Bundesliga Wrap, Week 9: Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund all win
The top three in the Bundesliga won this weekend to maintain their positions in the table.
Lennart Preiss
Hoffenheim 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen
I’m sure you’ve heard of Stefan Kießling’s “phantom goal” by now. Replays showed that Kießling’s header cleary went through a hole in the side netting, but the referee awarded the goal. Sidney Sam scored the other goal for Leverkusen on the night to help them to a 2-1 victory over Hoffenheim. However, the hosts have filed an official protest on the match due the “phantom goal”, so we’ll have to wait and see if there will be a replay of this match.
Saturday, October 19
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Hannover
Marco Reus converted a penalty after just four minutes, and BVB held on for the remaining 86 minutes to escape with a 1-0 victory. The penalty occurred after Hiroki Sakai hauled down Erik Durm in the penalty area. Both sides pushed for goals in what was truly an entertaining game, but Ron-Robert Zieler and Roman Weidenfeller were up to the task each time on the night.
Bayern Munich 4-1 Mainz
Bayern struggled in the first half and were made to pay for it when Shawn Parker scored just before the half to give Mainz the 1-0 advantage. However, the second half was all Bayern. The Bavarians came out firing and had the lead after just seven minutes of the second half thanks to goals from Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller. Mario Mandzukic made it 3-0 and then Thomas Müller capped of the scoring with a late penalty. Bayern keep their spot at the top of the table.
Werder Bremen 0-0 Freiburg
Werder and Freiburg decided that they wanted to play to the first scoreless draw of the season.
Eintracht Braunschweig 2-3 Schalke
Roman Neustädter scored in stoppage time to give Schalke all three points over Eintracht Braunschweig and pull them into fifth place in the Bundesliga. After the awful start, Jens Keller’s side has battled to find themselves back up the table in a place to compete for the Champions League place. Braunschweig squandered a 1-0 and a 2-1 lead in this one with Max Meyer and Leon Goretzka grabbing goals for Die Königsblauen.
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Nürnberg
Vaclav Kadlec put Frankfurt ahead in the 50th minute, but Josip Drmic found an equalizer in the 86th minute to give Nürnberg a point.
Hertha Berlin 1-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Who would’ve thought at the beginning of the season that Hertha Berlin would be sitting in fourth place heading into matchday 10? Jos Luhukay has done a remarkable job getting the newly promoted side ready for Bundesliga play. This week it was a strike by Adrian Ramos in the first half that was enough for Hertha to hold on for the victory in the second half. Gladbach continued their winless-on-the-road streak to start the season. They are only two points back of Hertha.
Sunday, October 20
Hamburg 3-3 Stuttgart
Hamburg showed us once again why their games are fun to watch. They can score with the best of them and concede with the worst of them. Stuttgart took the lead on three different occasions, but Hamburg managed to peg them back all three times. If Bert van Marwijk can somehow get this team playing better defense, they should shoot up the table.
Augsburg 1-2 Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg picked up their first road points of the season with a 2-1 victory in Augsburg. The hosts started very strong, but their inability to get anything other than a Tobias Werner goal for all their dominance was eventually their downfall. Maximilian Arnold and Luiz Gustavo gave Wolfsburg the lead before the end of the first half, and Die Wölfe held on throughout the second half for an important three points.
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