The penultimate round of Bundesliga action gets underway this weekend with the title decided, but many more questions unanswered.
The race for the Champions League places has also been sewn up by Werder Bremen and Schalke, but the race for the Uefa Cup places is still anyone’s guess. Hamburg and Stuttgart lead the way but Bayer Leverkusen will be hoping they can make it. Down at the bottom the battle for survival looks set to go right to the wire with nobody mathematically doomed yet.
Wolfsburg – Stuttgart
Wolfsburg are already looking to next season with a European place now beyond them and the news this week has been dominated by the possible arrival of Italian defender Christian Zaccardo.
The season however isn’t over for the Wölfe and they showed that they were not going to relax in their remaining games with a scintillating 3-2 away win over Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek.
Stuttgart went down to a 3-2 loss themselves to Borussia Dortmund, but with Bayer Leverkusen also losing they remained in the top five and still have a three point lead over Bayer in sixth, so their destiny is very much in their own hands.
If the match was at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion, you’d say home win, but as mentioned Wolfsburg will not role over so VfB will have to fight for the three points on Saturday.
Duisburg – Bayern Munich
With the Zebras fighting for their Bundesliga survival they have to take on the newly crowned league champions in their penultimate game of the season, so the pressure is really mounting on Rudi Bommer’s side.
Things are looking bad for MSV after they lost their key six-pointer in midweek against relegation rivals Nürnberg. Even a shock win over the Bavarians wouldn’t be enough to see them out of the bottom three, but a loss would see them extremely close to the drop.
Bayern trainer Ottmar Hitzfeld has vowed that his side will not be taking things easy after clinching the title as they want to be fair and keep the league as competitive as possible.
They put strugglers Bielefeld to the sword at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, and it would be difficult to bet against inflicting another painful defeat on Duisburg this weekend as they chase the Bundesliga record for the fewest goals conceded and with Luca Toni looking to add to already hefty goals tally.
Hansa Rostock – Bayer Leverkusen
This really is the last chance saloon for Hansa Rostock as they look to make the escape of all-time. They are currently bottom and need two wins combined with no points for Duisburg, Nürnberg, or Bielefeld in their remaining two games.
Some of the Hansa players admitted that all was lost after their 3-0 midweek loss at Hannover. The Ostseestädter will have to start preparing for life back in the second division and hope for a swift return and better luck next time.
Bayer Leverkusen however are not the tough proposition they were earlier in the season and a recent slump has seen them out of the top five and in real danger of missing out on Europe altogether next season.
Successive losses to Hertha Berlin and Duisburg have allowed Stuttgart to take the lead in the race for fifth and seen some sections of the Bayer fans calling for trainer Michael Skibbe to be fired. If ever three points were needed, this is it.
Hertha Berlin – Nürnberg
Hertha continue to rely heavily on Serbian striker Marko Pantelic and it was his performance combined with some excellent goalkeeping from Jaroslav Drobny that saw the capital club beat Bayer Leverkusen at the Bay-Arena in midweek.
Lucien Favre will be targeting a top ten finish this season, so three points this weekend are a must. Things will however be difficult against a team fighting tooth and nail for survival.
Nürnberg have given themselves real hope following their 2-0 in over fellow relegation candidates Duisburg on Wednesday.
Thomas von Heesen will want his side to build upon that, knowing that anything less than a win could see them down if results elsewhere go against them. Last season’s Cup winners are leaving it really late, but the belief is there that they can stay up.
Energie Cottbus – Hamburg
Energie look to have done just enough to stay in the top flight but still need a few more points to banish the worry of relegation for good.
Five wins in their last ten games has seen them move two points clear of the bottom three, but they are still too close for trainer Bojan Prasnikar’s liking.
The points are equally important for Hamburg as they look to crown their season with at least Uefa Cup qualification. For so long Huub Stevens’ side looked like genuine Champions League hopefuls but a poor run of form has seen them having to fight with Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen for a place in the top five.
The Hanseaten got themselves back on track last weekend with a 3-1 win over Hansa Rostock, but then went down to a 1-0 defeat to rivals Werder in the Nord-derby in midweek.
Karlsruhe – Bochum
Karlsruhe’s final home game of the season will give them a chance to sign off with a victory and cement a top ten finish. If they had been told that at the start of the season, then Edmund Becker and most of the fans would have been delighted.
Their fantastic start to the season and the fact that they maintained it had some dreaming of Europe, but despite falling away a little towards the end of the season, nothing should detract from the achievements of newly promoted KSC this season. Three points against Bochum would be the ideal send off at the Wildparkstadion.
Bochum have slipped of late and although their Bundesliga status is secure they are a lot lower in the table than they would like and look set to finish a lot lower than the eighth place they achieved last season.
Arminia Bielefeld – Borussia Dortmund
Having lost to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, the Arminen really need the three points at home to Dortmund to keep them out of the bottom three and fend off any challenge from either Duisburg or Nürnberg.
Bielefeld have their survival in their own hands with two games against Dortmund and Stuttgart. Neither game is easy so Michael Frontzeck’s team are going to have to come up with a superhuman effort in order to secure the points they need.
Thomas Doll could only have two more games as Dortmund trainer if media reports are to be believed, but the former East German international will want to finish the season on a high for the ‘Yellow and Blacks’ and add to the impressive 3-2 win they achieved in midweek over Stuttgart.
Werder Bremen – Hannover
Werder Bremen are guaranteed a top three finish this season, but they will still want to fend off the late challenge from Schalke for the runners up berth.
Thomas Schaaf’s side came out on top in the Nord-derby against rivals Hamburg on Wednesday, but it came at a cost with a number of suspensions incurred after a spate of yellow and red cards. The victory over HSV wasn’t pretty, but that won’t matter if Werder can beat Schalke to second place.
A top eight finish for Hannover is very much on the cards as they look to finish the season strongly. Unbeaten in their last five games, Dieter Heckings's side may prove a tough nut for Werder to crack this weekend.
Schalke – Eintracht Frankfurt
Schalke have third place sewn up but would dearly love to go one better and usurp Werder as Bundesliga runners up. It would confirm the Königsblauen’s role as perennial bridesmaids, but would also give incoming boss Fred Rutten something to work on next season.
After a disappointing home draw with Hannover, Schalke returned to winning ways in midweek with an impressive win over Ruhr rivals Bochum with midfielder Ivan Rakitic on top form.
Opponents Frankfurt ended up on the wrong end of a 3-2 defeat to Wolfsburg so will be looking to recovery against the Königsblauen at the Veltins Arena.
Goal.com - Bundesliga - Bundesliga Weekend Preview: Round 33