in midweek. Schalke was able to control the pace of the match early and capitalized with goal in the 9th minute by Jefferson Farfan. The ball struck Dortmund defender Shinji Kagawa before finding its way to the back of the net.
BVB struck back less than ten minutes later when Lukasz Piszczek found the back of the net with an excellent strike. Schalke kept attacking and almost took the lead again just before halftime thanks to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
Sebastian Kehl made a second half appearance as a substitute, and he managed to score the goal to put BVB on top. Kehl pounced on a loose ball on the box after a cross by Ilkay Gündogan struck Schalke defender Christian Fuchs.
The win pushes Dortmund to the brink of repeating as Bundesliga champions. A win or draw next week will clinch their second straight title
Bayer Leverkusen 3 - 3 Hertha Berlin
Hertha Berlin came from two down against Leverkusen to take a lead but were forced to settle for a draw. Had they managed to hold on for the victory, they would be on 30 points and within reaching distance of safety.
The first half wasn’t full of many chances, but Leverkusen struck first in the 44th minute when Andre Schürrle put a curling effort past Hertha’s Thomas Kraft. Stefan Kießling made it 2-0 after halftime with some impressive dribbling skills before beating Kraft. Pierre-Michel Lasogga pulled one back for Hertha 10 minutes later.
Disaster struck minutes later when Levan Kobiashvili conceded a penalty was sent off for fouling Eren Derdiyok. Thomas Kraft was up for the challenge and made the save on Rolfes' penalty. Hertha somehow turned this into two goals thanks to Tunay Torun.
Just when Hertha thought they were going to leave Leverkusen with all three points, in the 84th minute Kießling headed home the goal that would divide the points at one apiece.
Hamburg 1 - 0 Hannover
Desperate for a win to put some space between themselves and the relegation zone, Hamburg got a goal from Heung-Min Son to give them a victory over Hannover. Son's goal came in the 12th minute when he managed to hold off Steve Cherundolo and beat Ron-Robert Zieler.
Hamburg are now five points out of the relegation zone. If results go their way next weekend, they can seal their safety in the top flight. Hannover are in 7th place and two points ahead of Werder Bremen.
Bayern Munich 0 - 0 Mainz
Bayern Munich changed five starters from midweek's 1-0 loss to Borrusia Dortmund and were only able to manage a 0-0 draw at the Allianz Arena against Mainz. Diego Contento, Rafinha, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger were all inserted into the starting lineup, but they were unable to generate any legitimate chances in the first half.
The second half saw the introduction of Franck Ribery and Mario Gomez and some limited success for Bayern, but they were still unable to find the back of the net.
The point pushes Mainz closer to guaranteeing their place in the first division next season. They currently sit eight points ahead of 16th place Köln with only three matches remaining. Köln will travel to Gladbach on Sunday.
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