It's Round and It's White
Charlotte Rimmington rounds up the action from Bundesliga Match Day 9.
After a week that saw all the Bundesliga teams involved in European competitions come away unbeaten, match day 9 was sure to be another exciting weekend of German football.
Hamburg capitalised on their chances to beat Augsburg 2-0 at the Impuls Arena on Friday. Goals from an in form Son Heung-Min and Rudnevs on either side of half time kept an Augsburg side who were not without their chances from getting anything from the match.
Borussia Dortmund, on the back of a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the week, defeated Freiburg 2-0 in the snow at the Dreisamstadion. Despite having many chances in the first half, Freiburg were not able to convert any and the visitors punished them with two goals in the second half from Subotic and Götze.
A hat trick from Adam Szalai was enough to secure Mainz all three points at home against Hoffenheim. Mainz have continued to make a strong start to the season and as such were able to combat the many chances the visitors had to reduce the deficit.
Schalke left it late to make it three wins out of three wins this week against a struggling Nurnberg. A 77th minute strike from Jefferson Farfan secured the win for a Schalke side that had beat Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal this week. Nurnberg have now lost five in their last six games as they continue their descent of the Bundesliga table.
Newly manager-less Wolfsburg put in a convincing performance to ensure a 4-1 win away at Fortuna Dusseldorf. Despite neither goal net seeing any action in the first half, Wolfsburg opened the scoring in the 50th minute with a Dost goal. The visitors were quickly three goals in front with a goal each from Olic and Dost. The home side pulled back one goal in the 71st with a Langeneke penalty after Olic brought Oliver Fink down in the box. Fink was then sent off six minutes later conceding a penalty that was converted by Diego, and ensured Wolfsburg picked up all three points.
1-1 was the final score between Greuther Fürth and Werder Bremen on Saturday. Fürth scored their first home goal of the season through an Edu goal in the 8th minute before Petersen brought the visitors level before half time.
Eintracht Frankfurt suffered their second defeat of the season on Sunday away at Stuttgart who incidentally picked up their first home win of the season. The home side took the lead on six minutes with a Christian Gentner goal and went into the break one goal in front. Frankfurt equalised in the 67th minute before Stuttgart secured the win in the 84th minute with a goal from Ibisevic.
Bayern Munich suffered their first defeat of the season at home to Bayer Leverkusen. Stefan Kiessling for Leverkusen opened the scoring before half time before Mandzukic levelled the match on 77 minutes. Sidney Sam’s header made sure three points went to the visitors in the 87th minute and sealed the victory over Munich.
Hannover 96 were two nil in front by the 53rd minute and had the three points in their grasp before the Borussia Mönchengladbach pulled off an unbelievable comeback. Three goals in nine minutes from defenders Dominguez and Brouwers and a trademark free kick from Juan Arango shocked the home side and handed the win to Mönchengladbach.
At the end of match day nine, despite suffering their first defeat of the season, Bayern Munich occupy the top spot in the Bundesliga table. FC Schalke 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt hold second and third position, with Borussia Dortmund trying to close the points gap in fourth position. At the bottom, VfL Wolfsburg pulled themselves off the foot of the table into the relegation playoff position while FC Augsburg and Greuther Fürth sit in the bottom two places.
