La Liga and the Premier League may have claimed more headlines this weekend, but Matchday 26 in the Bundesliga served up several goal-fests and results that make the fight for Champions League spots even more interesting in Germany. From Marco Reusai??i?? return to action to Leverkusenai??i??s deepening crisis, here are the highlights of Matchday 26.
Dortmund thwart Bayern and warm up for Revierderby
JA?rgen Klopp was delighted with his team after their 3-0 win away at Hannover. Not only was it the perfect way to prepare for the all-important Revierderby on Tuesday, but it also meant that Bayern Munich had to delay their championship festivities for another week.
Klopp rang in the changes in Lower Saxony, giving captain Sebastian Kehl a well-deserved rest by bringing in veteran Oliver Kirch, who deputized with quiet efficiency. Youngsters Erik Durm and Jonas Hofmann finally got to start, with the former coming in for the injured Marcel Schmelzer and the latter for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The speedy Gabonian was suffering from a muscular problem, and Klopp decided not to risk him before facing Schalke. One of the most welcome sights for the men in yellow was sitting on the bench; after two weeks out, Marco Reus was finally back on the team sheet, and upon his introduction in the 68th minute immediately infused his team with a creativity they had sorely missed.
This was not BVBai??i??s best performance, and Hannover had several good chances in the first half, including an Andre Hoffmann shot that hit the post in the 18th minute. When BVBai??i??s break finally came two minutes from halftime, it wasnai??i??t pretty. In an unlikely collaborative effort between Dortmundai??i??s two central defenders, Sokratis got his head onto a Kevin GroAYkreutz cross, which Mats Hummels then poked into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.
The opener may not have been a beautiful one, but Dortmundai??i??s other goals certainly were. In the 52nd minute, Robert Lewandowski, with ice in his veins, evaded five Hannover defenders to shoot past Zieler, while Marco Reus made the perfect comeback, showing off his pace and acceleration, to score a 91st minute goal that added icing to the Dortmund cake.
With BVBai??i??s victory, Bayernai??i??s champagne and confetti had to wait one more week, and Dortmund will feel confident ahead of the Revierderby, a fixture that not only carries immense emotional importance, but may determine who finishes the season in second.
The Fight for Fourth Heats Up
Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia MAi??nchengladbach are both powerful teams that have suffered bad form of late. Leverkusen flew high in the Hinrunde, pushing Dortmund for second and even occupying that perch only four match days ago. Since then, they have fallen to fourth, and are now seven points behind BVB. Similarly, Gladbach looked in firm contention for a European spot before dropping to eighth place by Matchday 24.
And yet how fickle football can be. After shocking Dortmund 2-1 in a brilliant display last week, the Foals thrashed Hertha Berlin, another team with European aspirations, 3-0 on Saturday. Three first-half goals from Gladbachai??i??s big guns, Arango, Kruse, and Raffael put Hertha to the sword and set Lucien Favreai??i??s side firmly back into contention for a European place. They are now only two points behind Leverkusen, with a superior goal difference and a relatively easy fixture list coming up.
Gladbachai??i??s chance is largely due to Leverkusenai??i??s continued fall down the table. Sami Hyypiaai??i??s side has not won in nine games (in all competitions), and has dropped 17 points and conceded 13 goals in the last six matchdays. In the five-goal thriller against Hoffenheim, however, they were unlucky to lose, conceding the fatal goal in the 89th minute. Hoffenheim opened the scoring after Roberto Hilbert conceded a penalty for a handball that, upon replay, looked to be just outside the penalty area. Salihovic converted it nonetheless, but Leverkusen equalized 24 minutes later after KieAYling headed home from a beautiful cross by Spahic.
The celebrations had only just died down when Kevin Volland scored one of the best goals of the weekend with a lovely piece of footwork to shake off Guardado and score from distance. Yet in typical Hoffenheim fashion, the ability to score freely also came with the capacity to concede freely, and they allowed Leverkusen to equalize, 2-2, in the 54th minute with some poor defending. But it was Leverkusen that really failed to defend in the 89th minute when they allowed Fabian Johnson to charge freely down the right and find a poorly marked Modeste to deepen Hyypiaai??i??s misery.
Bayern may have won the title, but with these two teams separated by only two points, the race for the Champions League just got a lot more interesting.
Elsewhere in the Bundesligaai??i??
Freiburg jumped up two places to safety with a 3-1 victory over Werder Bremen, featuring a wonderful long-range goal by Julian Schuster. Schalke warmed up for their midweek derby with Dortmund by dispatching Braunschweig, 3-1, while VfB Stuttgart got their first win under Huub Stevensai??i??as well as their first win in 2014ai??i??by beating Hamburg, 1-0. Wolfsburg and Augsburg fought out a 1-1 draw, and a valiant Mainz held off Bayern until the 82nd minute before falling, 2-0. Finally, NA?rnberg and Frankfurt treated their fans to a 5-2 thriller that featured brilliant goals from both sides.
Random Five
Matchday 26 saw a whopping 3.45 goals per match, but only one player, Frankfurtai??i??s Joselu, managed to score more than once.
Augsburg have already clinched their best Bundesliga points total ever, 39, with eight games to go.
On Saturday, the Schalke starting eleven had an average age of 23.5, with five players 20 or under, prompting Bild to title its Revierderby preview, ai???Kindergarten Attack Against Klopp!ai???
By beating Bremen 3-1, Christian Streichai??i??s Freiburg won their 100th home game in the Bundesliga.
Hertha Berlinai??i??s defeat at Borussia MAi??nchengladbach is the first time the team has failed to win four games in a row under Jos Luhukay.
Goal of the Week
NA?rnbergai??i??s Josip Drmic may have been on the wrong side of Frankfurt and NA?rnbergai??i??s entertaining 5-2 battle, but his stunning back-heel first touch and cool execution beat out Robert Lewandowskiai??i??s one-man show for goal of the week.
