Dortmund do it again

Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski had two goals for the home team, while Hanover was able to get one back an hour into the game to turn up the tempo in the second half. But in the end, Dortmund's Ivan Perisic put the game out of reach, tagging on one last goal for Dortmund for a final score of 3-1.

Lewandowski got things started for the home team after 27 minutes, firing from near the top of the area into the near-side corner of the goal, with Hanover keeper Ron-Robert Zieler only able to get a hand on the ball. His second game came nine minutes into the second half after teammate Jakub Blaszczykowski drew Zieler out of the goal, and then dished off to Lewandowski, who merely had to tap the ball across the line.

Hanover's Didier Ya Konan made things interesting shortly after, firing an absolute strike from outside the area into the corner of the net that Dortmund's keeper Roman Weidenfeller had no chance of saving.

With at least a draw within range, Hanover created a few close calls for Dortmund, but were never able to put the finishing touches on an equalizer.

Hanover's hopes for a draw were dashed in injury time thanks to Perisic's goal.

The win put Dortmund four points ahead of Bayern Munich at the top of the table, while Hanover remains in seventh, missing a chance to gain ground on Werder Bremen, who lost 2-1 to Hoffenheim.

Bayern's turn-around

After last week's 0-0 draw to Freiburg, the Bundesliga's worst team, and a mid-week loss to FC Basel in the Champions League, Bayern Munich were in a must-win situation on Sunday against Schalke. It doesn't take much for the management at Bayern to enter crisis mode, and anything but a win would have put the team's leadership over the edge.  

It was Franck Ribery who stepped up for Bayern, scoring both of the team's goals in the 2-0 win against Schalke. Not only did the win calm the cries that Bayern is in freefall - potentially saving coach Jupp Heynckes from being fired in the short term - but also moved Bayern up the table to keep them on the heels of league leaders Borussia Dortmund. Bayern moved ahead of Mönchengladbach, who only managed a draw against Hamburg on Friday, and are now in sole possession of second place.

"We're back in it," Ribery said in a post-match interview. "Now, we have to win everything and hope that Dortmund make a mistake."

Long bomb to Ribery

Bayern's first goal came off a quick counterattack that saw Luiz Gustavo swipe the ball away from Schalke's Marco Höger and then send a long, lobbing a pass up the pitch to Franck Ribery. Ribery had the defense beat, but still had to get around a charging Timo Hildebrand, who came well out of the area to try and cut off the pass.

Ribery got a touch on the ball just before Hildebrand could get to it, and then merely had to apply the finishing touch to put the goal away in the 36th minute.

Gustavo took possession of the ball from Höger after the two players collided, and Schalke's sporting director Horst Heldt said in a halftime interview that a foul should have been called on Gustavo.

"He reffed as poorly as we played up front," Heldt said. "It's a catastrophe."

Indeed, Schalke had few chances, only troubling Bayern keeper once late in the first half on a Christoph Metzelder header.

Jittery nerves

Bayern had other chances to score, simply getting off poor shots on some, but being denied by heroic saves by Hildebrand on others.

"In front of the goal, we weren't so calm and collected," said coach Jupp Heynckes after the match.

A few minutes after Ribery's goal, he sent a cross into the middle and found Thomas Müller, who had a foot on the ball right in front of the goal and sent it toward the back of the net. Only a split-second reflex action from Hildebrand's left arm saved a goal, and Holger Badstuber, standing on the goal line, misfired on the second chance.

Hildebrand's luck ran out in the 55th minute, once again being outfoxed by Ribery. With the ball in the area, Ribery dribbled in traffic and managed to get a shot off that Hildebrand probably would have held, had the ball not taken a deflection off Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos on its way into the goal.

"It's amazing what that little guy can make his body do," said former Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer, who was commentating for Sky TV. "From the first to the last minute, he's playing with a full head of steam."

Author: Matt Zuvela
Editor: Nicole Goebel