Borussia Dortmund extended their lead over Bayern Munich to nine points as The Hard Tackle brings you a summary of Matchday 12 of the 2018/19 Bundesliga campaign.
Fans got to witness by far the most exciting set of matches as Matchday 12 of the 2018/19 Bundesliga offered us with a host surprising results across the weekend.
Defending champions Bayern Munich stumbled yet again after failing to win against newly promoted Fortuna Dusseldorf, who staged an amazing comeback to snatch one point. Bayern’s draw allowed league leaders Borussia Dortmund to extend their lead over the Bavarians, thanks to a narrow win over FSV Mainz 05.
Other top dogs including Bayer Leverkusen, FC Schalke and Borussia Monchengladbach all secured convincing victories this weekend while RB Leipzig suffered a shocking 1-0 defeat to VfL Wolfsburg.
Eintracht Frankfurt also maintained their winning momentum, clinching all three points against FC Augsburg. Hertha Berlin and TSG Hoffenheim, on the other hand, played out a high scoring draw on Saturday before high-flying Werder Bremen were held by SC Freiburg, the following day.
Friday: Leverkusen demolish Stuttgart
Following a thumping defeat to Leipzig in their last game, Bayer Leverkusen returned to winning ways against Stuttgart on Friday. Die Schwaben failed to create any spark going forward as Leverkusen dominated throughout the course of the game, with Kevin Volland attempting as many as five shots on goal in the first half.
At the same time, Leverkusen were guilty of squandering a host of clear-cut opportunities before Volland eventually found the opener in the 75th minute. The former Hoffenheim attacker doubled his tally short afterwards, through a well-timed volley to down Stuttgart, who have now tasted four defeats in five matches under Markus Weinzierl.
Saturday: Bayern held by Dusseldorf; Paco strikes again and much more
Prior to the season, Bayern were tipped to secure their seventh successive league title but the unsettling reality for the Bavarians is that they are now trailing league leaders Dortmund by nine points, thanks to a disappointing 3-3 draw with Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Niko Kovac’s men started the game on a positive note and dominated Dusseldorf throughout the first half, even though a 44th-minute strike from Dodi Lukebakio did dampen their mood going into the half-time break. And though the Bavarians did manage to restore their two-goal cushion in the second half, it was Lukebakio who stole the show – scoring two late goals to snatch a valuable point for his side.
While Bayern stuttered against lowly Dusseldorf, league leaders Dortmund made full use of that opportunity to extend their lead over the German champions following a narrow win over Mainz.
As the scoreline suggests, the Black and Yellows were made to work very hard to collect all three points as Mainz defended diligently whilst providing a great deal of threat from counter-attacks. In fact, the 05-ers looked like the better team at certain stages of the game.
However, Paco Alcacer struck the back of the net once again, scoring the opener just minutes after coming on in the second half. The former Barcelona striker has signed a permanent long-term contract with Dortmund recently and will be delighted to have scored his ninth league goal of the season.
Although Mainz replied quickly through Robin Quaison, an unusual and somewhat surprising goal from Lukasz Piszczek sealed all three points for the league leaders.
Eintracht Frankfurt’s dangerous attacking trio was in the mix once again as the Eagles eased to a comfortable 3-1 win over FC Augsburg. Sebastien Haller assisted Jonathan de Guzman’s opener in the second minute of the game before the Frenchman went on to the scoresheet himself just after the restart.
Augsburg were pretty menacing, however, notably creating a couple of clear-cut chances, one of which was ruled out due to Michael Gregoritsch being offside. The former HSV star was instrumental behind Augsburg’s attack but was extremely unlucky as Ante Rebic sealed all three points midway through the second half with a simple tap-in. Sergio Cordova scored the consolation goal for Augsburg in the last minute.
Elsewhere, Hoffenheim blew a two-goal lead in the second half to draw with Hertha Berlin at the Olympiastadion. The visitors scored two early goals through Kerem Demirbay and Andrej Kramaric and had a 3-1 lead just 10 minutes after the restart. But, late goals from Matthew Leckie and Valentino Lazaro helped Hertha complete a stunning fightback as both sides shared the spoils.
Wolfsburg, on the other hand, ended Leipzig’s ten game unbeaten run thanks to some diligent defending throughout the game. Although Leipzig were wasteful in front of goal, the Wolves do deserve credit for holding out a flurry of dangerous attacks as Jerome Roussillon’s goal minutes after half-time guided them to a narrow win over Die Roten-Bullen.
And in the topspiel, struggling Schalke registering a whopping 5-2 win over newly promoted Nurnberg. The Royal Blues were dominant throughout the entirety of the game with Steven Skrzybski scoring twice on his starting debut with the club. Amine Harit and Guido Burgstaller also chipped in with a goal each before Bastian Oczipka added another late in the game to add further gloss to the scoreline.
Sunday: Freiburg hold Bremen; Gladbach continue to impress
On Sunday, SC Freiburg showed excellent resilience in defence to secure a 1-1 draw with high-flying Werder Bremen. However, coach Christian Streich will be disappointed not to secure a victory as his team led for the most part of the game before a late goal from Ludwig Augustinsson helped Bremen collect a solitary point at the end.
And finally, Borussia Monchengladbach continued their excellent run of form, securing a 4-1 win over Hannover 96. Although the Foals were quite wasteful in front of goal despite creating several scoring opportunities, goals from Thorgan Hazard, Michael Lang, Lars Stindl and Denis Zakaria was indicative of the coherence of their team.
The huge win helps Gladbach maintain their second-placed status in the league table with 26 points on the board, just four points behind league leaders Dortmund and three points ahead of third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
