Sunday 22 December 2013

Bundesliga Matchday 17 Roundup: Dortmund and Leverkusen disappoint

As the Bundesliga finished off its 2013 schedule, FC Bayern was missing, enroute to a fifth cup in Morroco.  Matchday 17 was disappointing for both second place Bayer Leverkusen and last year's Champions League finalist Borussia Dortmund.  As the year ends, with one game in hand, Bayern has a 12 point lead over Dortmund and a seven point lead over Bayer Leverkusen.

Schalke 04, which will be meeting Real Madrid in the knock out round, did not convince anyone of its ability to get a decent result against the Real stars.  In a scrappy match Schalke managed a scoreless draw against Nuernberg, a side that has yet to register a victory this season.  Leverkusen dropped three points in Bremen, moving the Hanseaten into 12th spot, while Leverkusen remains in second.

In the Friday night opener, Frankfurt and Augsburg fought to a 1-1 draw, leaving Frankfurt just one point out of the relegation zone.  Raul Bobadilla opened the scoring for Augsburg, but Frankfurt's Jan Rosenthal equalized then minutes later.  Augsburg has a respectable 17 game finish in the top half of the league.

Borussia Dortmund's match against Hertha BSC Berlin should have been an easy one on paper, especially at home.  With a number of injuries, it is pretty apparent that this side is not the one that was fielded last year.  While Marco Reus scored Dortmund's first goal, Sami Allagui had a part in both Berlin goals. An Allagui pass to Ramos resulted in the equalizer, while Allagui put in the second himself.  The win moves Berlin into sixth spot, ahead of Schalke on goal difference. Dortmund trails Bayern by 12 points and Leverkusen by five. 

Werder Bremen held on to a 1-0 win over Leverkusen, despite it's 21 point deficit on the league's second placed club.  Bremen scored on a quick counter 15 minutes from the final whistle and after that just held on.  Bremen moves into 12th spot, while Leverkusen is 7 off pace from league leader Bayern.

SC Freiburg won its third match of the season after defeating Hannover 2-1, but remains in the relegation zone,  one point behind Frankfurt. Hamburg dropped three points at home against Mainz, finishing off in 14th spot after 17 matches.  Mainz is in ninth spot.  Braunschweig won its third match by edging out a 1-0 victory over Hoffenheim. The newly promoted club sits at the bottom of the league after 17 with 11 points.

Sunday's match featured Gladbach and Wolfsburg.  While the sides remained scoreless in the first half, the ball found the back of the net four times in the second half.  Wolfsburg took the lead, but Gladbach got the equalizer on a goal from Rafael and took a 2-1 lead shortly after on a free kick. Wolfsburg was able to get an equalizer and the sides parted with a point each.  The point was enough to move Gladbach into third spot ahead of Dortmund.

20.12.2013, 20.30    Eintracht Frankfurt vs FC Augsburg    1-1
   
21.12.2013, 15.30    Borussia Dortmund vs Hertha BSC    1-2 
21.12.2013, 15.30    Werder Bremen vs Bayer Leverkusen    1-0   
21.12.2013, 15.30    SC Freiburg vs Hannover 96    2-1   
21.12.2013, 15.30    Hamburger SV vs FSV Mainz 05    2-3   
21.12.2013, 15.30    Eintr. Braunschweig vs 1899 Hoffenheim    1-0  
21.12.2013, 18.30    1. FC Nürnberg vs Schalke 04    0-0
   
22.12.2013, 15.30    Bor. Mönchengladbach vs VfL Wolfsburg    2-2  
29.01.2014, 20.00    VfB Stuttgart vs Bayern München    (-:-)

Posn  Team             GP   W   D   L    GF/GA   Points
1      FC Bayern        16    14   2    0       42:8         44
2      Leverkusen       17    12   1    4       32:16       37
3      M'gladbach       17    10   3    4       35:19       33
4      Dortmund         17    10   2    5       38:20       32
5      Wolfsburg         17      9   3     5      28:19       30
6      Hertha BSC       17     8  4     5       27:20       28
7      Schalke             17      8   4    5       32:26       28
8      Augsburg           17     7   3    7      21:25        24
9      Mainz                17      7   3    7      25:32       24
10    Stuttgart             16     5    4   7      28:29        19
11    Hoffenheim        17     4    6   7      36:38        19
12    Bremen               17     5     4   7    22:37        19
13    Hannover           17     5    3    9     23:31        18
14    Hamburg            17     4    4    9     33:38        16
15    Frankfurt            17     3     6   8     20:29        15
16    Freiburg              17     3     5   9     16:31       14
17    Nürnberg             17    0    11   6     17:33       11
18    B'schweig            17     3     2  12    10:32       11

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