Bundesliga Review: Matchday 8

The final weekend before the last few world cup qualifiers failed to disappoint again as there were plenty of incidents and excitement to keep us talking for the weeks to come, so let's begin!

FRIDAY: Hannover 1-1 Hertha Berlin
Both sides had made promising starts to the campaign and my have sets their sights on Europe since then. Not the greatest Bundesliga game ever, but Christian Schulz gave the home side the lead after twenty three minutes. The game fell into a lull, as Hertha seemed resigned to counter attacks, and Hannover were in no real rush themselves, then Ronny came on. The mercurial Brazilian's first touch was a free-kick, was in turn, nearly ripped the net off the hinges and left Zieler to have a front row view as it slammed into the top corner.

SATURDAY: Gladbach 2-0 Dortmund
The main talking point going into the battle of the Borussia's was Marco Reus returning to Gladbach where he properly established himself on the Bundesliga scene. Gladbach keeper Marc Andre ter-Stegen had to be at his best, denying Hummels, Lewandowski and GroBkreutz fantastic early chances and that's all the first half was really, Dortmund dominant but failing to find a cutting edge.

Into the second half and Dortmund continued their dominance despite Wendt having a fantastic chance earlier in the half. However, the last ten minutes were where the goals occurred. A moment of Mats madness meant he was sent-off for a poor tackle on Kruse and he converted the penalty to give Gladbach the lead and then after Reus had rattled the bar seconds earlier, Raffael rifled past Weidenfeller to seal the deal and condemn Dortmund to their first defeat this season.

Schalke 4-1 Augsburg
These two sides went into the game on runs that you wouldn't expect them to have, Schalke were struggling to string together a few wins, while Augsburg couldn't lose and were on a club record run without defeat in the Bundesliga. The game started with the form side on top, as Augsburg took the lead early on through a fantastic Sascha Molders finish past a helpless Hildebrand for his first goal in 894 minutes. However, Schalke were back in it soon after, as Klavan brought down Draxler, picked up a red card for his troubles and Kevin-Prince Boateng smashed home, leaving Manninger no chance. They made their advantage count straight away, and their pressure soon told as Szalai gave the home side the lead for the first time, Neustader found Uchida, who touched down for Szalai to tuck under Manninger for the Royal Blues second goal. 

The Royal Blues managed to ensure that the second half wouldn't be that boring and that the ending wouldn't be that nervy, as Szalai slid home after good interchange play around the edge of the box. The game had one more goal left though, and that fell to young Max Meyer, getting his first Bundesliga goal just before the end, to cap off a rousing performance from the Gelsenkirchen side.

Stuttgart 1-1 Werder Bremen
Two sides who found themselves in the upper mid-table realm after contrasting starts, they have both steadied, with Stuttgart hoping to surprise a few and push towards the European places, while Werder under Dutt look a new side and look like they've finally found their shooting boots. It was the home side that took just six minutes to break the deadlock, as a Maxim corner made it's way to the back post and found Martin Harnik who finished well for his third goal of the season. They couldn't get to half time with the lead though, Petersen tapped home for his third goal this season.

The second half was a very dull affair, but Stuttgart probably deserved the win in truth as Vevad Ibisevic had a goal ruled out and further chances to continue new boss Bruno Labaddia's great start, but over the balance of ninety minutes, it was probably a deserved point for both sides.

Wolfsburg 0-2 Braunschweig
A derby that hasn't been played for years, as two of the league's Northern sides battled for pride on Saturday, anything less than a win for Hecking's men would be a disaster, while Braunschweig were trying to avoid defeat again. Wolfsburg were making all the early ground, but to their shock, it was Braunschweig who took the lead through Bellarabi, who only had to tap in after poor defending from Knoche and Naldo.

Wolfsburg started the second half the strongest, the same vein as the first, but couldn't create that guilt edge chance. The commentator described the game as "a good old fashioned English derby" and true to form, it was the underdogs who came out on top. Domi Kubela struck the final blow as Wolfsburg pushed forward and he slotted past Benaglio to send the away fans wild, with their first Bundesliga win in over a quarter of a century, in the derby to boot.

Mainz 2-2 Hoffenheim
My first thought approaching this match was goals, goals, goals. With FOURTY-THREE GOALS this season in games involving these sides, we should be in for a cracker. It didn't disappoint early on, as one of Hoffenheim's early season stars gave them the lead, as Kevin Volland drifted past five Mainz defenders to smash home from twenty-five yards to Heinz Mueller's left. The away side were dominating, and Firmino double their advantage with the most delicate of chips over the onrushing Mueller, after Schipplock's perfectly weighted through ball.

Whatever Tuchel said at half-time worked. Mainz came out all guns blazing, but not until the final ten minutes did they get their reward, as sub Choupo-Moting gave them hope, it looked all false until... in the NINETY-SECOND minute, Heinz Muller, not Nicolai, headed down to Malli to send the fans wild and stop Mainz's rut of defeats.

Leverkusen 1-1 Bayern Munich
The teams in second and third took on each other at the Bayer Arena, and we weren't disappointed. This game saw Bernd Leno fend off some of his recent criticism as he pulled off a string of fine saves to ensure Leverkusen kept up their title challenge. It was Bayern who took the lead in the first half, through Toni Kroos who let fly a rasping drive into Leno's top right hand corner, nothing he could do that time. However, just two minutes later, the irrepressible Sidney Sam scored to level matters.

The second half was also an entertaining affair, at which Leno had to be at his very best to bat away the Bayern chances as they peppered his goal, a game which Bayern had twenty seven shots on goal. This draw meant Bayern went top of the Bundesliga out-right, but also underlined Leverkusen's title challenge was here to stay.

SUNDAY: Nurnberg 0-5 Hamburg
One of the least exciting games on paper this weekend, as fifteenth faced off against sixteenth, turned into one of the top scoring games, pretty typical that I typed that first part on Friday night, eh? This was an absolute drubbing in truth. Nurnberg looked uninspired as they took to the field on Sunday, looking to improve on a poor start. The game was tight to begin with, but a brilliant Rafa van der Vaart chopper kick got Hamburg into gear.

A poor end to the first half, dull at best was followed by minutes of madness after half time, in which Pierre Michel Lasogga scored an EIGHT minute hat-trick, the last of which was a fantastic hit, to put the game beyond Nurnberg. If that wasn't bad enough, after a poor Schafer clearance, Arslan chipped him from thirty-five yards to complete the rout, leaving Nurnberg without a win this season.

Freiburg 1-1 Frankfurt
The final game of matchday eight as two sides who impressed greatly last year had made stuttering starts, and the points were shared in a decent game in Southern Germany. We had to wait to the second half to get any goals, and unfortunately for Christian Gunter, it was in the wrong net, but Nicolas Hofler equalised late on for the hosts as they picked up an important point. Just before the final whistle, their were three bookings, which included a second yellow for Johannes Flum, capping off another incident packed Bundesliga matchday!