Surprises
Posted by Pete in Bundesliga | 24 February 2006
For once the Bundesliga clubs had a half-decent week in Europe; Hertha carried on where they left off against Bucarest with another abject performance. Stuttgart, on the other hand, showed new manager Armin Veh that they can actually occasionally play a good game of football. Or at least that's what some of the German press is making out. Hmmm. Let's not forget that a) they still went out of the UEFA Cup and b) Boro make Villa look good.
Nevertheless, Hamburg managed to turn it round at home against FC Thun, while Schalke are still on a roll, strolling to a 3:0 away win at Espanyol. Bayern (missing Oli Kahn) came away disappointed with a 1:1 draw against Milan in the Champions League, but were unlucky to give away the sort of penalty that John Terry always gets away with.
But the big winners this week were Bremen, who'll travel to Turin knowing that a draw will see them through after a satisfying win over Juve. Two Man U-esque late goals mean that they can live the dream for a further fortnight, before they visit a team whose league record at home reads W12 D1 L0 GS F25 A4. Bon chance Bremen.
And so to this weekend's games. No real stand out games as such, apart from Hamburg hosting Stuttgart where the Schwabians can measure how far they've progressed since getting rid of Trap. A win would be useful, while a defeat would see them slip away from a European place. It's likely to be the latter. Elsewhere, Cologne can carrying on emulating Sunderland's record-breaking run and lose to Leverkusen.
1. FC Köln - Bayer Leverkusen
Werder Bremen - Borussia M'gladbach
Arminia Bielefeld - Borussia Dortmund
1. FSV Mainz 05 - 1. FC Kaiserslautern
FC Schalke 04 - 1. FC Nürnberg
Bayern München - Eintracht Frankfurt
VfL Wolfsburg - Hannover 96
MSV Duisburg - Hertha BSC
Hamburger SV - VfB Stuttgart
