Bayer Leverkusen are widely expected to finish in the top four in the Bundesliga and make a return trip to the UEFA Champions League, but they looked nothing like a Champions League side in their Round 17 encounter with Nürnberg. At home, against a team in the drop zone, they completely fell apart in an embarrassing loss. Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund looked like themselves in a big win.
What in the world happened here?!? Bayer had everyone healthy and all of the possession at home, while Nürnberg were missing the suspended Timothy Chandler. Daniel Didavi scored in the 9th minute for the visitors and Bayer never recovered. Jens Hegeler added another on a corner kick in the 22nd minute, and Tomas Pekhart sealed the win with a 73rd minute goal.
Talk about unlucky. Hamburg absolutely battered the Augsburg goal in this one and almost certainly deserved three points, but a combination of some bad luck and a great performance from Mohamed Amsif kept them from getting a win. Torsten Oehrl shocked the hosts with his 63rd minute goal, scoring on a rebound after a Tobias Werner shot was blocked. José Paolo Guerrero answered three minutes later with a header on a great set piece delivery by Dennis Aogo, but it would be HSV's only goal.
It was the Robert Lewandowski show in Dortmund, as the Polish international netted two goals and tallied an assist. Lucas Barrios, even after two fantastic seasons as the first choice center forward for Der BVB, is now very much a backup. The opener came just seven minutes in, with Lewandowski tapping in a goal after a great pass from Shinji Kagawa. Jan Rosenthal found a surprising goal for Freiburg in the 34th minute, but BVB took control in the second half with goals from Ilkay Gündogan, Kevin Grosskreutz and Lewandowski with his second.
Sejad Salihovic scored an absolute stunner early for Hoffenheim and Hertha's Raffael was sent off in the 31st minute, but the home side still couldn't find a win as they absolutely threw away two points. Isaac Vorsah was sent off for Hoffenheim in the 63rd minute, putting what looked like a certain Hoffenheim win in doubt. In stoppage time, Roman Hubnik scored a heartbreaking equalizer for the visitors, grabbing them a massive point.
Wolfsburg were absolutely abysmal against Werder Bremen last week, but Felix Magath's boys did well to recover this week. Their previously terrible defense shut out Stuttgart, with substitute Sebastian Polter scoring in the 74th minute to grab the win for his side. Wolfsburg are now well clear of the drop zone, while the points gap between Stuttgart and European places keeps growing.
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