Dortmund profits as FCB, S04 and Gladbach stumble
Matchday 24 was made for Dortmund. The current champion won 2-1 against Mainz as all three competitors stumbled. Bayern lost 0-2 against Leverkusen, Schalke 1-2 in Freiburg and Gladbach 0-1 in Nuremberg.
Shinji Kagawa (left) was the man of the match.
Borussia Dortmund was the great benefiter of matchday 24 as they were the only team in the upper ranks able to win. BVB defeated Mainz 05 with 2-1 on Saturday night. Jakub Blaszczykowski scored the lead in first half but Dortmund was unable to score more goals although they had several good opportunities.
Former BVB pro Mohammed Zidan equalized the score in minute 70 but Shinji Kagawa scored the leading goal only 180 seconds afterwards. Dortmund is now leading the pack in Germany by seven points and is right on track for defending the championship.
FC Bayern Munich lost the game against Bayer 04 Leverkusen with 0-2 after they scored two late goals within the last 10 minutes. Leverkusen is on fifth rank and only four points shy of Schalke and rank four, which would enable them to play Champions League qualification next season.
Schalke was defeated by SC Freiburg with 2-1 and Gladbach lost their match in Nuremberg with 0-1 on Sunday. They are 11 respectively 8 points behind Dortmund.
Hamburger SV was crushed by VFB Stuttgart on home ground as they lost 0-4 with no chance whatsoever. The ugly highpoint of a devastating match for HSV was the ugly attack of Paolo Guerrero against Sven Ulreich. The HSV forward saw the red card for the highly unnecessary attack from behind against VFB´s keeper on the corner of the field.
FC Augsburg played pretty well against Hanover 96 especially during the first half but was unable to enlarge the lead after the first goal. Hanover found back into the game and turned things around. Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker equalized the score in the last minute by penalty kick. End result 2-2.
The match between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and VFL Wolfsburg ended 0-0 and the 1. FC Cologne and Hoffenheim chopped the points as well but with the score board showing 1-1.
Already on Friday night Hertha BSC Berlin and new head coach Otto Rehagel, a German coaching legend, secured their first win since he began working in Germany´s capital. The match against Werder Bremen ended 1-0.
