Union Berlin’s soaring flight in the German Bundesliga has ebbed. Third-placed Berliners drew 0-0 at home against 1. FC Köln on Saturday and are already five points behind leaders Borussia Dortmund. Series champions Bayern Munich drew level with Dortmund with a win in the evening (game starts at 6:30 p.m.) at VfB Stuttgart. Fifth-placed Freiburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach also went goalless.
Schalke 04 gave another strong sign of life in the relegation battle. The bottom team, which many have already written off, won 2-0 at their direct rivals VfL Bochum and caught up with Bochum, 1899 Hoffenheim and Stuttgart on points at the bottom of the table. Hoffenheim’s negative series continued. The team of ÖFB national player Christoph Baumgartner conceded the sixth defeat in a row with a 0:1 at FSV Mainz. Augsburg defeated Werder Bremen 2-1.
After a 0-0 draw against Schalke and a 0-3 draw at Bayern, Union Berlin failed to score for the third league game in a row. Captain Christopher Trimmel was in the starting lineup for the Berliners, as were his compatriots Dejan Ljubicic and Florian Kainz for the Cologne team. ÖFB striker Michael Gregoritsch was absent from Freiburg in Mönchengladbach due to illness. Philipp Lienhart defended in a three-man defense, while Stefan Lainer and Hannes Wolf sat on the bench at the other end.
Schalke followed up after four goalless draws and the 3-1 win against Stuttgart in the district duel. Kevin Stöger could not prevent Bochum’s defeat. A slapstick own goal by Bochum goalkeeper Manuel Riemann (45′) and a goal by Marius Bülter (79′) brought the decision. Schalke, with reservist Leo Greiml, are the only team still undefeated in the second half of the Bundesliga season alongside arch-rivals Dortmund, who have stormed to the top. Next Saturday there will be a direct duel in Gelsenkirchen.
While Schalke draws hope again, things are getting increasingly bleak for Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim are already 13 league games without a win. There have only been two points since mid-October. Again, the weak defensive behavior was punished by standards: Leandro Barreiro scored the golden goal for Mainz after a corner (33rd). In addition, offensive man Baumgartner Hoffenheim is missing after a yellow card in the next game in Freiburg.
Without the recently injured Karim Onisiwo, Mainz moved up to seventh place with their fourth win in a row. With the home win against Bremen, Augsburg put eight points between them and the relegation zone. Former ÖFB team captain Julian Baumgartlinger came on at break. Marco Friedl played through as captain for the tenth-placed Werder team, Romano Schmid came on in the 68th minute.