Round 26 of the Bundesliga saw plenty of excitement as the action hotted up at both ends of the table.
Bayern Munich could only manage a draw in the Bavarian derby against Nürnberg thanks to a Lukas Podolski goal. Werder Bremen crashed to yet another defeat at home to Duisburg, who climb out of the bottom three.
Bayer Leverkusen were beaten at home, while Hamburg had to come from behind to claim a point against Bielefeld.
Nürnberg 1-1 Bayern
An impressive first half performance from the home side was rewarded on 44 minutes with a goal. A quickly taken throw-in caught Bayern cold and Zvjezdan Misimovic fired past Oliver Kahn to give Nürnberg a well deserved lead.
Bayern’s endeavour in the second 45 minutes paid off though with substitute Lukas Podolski scoring his first league goal of the season in the 81st minute to rescue a point for the league leaders.
See full match report:
Goal.com - Germany - Podolski Goal Earns Bayern Draw
Werder Bremen 1-2 Duisburg
Werder Bremen crashed to yet another defeat (their third in four games) to see their chances of a top three finish diminish even further. The home loss to bottom side MSV Duisburg was a shock to the system, but has seen the Zebras climb out of the relegation zone.
After 32 minutes of an even opening to the game, the visitors took a surprise lead with Grlic firing home a direct free kick from a central position from about 18 meters.
If that wasn’t bad enough for the home fans to bear, the visitors then doubled their lead on 42 minutes. A long ball from defence saw Ishiaku beat Naldo before advancing and firing past Wiese from 12 meters.
Thomas Schaaf’s side gave themselves hope with a goal after 58 minutes through Brazilian Diego. The midfield maestro curled home a free kick from the left hand side which nestled beautifully in the far corner.
Much as they tried, Werder were just unable to find anymore goals and went down to yet another terrible defeat.
Karlsruhe 0-0 Schalke
Schalke earned a lucky point at Karlsruhe thanks largely to the home side wasting the goal scoring chances they had. KSC dominated the game for large periods, but were unable to translate that into goals.
Schalke, who perhaps had their upcoming Champions League tie with Barcelona on their minds, did however climb a place in the league thanks to the point and now lie third.
Bayer Leverkusen 0-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Bayer Leverkusen crashed to their second league defeat in a row with a 2-0 loss at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in a result which sees the Adler climbing to sixth and improving their chances of European qualification.
The opening goal came after 24 minutes with Bayer striker Stefan Kießling scoring an unfortunate own-goal. Weissenberger crossed a free kick over from the right and keeper Adler came out to clear. However, Kießling under pressure from Russ got his head to the ball first and knocked it past Adler and into the back of the net.
Leverkusen pushed and pushed for the equaliser but were either too hasty or too imprecise and were punished in stoppage time at the end of the second half with a second goal from the Greek striker Mantzios.
Bochum 3-3 Borussia Dortmund
Fans saw a veritable goal fest at the rewirpower Stadion with six goals shared between Bochum and Borussia Dortmund.
Bochum flew out of the blocks at hit Dortmund with two goals within the first ten minutes. With just three minutes on the clock, Azaough floated in a free kick into the six yard box. Ziegler got a hand to it but could only direct to Dabrowski, who headed in from close range.
Six minutes later Azaough was again the provider when he beat Kehl down the right hand side before laying the ball back to Benjamin Auer, who fired the ball into the back of the net with a shot that left keeper Ziegler no chance.
If that was dramatic then the two goals in two minutes that Dortmund scored towards the end of the first half were equally so. On 37 minutes Sebastian Kehl got his head to a Dede free kick to pull one back, before Dede repeated the trick, this time for Petric to head in on 39 minutes.
However, with the crowd still getting their breath back, Bochum hit another goal before the half time whistle. BVB provider Dede sent a weak back pass to Ziegler, which found only Thomas Zdebel. The ball made its way to Auer in the penalty area and he made no mistake and fired low into the far corner to restore the home side’s lead in an amazing first 45 minutes.
The final goal of a thoroughly entertaining game came midway through the second half with Brazilian midfielder Tinga getting in on the scoring after good work from substitute Diego Klimowicz.
Hamburg 1-1 Arminia Bielefeld
After a red card for HSV and a one goal lead, Bielefeld looked on course for a valuable win, but ten-man Hamburg fought back to rescue a point and eventually finished with ten against ten following another sending off.
All the action came in the second half at the HSH Nordbank Arena. Midfielder David Jarolim was given his marching orders after 66 minutes following a set-to with Schuler on the bye-line. Six minutes later and the HSV defence fell asleep at a corner and had to look on as Bollmann headed home.
With just eight minutes remaining Paulo Guerrero latched onto a Zidan ball before firing past Rowan Fernandez in the Bielefeld goal. Jorg Böhme was then sent-off five minutes from time for a second yellow card.
Goal.com - Bundesliga - Duisburg Stun Werder, Leverkusen Slump, HSV Held