Business end Bundesliga

Week 20 in the Bundesliga took in a few more twists and turns and saw history being made by Hertha Berlin, who rose to occupy top spot in the table during the second half of the season for the first time in the competition's history, since it became known as the Bundesliga in 1963. The Berliners' two Championships were claimed in the 1930's, but this year Swiss trainer Lucien Favre has assembled a talented and exciting squad capable of qualifying on all fronts. Despite a disappointing UEFA Cup campaign, his side were able to scale the heights and go top for the first time on home soil with a 2-1 win over Bayern Munich at a sold out Olympiastadion on Saturday without their absent goal-machine Marko Pantelic, who was forced to watch from the stands with a knee injury.

Hertha vs Bayern has, for some time now, been a family affair as it pits brothers Dieter and Uli Hoeness against one another as managers of the respective clubs. Therefore, as long-time Bayern chief Uli pointed out after the game, "It is always hard to lose but if it must be to anyone then it is better that it is to Hertha so that at least one half of the family can enjoy their weekend".
The game was billed as a clash of titanic proportions and it did not fail to deliver on its pre-match promise. A capacity crowd of 74,244 witnessed the side from the capital take the lead through Andriy Voronin in the 38th minute with a far-post header before Miroslav Klose equalised for the Bavarians on the hour mark, picking up the ball and racing to the centre-circle, seemingly in search of the victory that would have taken them to the summit for the first time this season.

Unfortunately for Bayern, they found home goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny in fine form, having made his Czech Republic debut in midweek in place of the injured Petr Cech, and Klose's strike only found the back of the net after the experienced stopper had miraculously thwarted Bayern three times in the build-up. The pick of his stops, however, was arguably a fantastic one-handed parry of a second-half effort from substitute striker Landon Donovan, the American international having replaced the wounded Luca Toni earlier in the proceedings. On 77 minutes it was Hertha who struck with another sucker-punch from Voronin following a flowing counter-attack in which Raffael slid a subtle through-ball to the Ukrainian, who slipped the ball past the increasingly vulnerable Michael Rensing for the decisive strike.

Hertha were impressive but indebted to their man between the posts, who dedicated the win to the fans, who were sent into raptures after Voronin's "doppelpack" (brace) and to his team-mates, who "fought like animals" according to the keeper. Bayern's recovery has stuttered somewhat and one cannot shake the feeling that it has a great deal to do with the disinterested displays of late from Frenchman Franck Ribery. Ribery has appeared reserved to say the least since the winter break when, with clubs all over Europe linked with his signature in the press, perhaps his head was turned. The boys from München will need him to be in top form if they wish to retain their crown in May, as they remain 4th in the current standings but by no means out of the race for that much sought after shield.

Hoffenheim were dealt a crushing blow by Bayer Leverkusen at their new Rhein-Neckar Stadion on Friday night, suffering a heavy 4-1 defeat, and the fans literally couldn't get out fast enough, due to queues stretching back in the car park as the club try to come to terms with the scale of their success, both on and off the pitch. The key moment of the match came in the build-up to Leverkusen's second goal, after a stunning strike from Patrick Helmes had given the guests the lead early on. As the ball broke loose in the area, Simon Rolfes seemed to kick the ball out of the hands of newly appointed number 1 Timo Hildebrand, previously of Valencia, but the referee saw no violation and awarded the goal.

The hosts were briefly hopeful when set-piece specialist Sejad Salihovic struck from the spot and came close with a free-kick, but another well-taken effort from Helmes put paid to any chance of a comeback and a Gonzalo Castro header from a Renato Augusto corner sealed the win in the latter stages. Hoffenheim stay second due to Bayern's slip-up in Berlin and Leverkusen climb to 4th, 4 points behind leaders Hertha in what looks set to be a memorable race for the title.

It was goals galore at the AWD-Arena as Hannover 96 played host to Stuttgart on Saturday. The galvanised Mario Gomez gave Markus Babbel's in-form side the lead in the 7th minute with a composed finish and their lead was extended just 15 minutes later by Martin Lanig following some poor defending. It seemed that Stuttgart would take this advantage into the break but the home team struck twice in the space of three minutes through a Jiri Stajner tap-in on 43 minutes and a delicious, curling shot from a dead ball that Jens Lehmann could only watch and admire that gave Jacek Krzynowek his first goal of the season in the 45th minute to level the scores.

Lehmann was also involved in his weekly dose of handbags with Hannover's ex-Manchester City midfielder Michael Tarnat that seemed to unsettle the former German national keeper, and after Khalid Bouhlarouz had a goal correctly chalked off at one end for offside, Mikkael Forssell beat the trap set at the other end and kept his nerve to out-fox Lehmann and give the home side the lead for the first time in the game. But Markus Babbel has given his side a renewed impetus since taking over the coach’s mantel in December and they were to come back again with 3 minutes to play when a counter-attack led to the ball falling at the feet of Thomas Hitzelsperger, who unleashed his trademark "hammer" to take a hard-earned point and lift his team up to 7th place in the league. Hannover stay 12th.

Werder Bremen welcomed back Peruvian playboy Claudio Pizarro against Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Weserstadion on Saturday after his three-match ban for slapping an opponent but still await the return of Diego in their bid to turn around the club's worst run in nearly a decade. Winless in 2009 (without a point before this match) Werder are apparently offering "Motivationsmangelerscheinung" (displays lacking motivation - 1 word!) but the reinstated Pizarro went about trying to stop the rot, directing and commanding his troops from the get-go and always leading from the front, as his first effort was blocked on the line by Tottenham reject Paul Staltieri.

He was everywhere after that, even testing the keeper from the floor with a shot on the turn in the first half, then trying to "win" a penalty with a disgusting and utterly ludicrous dive that would have required legs ten years younger to execute the technique as the contact came and went, before the back belatedly began to arch and the knees slowly showed signs of wobbling. He was then denied by his own uselessness when he scooped the ball over the bar after Hugo Almeida had not so much invited but instructed him to open the scoring from 6 yards in an open game which saw chances at both ends. However, Werder had totally dominated the second half and been kept at bay only by the lightning reflexes of newly signed Gladbach goalie Logan Baillie, when the piss-poor Pizarro finally made his mark on the game with 76 minutes on the clock via a free header from 4 yards, allowing him to notch, incredibly, his 11th goal of the season. So far. There may well be more to come.

Bremen's lead only lasted 3 minutes, though, until characteristically crass defending from a free-kick permitted the ball to float all the way over to the unmarked Michael Bradley, who had the time and awareness to casually chest the ball into the goal from no more than 3 yards to steal a point with ten minutes left, although there was still time for Naldo to hit the crossbar with a header late on. Despite dominating the encounter Werder still show no signs of recovering anything like championship challenging form, and with the team lying in 10th place in the league and AC Milan set to arrive in Bremen on Wednesday for the 1st leg of their UEFA Cup last 32 tie, the pressure is rising in the North. Gladbach would love to have these problems of course, as the "Kellerkind" (basement boys) harbour no continental hopes and continue to prop up the Bundesliga while resembling an increasingly efficient anchor, in spite of receiving significant winter investment.

Felix Magath's Wolfsburg maintained their impressive run in Frankfurt on Saturday, running out comfortable 2-0 winners over Eintracht after another strike from the Bosnian Edin Dzeko, who has now scored 8 times in this campaign, complimenting his partner Grafite and releasing a portion of the mighty burden around the Brazilian's neck while he remains sidelined through injury and looks to be out for another 3 weeks. His goal was a thing of beauty after a well-flighted cross picked out the tall talisman at the back stick and the Bosnian's diving header proved unstoppable. The clincher was controversial to say the least as the referee compounded his error in refusing to hand the hosts a clear-cut penalty by offering one to the away side for a handball from a player clearly protecting his face. Zvjezdan Misimovic stepped up to make the game safe and take the Wolves into position 6 in the table. Frankfurt fall to 13th and now face the possibility of a long drawn out fight to preserve their Bundesliga status for another year.

Vfl Bochum have been suffering a severe injury crisis of late and this was not helped by the loss of both of their "Inverteidiger" (centre-backs) within 6 minutes in the big derby against Schalke 04 on Saturday. Schalke have only managed two wins on the road in 2008/9 and decided to give Kevin Kuranyi a rare start at the rewirpower Stadion. He responded by grabbing the opener after just 17 minutes to get the ball rolling with his 7th of the season, slamming home a rebound after a shot from Halil Altintop was palmed into his path by the Bochum goalkeeper.

Bochum lifted themselves sufficiently to force their local rivals to withdraw and this increased pressure led to Mimoun Azaouagh equalising with a shot that, according to a rough translation of the commentator "stumbled past Manuel Neuer like a pissed-up pedestrian at the Rose Montag (Köln Carnival)". It was actually a swerving strike that confused Neuer and flew into the back of the net to crank the atmosphere up another notch inside the ground just before half-time. In the 57th minute the turnaround was complete as Bochum captain Christoph Dabrowski eventually turned in a scrappy second for the hosts that turned out to be the winner. If the "Derbysieger" (derby winners) were elated, their opponents were truly crushed and the heat is now on Dutch boss Fred Rutten, formerly assistant to Guus Hiddink at PSV, to gain ground on the league leaders. Schalke now lie in 9th, while Bochum have hit the dizzying heights of 15th rung on the ladder, temporarily escaping the danger zone on goal difference.

Köln were held to a goalless draw at home to Karlsruhe, who followed up their win over Hamburg last week with another valuable point this time around. Karlsruhe's primary attacking threat, Sebastian Freis, however, has agreed to join Köln in the summer and his new employers will hope his arrival, along with that of Lucas Podolski, will enable them to become more of a potent force next season as they continue to consolidate their status in the top tier. It was their existing front-line, led by Milivoje Novakovic, that was guilty of wasting a whole host of chances on Saturday, but both teams will be content with the result in their respective quests, although Köln stay 11th and out of touch with the big boys, and Karlsruhe are 17th this morning, but level on points with Cottbus and Bochum above them.

Sunday saw Borussia Dortmund meet Energie Cottbus and Hamburg host Arminia Bielefeld, where goals from Piotr Trochowski and Paulo Guerrero either side of half-time took HSV back into 3rd place and kept up the pressure on the top two, leaving Bielefeld above the relegation line but only by a point. Dortmund's contest proved not to be quite as straightforward, as Cagdas Atan scored first for the visitors before Alexander Frei salvaged a draw just before the interval. Korean left-back Young-Pyo Lee, formerly of Tottenham, was also dismissed in stoppage time for the home side as they slipped to 8th. Cottbus climb to 16th place but remain very much in the thick of it in the battle to avoid the drop.