The Bundesliga sees a rare round of midweek action on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the Cup final on Saturday. With just six games remaining until the end of the season, the action is really hotting up at both ends of the table.
Title favourites Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top to ten points at the weekend with an emphatic 5-0 win over Dortmund in the Cup final dress rehearsal. Werder Bremen reclaimed second spot with a 5-1 win over Schalke, a result which saw Mirko Slomka fired by the Königsblauen.
The battle for European places is becoming ever closer, while the fight for survival is becoming ever fiercer. Another exciting round of Bundesliga action awaits.
Hansa Rostock – Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen reclaimed second spot on Saturday with an emphatic 5-1 home win over Schalke in a fantastic game at the Weser Stadion. The big match of the day certainly lived up to its top billing and was a fine advertisement for the Bundesliga.
The win was the second in a row for the Green and Whites following a poor run of form which had previously seen them lose three games out of four and look in danger of not qualifying for the Champions League.
Rostock secured a valuable three points away at Karlsruhe at the weekend, but still sit a little too close to the drop zone to be able to relax. The Ostseestädter are just two points clear of the relegation zone so still have a huge amount of work to do.
The win against KSC at least ended a negative series, which had seen them winless in seven games.
Hertha Berlin – Hamburg
Talk of a crisis at Hamburg is becoming ever louder after the Hanseaten lost their second successive game at the weekend. The home defeat to Duisburg followed on from their defeat to Stuttgart and has seen Huub Stevens side take just two points from a possible twelve and slump to fifth in the table.
Hertha are also in decline and are by no means assured of safety this season if their current form continues. Their last six games have brought just three points with three defeats amongst them. The capital club continue to struggle without the services of star striker Marko Pantelic.
Both sides are struggling at the moment and would receive a huge boost from a three point haul on Tuesday. Hamburg will however be without their trainer Huub Stevens for the trip to the capital because he has had to travel back to Eindhoven to see his wife who is ill.
Wolfsburg – Bochum
Wolfsburg will be a little fresher going into this game having seen their Friday evening clash with Nürnbeg abandoned at half time due to a waterlogged pitch.
Felix Magath’s side continue to harbour amitions of a Uefa Cup place. They currently sit seventh, four points from fifth place with a game in hand, so a victory over Bochum will do their cause no harm at all.
Bochum look safe in 11th place but look far less convincing away from home. Marcel Koller’s side are however turning into the draw specialists with five in their last six matches. Their last away win came on the first game back after the winter break when they beat Werder at the Weser Stadion.
Schalke – Energie Cottbus
The 5-1 debacle at the Weser Stadion on Saturday proved the final straw for Schalke trainer Mirko Slomka, who was promptly fired on Sunday.
Some would say that was a little harsh having finished second last season and made it to the quarter finals of the Champions League this season where they more than matched Barcelona for 45 minutes in each leg.
Mike Büskens and Youri Mulder will take charge of the the Königsblauen against Cottbus as they look to gain a vital three points in their quest for a top three finish.
The Ruhr club have their destiny in their own hands as they currently occupy the all-important third spot. However, what effect the removal of Slomka will have remains to be seen.
Cottbus achieved an important win on Saturday in a real six-pointer against Arminia Bielefeld. The win sees them open up a four-point gap between themselves and 16th place Duisburg. The East German club will be looking to take advantge of the turmoil at the Veltins Arena to secure another valuablr three points.
Eintracht Frankfurt – Bayern Munich
Bayern could take a huge step towards securing the Bundesliga title ahead of the German Cup final with a win over Eintracht Frankfurt at the Commerzbank Arena. The 5-0 mauling of Dortmund on Sunday came hot on the heels of their miracle fight back against Getafe and showed just what the star ensemble could achieve.
What sort of line-up Ottmar Hitzfeld opts to send out remains to be seen but with the Cup final on Saturday, it could be a chance for some of the fringe players to show what they can do. Expect the likes of Toni Kroos, Jose Ernesto Sosa and Breno to get an outing.
Friedhelm Funkel has seen his side’s Uefa Cup hopes dip in recent games with two successive league defeats to Nürnberg and Hannover. Despite the sending off of Sergio Pinto, Hannover hit an 89th minute to defeat Eintracht. The Adler will be hoping Bayern are preoccupied with the Cup final, but even with a second string side, Bayern will provide a stern test.
Arminia Bielefeld – Bayer Leverkusen
Time is running out for Bielefeld as they bid to secure their Bundesliga survival. They have six games to rescue their top-flight status, but have arguably the toughest run-in of all the sides at the bottom.
The arrival of Leverkusen at the Schüco-Arena provides the first of six huge matches for the ‘Arminen’, but it difficult to see where they are going to pick up the required points from with further games against Nürnberg, Bayern and Stuttgart (away) and Bochum and Dortmund (home).
Saturday’s loss to fellow strugglers Energie Cottbus saw them drop more points to their rivals at the bottom and they will face another tough task on Wednesday against Leverkusen, who are striving for a top three finish.
An impressive 3-0 home win over Stuttgart on Sunday will have given the Werkself a confidence boost after their disappointing Uefa Cup exit at the hands of Zenit St Petersburg.
Stuttgart – Nürnberg
Stuttgart’s recent upturn in fortunes took a hit on Sunday as they went down to a 3-0 defeat to fellow European hopefuls Bayer Leverkusen. A quick return to winning ways will be sought against bottom side Nürnberg, who are fighting for their lives.
The Swabians will probably still be without Mario Gomez, who may be given a little longer to prove his full fitness.
‘Der Klub’ looked like they were on their way to a priceless victory on Friday leading 1-0 at half-time against Wolfsburg, but the weather was to ruin their night with the game abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch. The two southern rivals will go head to head on Wednesday with three vital points on the agenda for both clubs.
Borussia Dortmund – Hannover
Cup finalists Borussia Dortmund were well and truly put to the sword on Sunday against Bayern Munich going down to a 5-0 defeat which does not bode well for Saturday’s Cup final. Thomas Doll apologised to the BVB fans after the game for the poor level of performance shown by his team, and will be hoping for some kind of reaction on Wednesday against Hannover.
How many players Doll chooses to rest ahead of the Cup final remains to be seen, but after the Bayern thrashing it may well be that he opts to allow the players the chance of redeeming themselves.
Hannover currently have the same number of wins as losses (ten) so will want to tip the balance in a positive manner. A top ten finish is on the cards for Dieter Hecking’s side but they will ant to finish as high up the table as they can. Three points against BVB would definitely aid their cause.
Duisburg - Karlsruhe
A home win for the Zebras could conceivably see them out of the bottom three if Hansa Rostock lose. Confidence will be high after the weekend’s 1-0 win away at Hamburg.
HSV were poor but a team that can go to both Werder Bremen and Hamburg and come away with wins can certainly beat a Karlsruhe side that are falling away at the end of the season despite a superb campaign overall.
KSC have won just once in their last ten Bundesliga fixtures and gone down to five defeats in those ten games. The weekend loss to Hansa Rostock came a week after losing to Bielefeld, and Edmund Becker will want to avoid a third consecutive loss- something that hasn’t happened all season.
Goal.com - Bundesliga - Bundesliga Midweek Preview: Round 29
