Enlarge image
Cheering Leipzigers: Now in eighth place
Photo: Cathrin Mueller / Getty Images
RB Leipzig crawls up to the European Cup places, but against Mainz also has one man more on the field for a long time.
Leverkusen were the more dominant team against Union Berlin, but had to be content with a draw, Hoffenheim is on a Champions League place.
And Freiburg loses third place.
Leverkusen has swapped places with Union. The Berliners are now fifth, Bayer in sixth. Leverkusen took the lead through Patrik Schick, who got the ball in the penalty area and hit the goal from a tight angle. Somewhat surprising in view of the course of the game and the dominance of Leverkusen, Grischa Prömel equalized before the break, who was successful after two previous saves from Bayer goalkeeper Lukáš Hrádecký. It was also Prömel who turned the game around after the break. Union held the lead for a long time, mainly thanks to keeper Andreas Luthe, until Jonathan Tah managed to equalize with his head.
Leipzig climbed a bit in the table and is now eighth. A double setback for Mainz set the course for this game. In the 20 minute Alexander Hack saved just before the line - but with his hand. The result: a red card for Mainz and the following 1-0 for RB by André Silva by foul penalty. Dominik Szoboszlai followed suit shortly after the break, his fourth goal of the season. Jae-Sung Lee's brief glimmer of hope from Mainz only lasted for a short time, as Christopher Nkunku and again Silva made the preliminary decision.
SC Freiburg entered the game as third in the table, Arminia Bielefeld as the penultimate: The self-confidence was distributed accordingly, and the game developed accordingly: Freiburg lived up to its favorite status from the start.
After a corner kick, Arminia defender Joakim Nilsson was able to clear it, Janik Haberer volleyed the break and let it hit the bottom right (6th minute).
At Bielefeld there was little offensive convergence until the break, but Freiburg had 7: 1 shots on goal on their side, such as Grifo's free kick (14th) or Jeong's crossbar (15th), but couldn't accommodate the ball.
Another top chance was cleared by Amos Pieper, who fought off the shot from a central position by Sallai with an outstanding head (38th).
A few seconds after the second half kicked off, Jeong headed in to make the deserved 2-0, Bielefeld's connection with a flutter ball from Okugawa came as a surprise (60th) - but was enough to unleash new strength for the final phase: Arminia kept pushing and came to a late equalizer by Joker Lasme, who prevailed in the penalty area and hit from an acute angle (87th).
Hosts TSG Hoffenheim played their way up to an acceptable fifth place in the table in the first half of the season, but FC Augsburg, slumbering in 15th place, dominated the headlines of the last few days.
His 18-year-old record transfer Ricardo Pepi (came for 16 million from FC Dallas) was initially only on the bench.
Hoffenheim got off to a better start. After a ball conquest by David Raum, whose flank Andrej Kramaric let drain for Munas Dabbur, who then completed from close range (1st minute). The goal did not count, however, Dabbur had been on the ball with his arm. With his massive header (5th) on the opposite side after a corner from Arne Maier, Michael Gregoritsch put the crown on the crazy beginning phase. TSG then pressed, and Bebou (7th) and Richards (9th) gave them chances. Augsburg withdrew and lurked. Hoffenheim initially had problems with the compactly standing guests, but then, after a sharp cross from Raum, managed the connecting goal by Bebou (38th). Six minutes later, the Togolese even turned the game (44.)
After the break, Augsburg had a huge chance, when Vargas was through after a long ball, but failed to goalkeeper Oliver Baumann (49th). However, Vargas was sidelined in the action. Against Augsburg, who had no ideas in the final phase, Hoffenheim only needed a brilliant move to decide the game: Caligiuri lost the ball in forward gear and Hoffenheim then had a lot of space, a cross from Rutter transformed the incoming space with a lucky dropkick (90 + 3).
On paper it was an uneven basement duel: Stuttgart in 16th place was twelve points ahead of Fürth. But at least in the last two games of the first half of the season they had developed something of a home strength and got four points from two home games. Fürth's new attacker Afimico Pululu, who had come from FC Basel, sat on the bench first. Sasa Kalajdzic, who had been absent since the second matchday due to a shoulder injury, had a starting eleven for the Stuttgart team on his comeback. Stuttgart initially had problems with high-standing Fürthers, almost falling behind when Fürth's captain Branimir Hrogta (22nd) headed it, but goalkeeper Florian Müller parried. Stuttgart slowly found its way into the game and even sprayed unexpected magic after a high Sosa pass on returning Kalajdzic:His overhead kick came too centered on goal (26th). After that, there was too little of both teams by the halfway point.
The Fürth people confidently came out of the cabin and, thanks to Hrgota, almost took the lead.
Defender Waldemar Anton was able to scratch his lifter over goalkeeper Müller at the last moment from the line (54th).
Kalajdzic gave VfB chances (68th, 74th, 76th, 77th), but the returnees still lacked timing.
VfB was now increasingly looking for Kalajdzic, while Fürth was just running behind.
In the end, Stuttgart was in a hurry, but acted a little too quickly and missed good chances with Kalajdzic (83rd) and Beyaz (89th).
Fürth will see its upward trend confirmed by the draw, while Freiburg has to finally get used to the relegation battle.
bka / cf.