A Revierderby to never forget, the original Der Klassiker lived up to history, and much more in the Bundesliga round up.
Each and every Revierderby is big, that is a statement of fact. Borussia Dortmund and Schalke entered this one in much differing situations. Schalke is 2nd in the Bundesliga for the first time in five seasons and sitting above Dortmund for the first time in a much longer time span. Dortmund has earned one point from a possible 15 that had them five points top in the Bundesliga. Needless to say a lot was on the line.
Dortmund came out the gate firing. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring 12 minutes in and set the crowd afire. Goals in the 18th, 20th, and 25th soon followed to give the hosts a 4-0 lead. It seemed insurmountable. And yet two goals scored in the second half showed the old Dortmund, Aubameyang was sent off and then after an 86th minute goal followed shortly after by a fourth minute of added time goal the fortunate neutral viewers found themselves overwhelmed. This 4-4 thriller will go down as one of the greatest, Schalke still 2nd in the Bundesliga, Dortmund two points from 18.
Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach is a classic and possibly the Original classic. From the 68-69 season to 76-77 season each title was won by these clubs, Bayern with four titles and Borussia with five titles.
In a match that ended 2-1 Borussia came out to be the first team to take points off of Bayern in Jupp Heynckes return. He being a former coach and player in the glory days of BMG. The Foals shut down everything that Bayern was able to do or would’ve done. A penalty broke the initial deadlock with Thorgan Hazard and in a mere couple minutes later an unmarked Matthias Ginter made the lead 2-0 at the half. This will be seen as a possible route to get points going forward off the giants, who knows who else will exploit?
HSV has been making their home of Volksparkstadion a bit of a fortress of late. Unexpectedly they find yet another home victory, 3-0 over Hoffenheim, more importantly the win gets the northern club out of the relegation zone. With an early own goal HSV by grinding it out found themselves two very late goals to make it 3-0. Hoffenheim not having the best of weeks after an exit in the UEFA Europa League
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga
Bayer Leverkusen was not to be denied the full three points. Their 1-0 away win over Eintracht Frankfurt moves the club to sixth in the table and the European places.
FC Koln woes continue. A 2-0 home loss to Hertha Berlin sees more distance between them and safety.
In a battle of the newly promoted sides both Hannover 96 and VfB Stuttgart played to a 1-1 draw.
FC Augsburg came from behind to defeat VfL Wolfsburg 2-1, leaving the club within touching distance of the Europa League.
SC Freiburg soundly defeated Mainz 05 2-1. Freiburg does not exit the relegation zone by now is in the relegation playoff spot.
Werder Bremen relegation fight took a massive hit at Leipzig. A 2-0 loss coupled with wins by HSV and SC Freiburg mean that the northern club is back in the automatic relegation places.
Bundesliga player of the week
Amine Harit: coming on as a first half substitute with the Royal Blues down 4-0 he scored a goal and was part of the inspiring comeback that will live long in the hearts of the fans for years to come.
