So close
October 31, 2009
None of the first five teams in Germany's top soccer league managed to gather all three points on Saturday, as the Bundesliga stayed tight on its eleventh match day. First-placed Leverkusen will feel most frustrated as they conceded two goals in the last ten minutes of their game against local rivals Schalke, currently in fourth place.
Leverkusen dominated their hosts in the first half and Toni Kroos struck after 29 minutes, firing an unstoppable volley from 18 metres past keeper Manuel Neuer. Stefan Kiessling doubled the lead in the 44th minute when he headed in a Tranquillo Barnetta cross for his seventh league goal of the season.
But they could only hold onto that lead to the 88th minute, when Vicente Sanchez's header completed Schalke's comeback, five minutes after Kevin Kuranyi had pulled the home team back into the game.
Hamburg finally beaten
But the league's only other unbeaten side, the seemingly unstoppable Hamburg SV could not take advantage of Leverkusen's agony, letting lowly Borussia Moenchengladbach get the better of them in a thriller on their home ground.
Moenchengladbach showed uncharacteristic determination to twice come from behind, before scoring a late winner through Canadian Rob Friend to break Hamburg's record and leave them in third spot on 22 points.
Werder Bremen, meanwhile, were also stopped by a bottom-half side, drawing 2-2 with 16th-placed Nuremberg. The pain of missing the chance to overtake Leverkusen will only be slightly mitigated by the euphoria of a stoppage time equalizer that gave them a precious point. Like Schalke they can also count themselves fortunate to turn over a 2-0 half-time deficit.
Bayern fail to bite
Bayern Munich continued their recent toothless form by allowing struggling Stuttgart to end their five-match losing streak. The fifth-placed Bavarians drew 0-0 at VfB Stuttgart, who perhaps did enough to offer coach Markus Babbel some respite.
Stuttgart set a frantic early pace against Bayern, stretching keeper Hans-Joerg Butt twice with shots from Julian Schieber and Christian Traesch.
Bayern's Anatoliy Tymoshchuk tried several long range efforts but neither Miroslav Klose nor former Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez, making a rare start for the Bavarians, could carve out a good chance.
Coach Louis van Gaal brought on striker Luca Toni for Klose in the second half and the Italian made an immediate impact, twice going close. Toni put the ball in the net four minutes from time but was ruled offside.
"I think we had more possession but did not create many chances so in a way I am satisfied," concluded Van Gaal.
bk/Reuters/dpa
Editor: Andreas Illmer