Bite-size Bundesliga

"Spieltag 22" (Matchday 22) in Germany saw Hertha Berlin regain pole position and Bayern Munich regress to occupy 5th place as a result of the weekly rotation at the top of the Bundesliga.

Hertha's resurgence to the league summit came after a hard-fought home win over basement boys Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, two further goals from Andriy Voronin revving up his team in the race for the title while, in doing so, driving up his own price-tag in the transfer market. The interest of Hamburg boss Martin Jol on top of Fat Spaniard Rafael Benitez's reported eagerness in recalling the striker for next season have fuelled rumours of an astronomical 10 million pound asking price for the 29-year old Ukrainian, whose 6th and 7th goals of the current campaign proved enough to secure victory for the hosts despite Michael Bradley reducing the arrears 20 minutes from the end for Gladbach, who have not recovered from a two-goal deficit in 12 years, to leave the teams at opposite ends of the spectrum in the Championship. When asked for an assessment of his team's trip to the capital, Gladbach coach Hans Meier offered the opinion: "Gutes Hotel, gutes Essen, sonst bescheiden" - roughly translated as meaning: "Good hotel, good food, otherwise shit" - at which point the interview was over.

Hamburger SV relinquished top-spot following a 1-3 home reversal on Sunday against an impressive Vfl Wolfsburg side, who climbed to 4th on the back of only their second away success of the season thanks to a brace from the returning Grafite, who took his overall tally to 14, and 1 from the promising Edin Dzeko, who now has 11 in total. Paulo Guerrero's strike looked to have brought the hosts back into it in the 72nd minute after those two Grafite goals, 1 from the penalty spot, had given Felix Magath's side a imposing lead, but Dzeko's effort made sure of the points just 4 minutes later to allow the wolves to overtake Bayern and leap into the first UEFA-Cup slot and leave Hamburg in second, trailing leaders Hertha by a single point.

1899 Hoffenheim dropped to third due to their goalless draw with Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park. Having come through a long-term injury to top scorer Vedad Ibisevic, a ban given to influential midfielder Carlos Eduardo for slapping Ivica Olic in a mid-season friendly, and a disappointing run of 1 win in their previous 6 games, as the doping row involving valued squad members Andreas Ibertsberger and Christoph Janker rumbles on, it is fair to say that Hoffenheim are not enjoying the second half of their Bundesliga debut as much as the first. Their situation was neither helped by the dropping of two vital points in Dortmund on Saturday, nor by the sending-off of midfielder Tobias Weiss after he was kicked while on the floor and reacted in kind by kicking the wrong player back to earn his early shower.

News that both Ibertsberger and Janker could be suspended for up to two years for arriving ten minutes late for a post-match drug test (amid alarming stories emerging of players in the past using prosthetic penises filled with unblemished urine samples to evade the anti-doping agencies) will be unwelcome in the Hoffenheim camp, as will reports that the inspirational Sejad Salihovic is set to be out for up to 4 weeks with slightly torn knee ligaments, putting additional strain upon Ralf Rangnick's depleted squad. Jürgen Klopp's Dortmund side, however, continue to impress against the big boys and are hanging on their coat-tails in 9th, just 6 points below the European places.

Bayern lay 5th as a result of a battling Werder Bremen performance at the Weserstadion, after the thoroughly deserved dismissal of Werder's Brazilian centre-back Naldo had ruined an open and entertaining encounter inside 15 minutes. Bayern looked to exploit their numerical advantage but squandered a number of chances throughout the course of the game, and Werder were greatly indebted to their previously cumbersome veteran goalkeeper, Christian Vander, for a number of crucial second-half saves. Even with 10 men, the home team still managed to fashion the clearest opportunity of the contest on the hour mark, and no prizes are on offer for guessing who was responsible for wasting it.

After his midweek heroics in Milan, Claudio Pizarro was back to his old, excruciating self here as he found space in a crowded penalty area; so much space that he had time to chest the ball down comfortably (and probably squeeze in a quick fag, maybe even an orgy-he loves those), before dragging the ball hopelessly wide from 8 yards out and, in doing so, missing the chance to take his side nearer to the top half of the table and secure a league double over their counterparts from Munich. Werder stay 12th and in desperate need of an injection of quality similar to that provided by the Peruvian on Wednesday against AC, rather than yet another example of his shortcomings so obviously on display when facing his former club on Sunday.

Hannover 96 overcame Bayer Leverkusen at the AWD Arena by a first-half Arnold Bruggink goal to nil to leave their guests languishing in 6th, level on points with Vfb Stuttgart, who won again on Sunday to extend their unbeaten run under new coach Markus Babbel to 8 games through a goal five minutes after the restart from "der vergessener Profi" (the forgotten player) Elson, known as such for the fact that he was mistakenly not invited to either this season’s team photo or the yearbook-signing ceremonies, and was thus left off the squad list altogether and consequently, quite naturally, ignored by previous trainer Armin Veh. But Babbel reinstated the wayward wanderer and was rewarded for his faith with the winner in the 50th minute. Karlsruhe continue to keep Gladbach company in 17th, 3 points from safety, while Hannover remain 12th, the only record they are setting this season relating to their former-Manchester City employee Michael Tarnat, who is currently the Bundesliga's oldest player at 39 (nearly a whole year older than Jens Lehmann).

FC Schalke 04 rung the changes for their meeting with Eintracht Frankfurt at the CommerzBank Arena and attained a 2-1 win with an accomplished performance, goals from defenders Rafinha and Heiko Westermann sandwiching that of Frankfurt's Michael Fink. Schalke leapfrogged local rivals Dortmund into 8th, while Frankfurt will have to spend another week watching those below them fearfully as they were overtaken by Hannover and dropped to 13th.

Energie Cottbus changed both personnel and "aufstellung" (formation) for their tie away to Vfl Bochum in a crucial match-up at the wrong end of the division. The tactical renovations of Cottbus coach Bojan Prasniker seemed to have paid off as his side twice took the lead through an early Ivica Iliev left-footer and an Emil Jula header at the start of the second half, but these were annulled by goals from Joel Epalle in the 12th minute and a superb free-kick from Bochum left back Christian Fuchs in the 54th. Things were to get even worse for the visitors with 10 minutes to play, as Bochum claimed all 3 points with a controversial penalty, given after a fall that seemed somewhat early to say the least, which was dutifully dispatched by Marc Pfertzel to allow Bochum to rise two places to 14th and leave Cottbus once again stranded in the relegation zone.

However, they are only there on goal difference as Arminia Bielefeld could only manage a 1-1 draw at FC Köln, where a stunning long-range header from Petit for Köln and a less eye-catching effort from Christopher Katongo ensured a share of the spoils in the Friday night fixture to leave Bielefeld 15th and prolong Köln's stay as the best of the rest, in 10th.