Bundesliga Column - Round 34: Cologne relegated, Hertha Berlin get relegation spot

As is usual in the last couple of German Bundesliga rounds all nine matches of Round 34, the final match day of the 2011/12 season were played simultaneously at 15.30 CET on Saturday. This is to ensure same chances for everyone fighting for the title, places in Europe and against relegation.

And what a match day it turned out to be though key decisions on champions, first team to be relegated and who gains places for Europe next season had already been taken. Champions Borussia Dortmund trashed an inform SC Freiburg 4-0 to finish with 81 points, a new record in the history of the Bundesliga.

The eyes were all on the relegation battle between 1.FC Köln and Hertha BSC Berlin, who would get relegated directly and who would get a second chance in the relegation playoff against the third-placed side in the 2.Bundesliga. FC Cologne that the difficult task of facing record champions FC Bayern Munich at home, while Hertha BSC Berlin faced 1899 Hoffenheim who had nothing to really play except that their coach Markus Babbel had been Hertha coach earlier on in the season.

As one would have expected Cologne suffered a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich, but Hertha Berlin won 3-1 against Hoffenheim to push Cologne into Division 2 while they face Fortuna Düsseldorf in the relegation playoff in the coming days to decide to play Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga next season.

The last Europa League spot was grabbed by Hannover 96 who beat relegated 1.FC Kaiserslautern 2-1 while VfL Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen and 1.FC Nürnberg all lost in their quest for European football next season.


Round 34 Results

Borussia Dortmund 4-0 SC Freiburg
Hertha BSC Berlin 3-1 1899 Hoffenheim
FC Augsburg 1-0 Hamburger SV
1.FC Nürnberg 1-4 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
SV Werder Bremen 2-3 FC Schalke 04
VfB Stuttgart 3-2 VfL Wolfsburg
Hannover 96 2-1 1.FC Kaiserslautern
1.FC Köln 1-4 FC Bayern München
1.FSV Mainz 05 0-3 Borussia Mönchengladbach

One Week - Four Matches - Seven Goals & more

In football it is about goals and victories. Often matches are close and even if teams dominate they don't score more then four, maybe five goals. Over the past week I have had teams that I follow score or concede sevens goals in four different matches, which rarely happens in football and this accumulation of such results is something which I cannot remember having ever experienced.

It started last Wednesday with two matches, then was followed by one more such game on Saturday and yesterday, Tuesday. Here an overview:

Match 1: FC Remscheid 0-7 RW Oberhausen
My home town team FC Remscheid, currently seventh division, faced third division side RW Oberhausen in a regional cup (Niederrheinpokal) match last Wednesday evening and suffered a 0-7 defeat.

Match 2: FC Barcelona 7-1 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
It was the five goal Lionel Messi gala for Barca against Bayer Leverkusen which followed that Wednesday evening resulting in a 7-1 victory in the UEFA Champions League.

Match 3: FC Bayern München 7-1 1899 Hoffenheim
An out of form FC Bayern Munich were happy to welcome a disjoined Hoffenheim to get rid of all their frustrations in this 7-1 trashing last Saturday in the German Bundesliga.

Match 4: FC Bayern München 7-0 FC Basel
Yesterday evening Bayern Munich went into the game against FC Basel with a 0-1 deficit and after their resurrection against Hoffenheim on Saturday, they simply continued where they left off with Mario Gomez scoring four goals against a Basel who did not have chance at all.

2011/12 German Cup: Quarterfinal draw out

The draw for the quarterfinals of the 2011/12 German Cup (DFB Pokal) were held Wednesday evening as part of the ARD Sportschau. German women's national team midfielder Melanie Behringer did the honour of pulling out the fixtures. And she did pull out some really mouth watering clashes.

The top match of the round will be the south Germany derby between VfB Stuttgart and record cup winners FC Bayern Munich. In another Bundesliga match-up Hertha BSC Berlin will host Borussia Mönchengladbach as Hertha continue to aim to reach the finals in their home stadium for the first time, while it marks the return of former Hertha coach Lucien Favre with his current club Gladbach.

1899 Hoffenheim host 2.Bundesliga SpVgg Greuther Fürth in a tricky fixture, while the only amateurs left in the competition fourth division side Holstein Kiel who host Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund.

The matches will be played on February 7/8.


QUARTERFINALS

1899 Hoffenheim - SpVgg Greuther Fürth
Hertha BSC Berlin - Borussia Mönchengladbach
VfB Stuttgart - FC Bayern München
Holstein Kiel - Borussia Dortmund

Hoffenheim: Luis Gustavo joins Bayern, but coach Rangnick resigns

German Bundesliga side 1899 Hoffenheim not only finally sold talented midfielder Luis Gustavo to Bayern Munich, but also lost their coach Ralf Rangnick in the process. Rangnick had vehemently opposed the transfer over the last few weeks, but the club owner Dietmar Hopp and manager Ernst Tanner went ahead to hold transfer talks with the Bavarians and finally sanctioned the transfer, which was unacceptable to the coach.

A few weeks ago Rangnick had said, "The departure of Luiz Gustavo during the winter break is out of the question in my eyes."

But thereafter club owner Dietmar Hopp had said that Hoffenheim wouldn't be able to retain a player like Luis Gustavo if a club like Bayern Muncih was interested. For Rangnick that was not acceptable and he had written a strong worded mail to the club management, which didn't go down too well with them. In the end Rangnick resigned, but as per Hopp he would have been fired otherwise if he hadn't resigned.

Rangnick's assistant Marco Pezzaiuoli has been moved up into the Hoffenheim hot seat. 42 year old Pezzaiuoli has been given a contract until summer 2014 with the task of further developing the club and its players.

Former Hanover 96 and FC Schalke 04 coach Rangnick had surprisingly joined Hoffenheim in June 2006 as the club was only an ambitious third division club then, but in two years he took them into the Bundesliga and in December 2008 the small town club surprisingly were winter champions of the league.

And Luis Gustavo has been a vital part of the squad since joining them from second division Brazilian club Corinthians-Maceio in 2007. Last season Luis Gustavo was more known for his red card send offs, but this season he has been fundamental to Hoffenheim's game in the centre of the park. This was the reason why Bayern Munich wanted to sign him as a long-term replacement for Mark van Bommel. Now they have signed him until 2015 for a fee of 15 Million Euros.

Crazy Bundesliga: The table looks upside down

The German Bundesliga is only into its second round, but it was once more a crazy match day this Saturday, August 28. With matches to be played later today, the league is currently being jointly led by promoted 1.FC Kaiserslautern and 1899 Hoffenheim on a better goal difference ahead of Mainz 05, Hamburger SV and Hannover 96 all on six points; while on the other side of the table you will find 1.FC Cologne, Eintracht Frankfurt, Schalke 04 and VfL Wolfsburg with no points so far.

The pick of the day surely was the 4-3 win of Mainz 05 against VfL Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena. The North Germans were already leading 3-0 after a double strike from Edin Dzeko and a goal on his debut from Brazilian Diego at the half hour mark, but Mainz went on to score four goals in a rare turnaround for an in the end deserving away win. For Steve McClaren and his team it was the second loss in as many games and the Englishmen will think what he did wrong as his defence once more let him down. Mainz continue were they left off last season as the surprise team of the league as they now have two wins out of two matches.

The upset of Round 2 came on Friday evening as newly promoted 1.FC Kaiserslautern beat defending champions FC Bayern Munich 2-0 infront of a sell-out 50.000 at the legendary Betzenberg. Bayern had over 70% ball possession, chances galore but somehow the Bavarian giants could not score on the night. World Cup hero Thomas Mueller had their best chance in the 24th minute as his shot beat keeper Tobias Sippel, but also missed the goal by a whisker. Lautern won the match with a double strike with a minute. First in the 36th minute Ivo Ilecivic scored a beauty of a goal which beat Butt in the Bayern goal and then only a few seconds later Ilecivic played a square pass to Srdjan Lakic, who just had to tap in.

In other games Schalke 04 lost 1-2 against Hannover 96, Werder Bremen won 4-2 against 1.FC Cologne, Eintracht Frankfurt suffered a 1-3 home defeat against Hamburger SV, 1.FC Nuremberg lost 1-2 against SC Freiburg, while FC St. Pauli lost due to a late goal against 1899 Hoffenheim.

In the final matches of Round 2 later today Bayer 04 Leverkusen face Borussia Moenchengladbach in a Rhine derby, while VfB Stuttgart host Borussia Dortmund in a match-up of Europa League qualifiers.