The title race in the Bundesliga seems to have taken off as Hanover 96 pulled off a shocking victory over favourites FC Bayern München.
Play-acting isn’t a common incident in the Bundesliga. Also, a player from FC Bayern rarely sees red. Both these incidents saw Bayern lose for the first time since August. The match in itself was highly entertaining but will be remembered more for play-acting and two red cards.
Dortmund to add spice to Bayern’s loss absolutely hammered Köln 5-0. Michael Rensing had a good day at the office- this should properly describe BVB’s dominance. BVB sits in second, three points behind Bayern.
I have a question for everyone- who is faster: Usain Bolt or Jefferson Farfan? The easy answer would be Usain Bolt but there is some doubt over that after Farfan’s sprint from his penalty area to the Leverkusen penalty arena at the Bay Arena. He scored an absolutely wonderful winner for his side to take Schalke to third place, four points behind leaders Bayern.
The match at the AWD Arena got off to a great start before Steve Cherundolo ruined it all for Bayern by falling in the penalty area following contact with Philipp Lahm. Video replays did not exactly show a clear foul by the German on the American though. Mohammed Abdellaoue stepped up to take the spot-kick and scored. Manuel Neuer dived the right way but the spot-kick was a good one and the ball went in beyond his fingers.
A goal down? - No problem. However, events took a turn for the worst when Jerome Boateng saw a red. Rafinha and Sergio Pinto both raced for the ball. Some minimal contact was exaggerated heavily by Pinto as he rolled over. He later admitted that he exaggerated the foul. Christian Schulz then pushed Toni Kroos into Boateng. Boateng went and pushed Schulz in return. The referee deemed Boateng’s act as a red and Schulz’ act as a yellow.
Boateng has received a two match ban and Bayern has accepted it. However, a statement released on the FCB website also stated the following:
“Schulz was shown a yellow card, but Boateng a red. We cannot understand why different standards have been applied to the same offence.”
Christian Pander got the second half kicking with a very lucky goal. A shot of his saw the ball deflect off of Luis Gustavo and completely change direction, ending up in the back of the net beyond Neuer. Yet, Bayern came roaring back. In the first half Mario Gomez had wasted a couple of chances and Toni Kroos had hit the bar. They continued creating chances. Cherundolo soon received his marching orders following the hour mark for fouling Franck Ribery.
David Alaba was subbed in and scored a goal. Bayern was about a yard from equalizing- Bastian Schweinsteiger’s shot in the dying minutes was a finger tip away from finding the back of the net. Hanover just about held on and escaped with three lucky points.
A show of solidarity by Leverkusen players for boss Robin Dutt in the Champions League was not exactly vindicated on Sunday as they lost to Schalke. The fashion of the loss wasn’t exactly unfortunate as far as the stats are concerned. Leverkusen had more possession (56%) but less shots as Schalke had 18 attempts of which six were on target. Leverkusen only has four wins so far this season and sits in ninth.
Thorsten Fink meanwhile got off to a somewhat good start at HSV as his side drew 1-1 after conceding prior to the second minute. Stuttgart drew 2-2 with Nuremberg in a game which was slightly drab at times while Werder’s back line was exposed in a 1-1 draw with Augsburg.
A Bavarian derby awaits us next week. The pick of the fixtures though is Stuttgart-Dortmund.
Dortmund to add spice to Bayern’s loss absolutely hammered Köln 5-0. Michael Rensing had a good day at the office- this should properly describe BVB’s dominance. BVB sits in second, three points behind Bayern.
I have a question for everyone- who is faster: Usain Bolt or Jefferson Farfan? The easy answer would be Usain Bolt but there is some doubt over that after Farfan’s sprint from his penalty area to the Leverkusen penalty arena at the Bay Arena. He scored an absolutely wonderful winner for his side to take Schalke to third place, four points behind leaders Bayern.
The match at the AWD Arena got off to a great start before Steve Cherundolo ruined it all for Bayern by falling in the penalty area following contact with Philipp Lahm. Video replays did not exactly show a clear foul by the German on the American though. Mohammed Abdellaoue stepped up to take the spot-kick and scored. Manuel Neuer dived the right way but the spot-kick was a good one and the ball went in beyond his fingers.
A goal down? - No problem. However, events took a turn for the worst when Jerome Boateng saw a red. Rafinha and Sergio Pinto both raced for the ball. Some minimal contact was exaggerated heavily by Pinto as he rolled over. He later admitted that he exaggerated the foul. Christian Schulz then pushed Toni Kroos into Boateng. Boateng went and pushed Schulz in return. The referee deemed Boateng’s act as a red and Schulz’ act as a yellow.
Boateng has received a two match ban and Bayern has accepted it. However, a statement released on the FCB website also stated the following:
“Schulz was shown a yellow card, but Boateng a red. We cannot understand why different standards have been applied to the same offence.”
Christian Pander got the second half kicking with a very lucky goal. A shot of his saw the ball deflect off of Luis Gustavo and completely change direction, ending up in the back of the net beyond Neuer. Yet, Bayern came roaring back. In the first half Mario Gomez had wasted a couple of chances and Toni Kroos had hit the bar. They continued creating chances. Cherundolo soon received his marching orders following the hour mark for fouling Franck Ribery.
David Alaba was subbed in and scored a goal. Bayern was about a yard from equalizing- Bastian Schweinsteiger’s shot in the dying minutes was a finger tip away from finding the back of the net. Hanover just about held on and escaped with three lucky points.
A show of solidarity by Leverkusen players for boss Robin Dutt in the Champions League was not exactly vindicated on Sunday as they lost to Schalke. The fashion of the loss wasn’t exactly unfortunate as far as the stats are concerned. Leverkusen had more possession (56%) but less shots as Schalke had 18 attempts of which six were on target. Leverkusen only has four wins so far this season and sits in ninth.
Thorsten Fink meanwhile got off to a somewhat good start at HSV as his side drew 1-1 after conceding prior to the second minute. Stuttgart drew 2-2 with Nuremberg in a game which was slightly drab at times while Werder’s back line was exposed in a 1-1 draw with Augsburg.
A Bavarian derby awaits us next week. The pick of the fixtures though is Stuttgart-Dortmund.
