Bundesliga 2007/08 ~ Champions: FC Bayern München

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Schalke 04 host MSV Duisburg in Friday's Bundesliga encounter. Both teams need the points, but for quite different reasons.

"This is a game that has to be won, no ifs and buts about it", said Schalke coach Mirko Slomka, with one eye on the teams' respective league positions and the other on his side's hectic schedule in the upcoming weeks.

Away win overdue

Stuttgart's win at Cottbus in their rescheduled match has made things really tight in the top third of the table", Slomka went on, explaining that, "As qualification for the Champions League remains our goal for the season, and with difficult games in Bremen and Hamburg among others yet to come, we have to see that we drop as few points as possible in the interim. And first and foremost, we must win our games at the Veltins Arena."

The statistics certainly favour Schalke: they haven't lost at home to Duisburg since going down 3-1 on 30 April 1994.

Trio injured

Slomka is keeping his cards close to his chest as to his starting line-up, and is in the fortunate position of having all but three of the squad at his disposal - Zlatan Bajramovic (foot injury), Markus Heppke (Shoulder injury) and Zé Roberto (torn muscle fibre).

Fabian Ernst and Rafinha both return from suspension, while long-term convalescent Christian Pander made a successful comeback at Bielefeld.

Bommer short up front

By contrast, Duisburg coach Rudi Bommer is looking rather short of options up front. In addition to Ailton having finally left the club at the end of February and Klemen Lavric no longer being part of Bommer's plans, MSV now also have to contend with a muscle fibre injury to Manasseh Ishiaku.

Claudiu Niculescu takes his place in attack, with Bojan Vrucina likely to partner him following a solid performance against Rostock.

Defensive chief missing

MSV will also have to do without defensive organiser Björn Schlicke - again due to a torn muscle fibre. Down in the relegation zone since the end of September, they are not, however, travelling to Gelsenkirchen just to make up the numbers. "We have no intention of selling ourselves short", Bommer warned.

Probable line-ups:

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Westermann - Jones, Ernst - Rakitic, Kobiaschwili - Altintop, Kuranyi

Duisburg: Starke - Weber, Fernando, Filipescu, Willi - Grlic, Tararache - Tiffert, Georgiew - Niculescu, Vrucina

Referee: Jochen Drees (Mainz)

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Friday match result:

Schalke 2 - 1 Duisburg

21' [0 - 1] B. Georgiev
60' [1 - 1] K. Kuranyi
75' [2 - 1] H. Westermann

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Schalke were forced to come from behind to beat lowly Duisburg 2-1 at the Arena AufSchalke on Friday.

Blagoy Georgiev gave the visitors a shock 20th-minute lead with a brilliant solo goal, and Schalke did not equalise until just before the hour mark when Kevin Kuranyi bundled in an Ivan Rakitic cross.

Heiko Westermann volleyed in a close-range rebound with 16 minutes remaining to secure the three points.

The result takes fifth-placed Schalke level on 41 points with Bayer Leverkusen, nine behind league leaders Bayern Munich, while Duisburg remain second from bottom on 18 points, now with one win in nine Bundesliga games.

After two consecutive home defeats - and news of a Champions League semi-final draw against Barcelona - Schalke began poorly.

Maicon forced a fingertip save from Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer on 14 minutes and, while Jermaine Jones wasted two chances at the other end, Georgiev's effort was due reward for Duisburg's positive start.

The Bulgaria international intercepted the ball inside his own half and advanced down the left flank, dribbling past Gustavo Varela before curling his chipped shot past Neuer from the left corner of the penalty area for his first Bundesliga goal.

The home side improved after half-time, scoring twice in 15 minutes to win the game.

After Duisburg lost the ball in defence, Rakitic crossed from the right and, though it was too high for Halil Altintop, Kuranyi scored with his knee at the far post from six yards.

Schalke continued to pile on the pressure, and won the game when Westermann was first to the rebound after Gerald Asamoah headed against the crossbar, firing in a close-range volley from a tight angle.

SportingLife.com

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Saturday match results:

Bochum 1 - 1 Stuttgart

21' [1 - 0] C. Dabrowski
47' [1 - 1] T. Hitzlsperger

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Energie Cottbus 2 - 0 Bayern Munich

18' [1 - 0] B. Jelic
38' [2 - 0] B. Jelic

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Hamburger SV 1 - 0 Borussia Dortmund

63' [1 - 0] J.P. Guerrero

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Hannover 2 - 2 Arminia Bielefeld

14' [0 - 1] A. Mijatovic
16' [1 - 1] A. Bruggink
38' [1 - 2] C. Eigler
56' [2 - 2] J. Stajner

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Hansa Rostock 0 - 0 Hertha BSC

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Karlsruhe 0 - 1 Eintracht Frankfurt

25' [0 - 1] M. Fink

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In another exciting afternoon of Bundesliga action there were plenty of talking points. Bayern Munich crashed to only their second defeat of the season, while Hamburg climbed to second after a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund.

Stuttgart had to settle for a draw against Bochum, while Frankfurt beat Karlsruhe to leapfrog them into seventh.

Hamburg 1-0 Borussia Dortmund

It was an unhappy return to the HSH Nordbank Arena for Thomas Doll as his Dortmund side went down to a 1-0 defeat to Hamburg. The Hanseaten recovered well from their midweek Uefa Cup exit to go second in the table, albeit for possibly 24 hours only.

In a game full of chances it was Hamburg who triumphed thanks to a 63rd minute strike from Paulo Guerrero. The Peruvian managed to beat Amedick to an Ivica Olic cross to fire home the only goal of the game.

Bochum 1-1 Stuttgart

VfL Bochum remain unbeaten in their last seven league games at home thanks to a 1-1 draw with Stuttgart, which ended the Swabians run of two successive wins. Both sides had chances to win it in the second half, but had to be content with a point.

Four minutes into the game and the home fans were on their feet with the ball in the back of the Stuttgart net. Unfortunately Benjamin Auer was adjudged to have been offside as he poked in after Ulreich had saved Stanislav Sestak’s original effort.

Stuttgart also had a goal chalked off on 15 minutes for a supposed foul on keeper Lastuvka following a corner.

On 20 minutes they did have something to shout about with Dabrowski scoring the games opener. Shinji Ono spotted an unmarked Marc Pfertzel, who then crossed into the centre. Osorio misjudged the ball allowing Christoph Dabrowski to fire in with his right foot from five meters.

The equaliser from the visitors fell in the 47th minute with Thomas Hitzlsperger getting his name on the score sheet. Ciprian Marica beat three defenders before crossing the ball for the German international to fire in from eight meters.

Energie Cottbus 2-0 Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich crashed to a shock defeat at Energie Cottbus in what was only their second defeat of the season. The league leaders were very poor throughout the game and never really looked like getting anything out of the game after Franck Ribéry missed a first half penalty.

Two goals from Branko Jelic proved enough to beat Bayern 2-0 and lift Cottbus out of the bottom three.

For full report and reaction, here.

Karlsruhe 0-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

Karlsruhe slipped down another place and suffered their second successive defeat going down 1-0 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.

A great defensive performance from the visitors was the basis for the win, which sees them leapfrog over KSC into seventh place.

The only goal of the game came in the 25th minute with midfielder Michael Fink getting the goal. Andreas Görlitz inadvertently played the ball to Martin Fenin, who laid the ball off to Markus Weissenberger. The Austrian crossed into the middle, where Fink shot first time past a hapless Miller in the Karlsruhe goal.

Hansa Rostock 0-0 Hertha Berlin

Hansa Rostock and Hertha Berlin had to settle for a point apiece in a rather dull game.

The game descended into mediocrity after Enrico Kern saw a goal chalked off after half-an-hour for offside. Neither side was particularly dangerous in the second period, so a point for each side was the fair result.

Hannover 2-2 Bielefeld

Hannover grabbed a point from this game thanks largely to a much improved second half performance against relegation threatened Arminia Bielefeld.

The visitors were by far the better side in the first half, but missed a number of chances to in further ahead.

The opening fifteen minutes saw two goals with Bruggink equalising on 16 minutes after Mijatovic had given the visitors the lead two minutes earlier.

Christian Eigler headed Michael Frontzeck’s side back into the lead on 38 minutes from a Wichniarek cross. Hannover came back in the second period and grabbed the all-important equaliser through Jiri Stajner eleven minutes after the restart.

Goal.com - Germany - Bundesliga Round-Up: Hamburg Beat Dortmund, Stuttgart Held

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Sunday match results:

Bayer Leverkusen 4 - 1 Nurnberg

6' [1 - 0] K. Haggui
12' [1 - 1] Z. Misimovic
56' [2 - 1] B. Glauber (o.g.)
59' [3 - 1] T. Gekas
82' [4 - 1] S. Kiessling

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Werder Bremen 0 - 1 Wolfsburg

50' [0 - 1] Grafite

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Werder Bremen lost further ground at the top of the table and dropped to fourth with a 1-0 home defeat to Wolfsburg. Bayer Leverkusen on the other hand continued their charge up the table and have gone third following a comprehensive 4-1 win over Nürnberg .

Werder Bremen 0-1 Wolfsburg

Thomas Schaaf watched his Werder Bremen side crash to a 1-0 defeat at the Weser Stadion to add to the midweek disappointment of their Uefa Cup exit. A second half goal from Grafite proved enough to condemn Werder to defeat and see them drop down to fourth in the table.

The opening twenty minutes saw Werder with the majority of possession but with no way through a deep lying and solid Wolfsburg defence. They did have the ball in the back of the net on 22 minutes, but in a very tight decision, the referee blew for an offside against Hunt.

The visitors slowly came into the game and began to have their own moments of attacking danger with Marcelinho organising things going forward.

Then five minutes into the second period, Wolfsburg took the lead through Grafite. Captain Marcelinho and striker Grafite went through with a two-on-one situation against Clemens Fritz. Grafite put the finishing touch to a good counter attacking move to hand the visitors the lead.

With Werder looking for the equaliser, Felix Magath’s side were content to hit them on the break and were unlucky not to double their lead on 66 minutes when Tim Wiese produced a fine parry from Marcelinho. Naldo had to be alert to clear the rebound from the feet of Grafite.

Werder were not lacking in effort but there just seemed like there was going to be no reward for them in this game. Diego Benaglio produced a superb save from Özil on 79 minutes to push a shot over the bar.

Marcelinho had the goal at his mercy on 86 minutes with the second goal looking a formality, but Fritz managed to block the ball away for a corner. Even into stoppage time it was Wolfsburg who looked the more likely to score with Wiese twice called upon to save from Schäfer and Marcelinho.

Werder Bremen: Wiese, Owomoyela (Fritz 46), Pasanen (Sanogo 67), Naldo, Boenisch, Baumann, Jensen (Vranjes 40), Hunt, Özil, Rosenberg, Almeida

Wolfsburg: Benaglio, Riether, Ricardo Costa, Madlung, Schäfer, Hasebe (Santana 46), Josué, Gentner, Marcelinho, Ljuboja (Dejagah 55), Grafite (Simunek 88)

Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 Nürnberg

A sold-out Bay-Arena witnessed Bayer Leverkusen cruise to a 4-1 win which has seen them go to third in the Bundesliga six points behind leaders Bayern and one point behind second placed Hamburg.

The home side took just six minutes to get their noses in front with Karim Haggui firing in. Simon Rolfes forced a save out of Klewer following a Bernd Schneider corner, and the Tunisian was on hand to stab home the rebound from close range.

That lead lasted only six minutes as Misimovic equalised. Jan Koller headed down a cross to the midfielder, who struck the ball into the bottom corner of the goal helped in part by a deflection off of Friedrich.

After a first twenty minutes full of chances, the rest of the half settled down somewhat.

Twelve minutes into the second half though and Leverkusen were back in front. Barnetta sent Gresko down the left, his cross into the centre saw Glauber rather unluckily forced the ball into his own net as he tried to prevent Theofanis Gekas getting to the ball.

Leverkusen then went for the jugular with a third goal two minutes later. This time Kießling played in Barnetta down the right, before the Swiss midfielder played in a great diagonal ball to Gekas. The Greek striker took the ball, turned and fired well past Klewer.

The icing was put on the cake for Michael Skibbe’s side on 82 minutes with Stefan Kießling getting in on the scoring act. Bayer reacted quickly to a poor clearance from Klewer. Hans Sarpei crossed the ball to the far post, where Kießling beat Reinhardt to ball before firing a right-foot shot in off the underside of the crossbar.

Bayer Leverkusen: Adler, Castro, Friedrich, Haggui, Gresko, Barnetta, Rolfes, Schneider (Vidal 46), Kießling, Barbarez (Freier 85), Gekas (Sarpei 77)

Nürnberg: Klewer, Reinhardt, Glauber, Wolf, Kristiansen, Kluge, Mnari, Misimovic, Vittek (Charisteas 65), Saenko, Koller

Goal.com - Germany - Bundesliga Wrap: Werder Crash, Leverkusen Go Third

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Table after MD 24:

1. FC Bayern München - 50 pts
2. Hamburg SV - 45 pts
3. Bayer Leverkusen - 44 pts
4. Werder Bremen - 43 pts
5. FC Schalke 04 - 41 pts
6. VfB Stuttgart - 38 pts
7. VfL Wolfsburg - 36 pts
8. Eintracht Frankfurt - 36 pts
9. Karlsruhe SC - 36 pts
10. Hannover 96 - 33 pts
11. Hertha Berlin - 32 pts
12. VfL Bochum - 31 pts
13. Borussia Dortmund - 29 pts
14. Hansa Rostock - 24 pts
15. Energie Cottbus - 20 pts
16. Arminia Bielefeld - 20 pts
17. FC Nürnberg - 18 pts
18. MSV Duisburg - 18 pts

Champions League
Uefa Cup
Intertoto Cup
Relegation


Top scorers after MD 24:

1> Luca Toni > FC Bayern München > 14 goals
-> Mario Gomez > VfB Stuttgart > 14 goals
3> Mladen Petric > Borussia Dortmund > 11 goals
-> Marko Pantelic > Hertha BSC Berlin > 11 goals
5> Miroslav Klose > FC Bayern München > 10 goals
-> Theofanis Gekas > Bayer Leverkusen > 10 goals
-> Ivica Olic > Hamburg SV > 10 goals
-> Rafael van der Vaart > Hamburg SV > 10 goals
-> Diego > Werder Bremen > 10 goals

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20.03.08, 20.30h
Eintracht Frankfurt : Energie Cottbus

22.03.08, 15.30h
Bayern München : Bayer Leverkusen
VfL Wolfsburg : Hamburger SV
1. FC Nürnberg : VfL Bochum 1848
MSV Duisburg : Hannover 96
Borussia Dortmund : Karlsruher SC
VfB Stuttgart : Hansa Rostock

23.03.08, 17.00h
Hertha BSC : FC Schalke
Arminia Bielefeld : Werder Bremen

Bundesliga Table

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Thursday match result:

Eintracht Frankfurt 2 - 1 Energie Cottbus

48' [0 - 1] T. Rost
59' [1 - 1] C.A.D.S. Caio
65' [2 - 1] M. Russ

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Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 Energie Cottbus

A howler from Eintracht keeper Nikolov handed Cottbus the lead, before substitute Caio equalised. However, a controversial decision from the referee midway through the second period decided the game in the home side’s favour.

Frankfurt ran out deserved winners and returned to the top six in the Bundesliga with a 2-1 win at the Commerzbank Arena.

The first 45 minutes were a goalless affair thanks largely to a solid defensive performance from the visitors, with very little on offer from Bojan Prasnikar’s men. Frankfurt were too slow and were overdoing things as they tried to break down the Cottbus back line.

Energie started well and pressed Frankfurt back into their own half in the opening minutes and Angelov saw a cross narrowly missed in the centre. On the quarter hour mark Frankfurt created the best chance thus far when Amanatidis headed an Ochs cross just wide.

Twenty four minutes in and the next big chance fell to the hosts with Amanatidis again headed wide by a hair’s breadth following a Weissenberger freekick.

Minutes into the second half and Frankfurt substitute Caio forced Tremmel into a fine save from a direct freekick. Within a minute though, the ball was in the back of the net at the other end thanks to a howler from Eintracht keeper Nikolov.

Timo Rost fired in an ambitious volley on 48 minutes which had Nikolov asleep. The keeper was unable to hold the rather harmless shot and the ball ended up in the back of the net with the stopper left with his head in his hands.

Frankfurt fought back though and grabbed an equaliser on 59 minutes. Fenin and Caio played a quick one-two with the Brazilian firing in an unstoppable shot past Tremmel from 18 meters.

Six minutes later and a controversial incident led to a second goal for the home side. Caio crossed into the middle where Russ fired in a first time shot. Tremmel saved onto the post before claiming the ball when it bounced out. Referee Kempter however, judged that the ball had crossed the line and awarded the goal.

That goal proved decisive in the end with the referee’s decision, no doubt about to start a whole new debate about goal-line technology.

Eintracht Frankfurt: Nikolov, Ochs, Russ, Galindo, Spycher, Inamoto (Caio 46), Fink, Köhler, Weissenberger (Toski 66), Fenin, Amanatidis (Mantzios 90)

Energie Cottbus: Tremmel, Angelov, Radeljic, Cvitanovic, Ziebig, Bassila, Rost, Rivic (Vasiljevic 75), Skela, Sörensen (Shao 69), Jelic (Papadopulos 61)

Goal.com - Bundesliga - Caio Inspires Frankfurt Win

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Another busy round of Bundesliga action gets underway this weekend with things hotting up at the top of the table and the battle for survival becoming fiercer at the bottom.

Bayern and Werder’s losses last weekend certainly made things interesting at the top of the table with Hamburg moving into second and Bayer Leverkusen into third.

With just ten games remaining, the battle for the Champions League places gathers pace, while the teams at the bottom of the table need to gather as many points as they can if they are to survive the dreaded drop.

Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen

Another big game awaits Bayern on Saturday as they welcome high flying Bayer Leverkusen to the Allianz Arena. The Bavarians suffered a shock last weekend against Cottbus so will be looking to bounce back in the league and prove that it was just a temporary blip.

They showed what they could do in midweek as they booked their place in the German Cup final with a comfortable win over Wolfsburg, and Ottmar Hitzfeld will be after an equally professional performance on Saturday.

Bayer Leverkusen have emerged as one of the top teams likely to challenge Bayern for the title with their win last weekend moving them up into third place. Although trainer Michael Skibbe is playing down any talk of a title challenge, Leverkusen have a great team unit that should offer a stern test for the Bavarians at the weekend.

Wolfsburg – Hamburg

After a tough game on Wednesday against Bayern, which saw the ‘Wölfe’ knocked out of the Cup at the semi-final stage, Felix Magath will probably not relish the visit of Hamburg to the Volkswagen Arena.

The gulf in class and quality between Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg was highlighted on Wednesday with Felix Magath readily admitting his side were not a “top side”. Few would argue against that, but Hamburg have genuine pretensions of being regarded as a top side, so the home side will be in for another tough test on Saturday.

HSV moved into second place last weekend to replace rivals Werder Bremen as the team closest to challenging Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga. With Bayern facing a tough match with Leverkusen, this could be a chance for Huub Stevens’ side to close the gap a little more.

In the league though, Wolfsburg are the in-form side with five wins in their last seven league outings. It should be a very interesting afternoon.

Nürnberg – Bochum

The pressure continues to mount on Nürnberg as they still cannot find the wins they need to get out of the relegation zone. The change of trainer that was meant to inspire a change in fortunes has had little impact on results thus far and unless a dramatic change in form occurs soon, last season’s Cup winners look destined for the drop.

Bochum continue to perform steadily as a mid-table side, who are extremely strong at home. They are undefeated in their last four games and won away at Werder Bremen a few weeks back so will provide a real test for a struggling Nürnberg side.

Duisburg – Hannover

MSV Duisburg are another team who desperately need to start picking up the points if they are to avoid relegation. With just 10 games left this season, the Zebras find themselves rooted to the foot of the table with time running out if they are to pull off the great escape.

Dieter Hecking’s Hannover are bang in the middle of the table in tenth with a record that shows that they have won as many games as they have lost. They were rather disappointingly held at home by Bielefeld last weekend and lost the game before that to Leverkusen. Their last away win came back in November with a 3-0 victory over Hansa Rostock.

Borussia Dortmund – Karlsruhe

Cup finalists Borussia Dortmund will be looking to get their minds focussed quickly back on the league when they entertain the season’s surprise package Karlsruhe.

Barring a miracle, Dortmund already have European qualification secured based on the assumption that even if Bayern do win the Cup final they will be playing in the Champions League next season rather than the Uefa Cup.

BVB are still far from safety with only nine points separating them from the bottom three so points are all-important for Thomas Doll’s men. 13th place in the Bundesliga for a team the size of Dortmund simply won’t be tolerated by a club that brings in over 80,000 fans to home games.

Karlsruhe have taken a slight dip in recent weeks and slipped to ninth in the table after spending the majority of the season in the top six. If European qualification is to be achieved, they will have to get back to winning ways quickly.

Stuttgart – Hansa Rostock

Stuttgart could still rescue something from what has been an ultimately disappointing season for the reigning Bundesliga champions. A good run of form of late has seen the Swabians climb to sixth in the table and be on the verge of a European qualification berth.

Three home wins in a row; including a 6-3 victory over Werder Bremen has brought back the old confidence at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion. Hansa Rostock, who are without a win in their last four games, should be there for the taking for Armin Veh’s side particularly if Mario Gomez continues his current vein of goal scoring form.

Hertha Berlin – Schalke

Sunday sees Lucien Favre’s Hertha Berlin take on Champions League quarter finalist Schalke. The capital club are down in 11th and are without the attacking prowess of star striker Marko Pantelic, who is a big loss to them as they so heavily.

The Königsblauen lie in fifth and will want to be careful that they don’t take their eyes off of the Bundesliga with the distraction of the Champions League games with Barcelona on the horizon. A top three finish is still within their grasp, and three points on Sunday would go a long way to help achieve this.

Arminia Bielefeld – Werder Bremen

The round 25 action concludes with relegation threatened Arminia Bielefeld welcoming Werder Bremen to the Schüco Arena. Both sides need the points for wholly different reasons.

Bielefeld still find themselves in the midst of crisis with only two points from their last seven league matches. Relegation is a stark possibility for a club that seems to be in freefall. A surprise and unexpected win against Werder could just spark the shoots of recovery though.

The return game at the Weser Stadion earlier in the season will not however fill them with hope as they crashed to a 8-1 defeat.

Werder have dropped down to fourth in the table and have lost their mantle as the closet challengers to Bayern Munich. Three defeats in their last four Bundesliga games, combined with their exit from the Uefa Cup means that Thomas Schaaf’s side have hit a blip at just the wrong stage in the season.

Bielefeld will be praying this blip continues, but it is unlikely their prayers will be answered.

Goal.com - Germany - Bundesliga Weekend Preview: Round 25