Third consecutive league victory for Borussia Dortmund at the weekend. Now it seems that Jurgen Klopp’s men can make it to the top half of the table. After 22 matches, they are ranked twelfth with only 25 points, but they are just three points behind the ninth placed team in the German Bundesliga league. Dortmund kicked off this game week on Friday, with a narrow win over Stuttgart at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Stuttgart. Gundogan, Aubameyang and Marco Reus scored a goal each in a 2 – 3 victory over the hosts.
Bayern Munich, who have been Dortmund’s closest competitors in the last few years, are now 30 points ahead of them. It wasn’t long ago when these two sides were going head to head in all the major competitions including the Champions League. But now it seems both these clubs will have different ambitions this year. Despite of this big disparity, Dortmund would want to go all the way in the European competition as it seems to be the only plausible path for them to feature in next season’s version of Champions League.
On Saturday, Guardiola’s team traveled to Paderborn and came back with all three points. The German champions punished the home team with a 6 – 0 thrashing. The Polish striker, Robert Lewandowski and the Dutch winger Arjen Robben netted two goals each, while Ribery and Weiser added one each. The 62nd minute sending off of Hartherz didn’t help the cause of the hosts, who are only a few points far from the relegation zone.
The challengers for Bayern’s throne, Wolfsburg also got a win at the weekend. Dost continued his incredible form off late, on Sunday and gifted his side with 3 more points, which keeps them in eight points’ distance of the leaders. Dost scored a brace in Wolfsburg’s 2 – 1 over Hertha BSC. Borussia Monchengladbach were held to a 1 – 1 draw on Sunday by Hamburg. In the dying minutes of the game, more accurately the third minute of extra time, Hrgota saved a point for Monchengladbach by equalizing Stieber’s 73rd minute strike. Monchengladbach maintain their position on the table as the fourth placed Schalke also had to settle with a point. Werder Bremen were the visitors for Schalke and the score after the final whistle was 1 – 1. It was quite similar to the game on Sunday as Bremen alike Monchengladbach nullified Schalke’s 61st minute goal in the 92nd minute.
Augsburg, who are currently fifth in the league, also registered a draw at the weekend. Bayer Leverkusen were their opponents and the match ended 2 – 2. Drmic and Reinartz scored for Leverkusen, while Silva and Hitz found the back of the net for Augsburg. Bayer Leverkusen were denied of the opportunity to leapfrog Augsburg to the fifth spot on the German Bundesliga table. The race for the European spots in this league is still very wide open. Five matches out of nine in this game week ended in a stalemate.