Schalke climbed to second in the table with a 1-0 win over Rostock, leap-frogging Hamburg, who went down to a 1-0 loss at Stuttgart. The Swabians push into the top five with the win secured by Roberto Hilbert.
Werder Bremen got back to winning ways with a 2-1 win over Hertha, while Wolfsburg’s recent impressive form continued. Nürnberg secured a potentially vital win against Frankfurt in a game marred by crowd trouble.
Schalke 1-0 Hansa Rostock
Schalke managed to climb to second in the table with a 1-0 win over Hansa Rostock. The Königsblauen put in a workmanlike performance in a rather lacklustre game which was decided by a second half goal from Halil Altintop.
The only goal of the game at the Veltins Arena came on 52 minutes when midfielder Altintop headed home a right wing cross from Albert Streit.
Mirko Slomka’s side can now concentrate fully on Wednesday’s vital second leg Champions League clash at the Nou Camp against Barcelona.
Stuttgart 1-0 Hamburg
VfB Stuttgart climbed into the top five for the first time this season with a 1-0 win over Hamburg at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion. A first half strike from midfielder Roberto Hilbert proved enough to take all three points for the Swabians.
The defeat however sees HSV give up second place to Schalke and continue their recent poor run of form.
Hertha Berlin 1-2 Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen got themselves back on track with a valuable away win against Hertha Berlin, which sees them climb one place into fifth after four games without a win.
Under-pressure Werder got off to a dream start at the Olympiastadion with a goal inside the very first minute. Fritz broke down the right and sent the ball goalwards. Markus Rosenberg was quicker than Josip Simunic and fired in despite a valiant effort from keeper Drobny.
Hertha however quickly got themselves back in the game with an equaliser after ten minutes. Skacel fired a free kick from the halfway line into the Werder penalty area, where André Lima rose to flick the ball past Tim Wiese and into the back of the net.
What proved to be the winning goal came after 73 minutes with international midfielder Tim Borowski taking a through ball from Torsten Frings superbly before firing an unstoppable effort past Jaroslav Drobny.
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-3 Nürnberg
Nürnberg took a huge step towards securing their Bundesliga survival with a well-earned away win at Frankfurt.
The home side got themselves off to the ideal start with a goal after just three minutes. Amanatidis broke free down the left past Abardonardo and sent a sublime cross into the centre, that saw Michael Fink volley home from 14 meters to hand Eintracht an early lead.
Struggling Nürnberg however got themselves back in the game after 18 minutes by grabbing the equaliser through Angelos Charisteas. Seconds earlier Saenko has just missed, the Greek striker converted from close range after good work down the left from Misimovic.
The game then had to be interrupted and the players left the pitch after half an hour with burning fireworks raining down on the pitch and the police having to enter the stand where the away fans were. After a fifteen minute break, the game got back underway, but with the warning that the game would be stopped at the next similar incident.
‘Der Klub’ then got themselves in front on 49 minutes when Robert Vittek profited from a corner which Eintracht keeper Nikolov had trouble dealing with. The three points and the valuable win was sealed on 83 minutes when Misimovic applied the finishing touch to a fine counter attacking move.
The win doesn’t see Nürnberg out of the bottom three, but it is a step in the right direction after their draw with Bayern last week.
Wolfsburg 2-1 Hannover
Wolfsburg’s fine form continued with a 3-2 home win over Hannover. Felix Magath’s side have climbed to seventh with another win which continues their fantastic form in the second half of the season.
The home side took the lead after 20 minutes through Dejagah after he had been sent in from a flick on from Dzeko. The lead however lasted just seven minutes with Hannover equalising through Bruggink. The midfielder headed home a Huszti cross from close range.
However, two minutes later and the home side were back in front with captain Marcelinho on target. A long punt from keeper Benaglio wasn’t cleared by the Hannover defenders and the Brazilian fired home from a Dejagah pass.
The ‘Wölfe’ made it 3-1 after 71 minutes with Ashkan Dejagah capping a fine performance with his second goal of the game. Schulz lost the ball in midfield to Hasebe, who sent a great ball forward. The German U-21 international got himself on the end of a Dzeko cross to head past Robert Enke.
Ten minutes from time the away side pulled a goal back with Jiri Stajner rifling home a right foot shot after beating five defenders and the keeper. The home side however hung on the secure another three points.
Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 Karlsruhe
Bielefeld secured a first win for trainer Michael Frontzeck with a late late winner against Karlsruhe. A goal two minutes into injury time from Kampantais saw the home side to a potentially vital win.
Bielefeld were deserved winners with KSC thankful to keeper Markus Miller that it stayed 0-0 for so long.
The goal arrived in the 92nd minute with Kampantais fired home a right-foot shot after Miller had parried out a shot from Eigler.
Goal.com - Bundesliga - Bundesliga Round-Up: Schalke Go Second, Werder Back In The Running