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  • Monday 6 April 2009

    Wolfsburg storm to summit: Bundesliga reviews

    Arminia 0-2 Schalke
    Hertha 1-3 Dortmund
    Hamburg 1-0 Hoffenheim
    Wolfsburg 5-1 Bayern
    Bochum 1-2 Stuttgart
    Eintracht 2-1 Energie
    Bremen 4-1 Hannover
    Karlsruhe 0-0 Monchengladbach
    Cologne 0-2 Leverkusen

    A stunning performance from Wolfsburg saw them despatch Bayern to go top of the table having come from pretty much nowhere. Yet again, the combined brilliance of Grafite, Edin Dzeko (both added two more to their tallies) and Zvejzdan Misimovic made mincemeat of their opponents in their best showing to date. Talk about peaking at the right time; Felix Magath's side now look good value to go on and win it. Grafite's second and Wolfsburg's fifth was an absolute peach and put the tin lid on one of the most dominant performances you could wish to see. The sides turned round at one all, Christian Gentner's 44th minute opener off a Misimovic corner was responded to in quick time by Luca Toni, Diego Benaglio parrying Lucio's header right into the Italian's path. But the second half was all Wolfsburg, Dzeko bagging two in three minutes around the hour and Grafite doing likewise ten minutes later. Those two goals take the Brazilian's tally to twenty in just seventeen games as he tops the goal-scoring charts. Magath raised the ire of the Bayern players by substituting Benaglio late on, Mark van Bommel in particular taking it as a personal insult, but with such a swaggering performance behind them, Wolfsburg had earned the right to do pretty well as they pleased.

    They go top on goal difference from Hamburg who beat Hoffenheim whose title challenge is over and even hopes of making the Europa League now getting smaller. Jonathan Pitroipa got the only goal of the game, taking it round Timo Hildebrand after Piotr Trochowski played him through. The villagers didn't create much and that's been an issue since the resumption after the winter break. Hertha relinquished the lead thanks to a big home defeat to Dortmund, ending a 10-game winning streak at the Olympiastadion. Alexander Frei put BvB ahead before Raffael equalised. Sebastien Kehl restored the lead and Hertha had chances to level it again, none better than when Neven Subotic was forced to clear off the line, but Nelson Valdez sealed it eight minutes from time. Stuttgart remain in the frame, moving into fifth, ahead of Hoffenheim, after their late win over Bochum. Cacau's second in two games equalised Joel Epalle's opening goal, but Serdar Tasci slammed home Tomas Hitzlsperger's cross to snatch a win.

    Down at the bottom, Gladbach couldn't find a way past Karlsruhe and a point helps neither of them. That's seven games in a row that Karlsruhe have failed to score in, though both sides hit the bar in the first half. Gladbach had the better chances, but found Markus Miller - probably Karlsruhe's best player this season, certainly the busiest - in fine form. Cottbus remain in deep trouble with their defeat to Eintracht who just ease away from the danger area. The sides exchanged penalties early on, Dimitar Rangelov putting the easterners ahead before Nikos Liberopoulos resopnded in kind. Both penalties were highly dubious, but cancelled each other out somewhat. Early in the second half, Markus Steinhofer floated a free-kick into the box and it evaded everybody before nestling in the far corner of Gerhard Tremmel's goal. Arminia went down at home on Friday night to Schalke who responded well to the disruption in the week. Goals late in either half won it; Jefferson Farfan slotting home Christian Pander's cross late in the first half and Kevin Kuranyi finished a late counter-attack with Jermaine Jones prominent with seconds remaining in the second.

    Bremen crushed Hannover thanks to a Claudio Pizarro hat-trick and Diego had the luxury of missing a penalty as they eased to a 4-1 win. Hannover were level briefly, Jacek Krynowek responding to Pizarro's first. Diego then did get on target 13 minutes from time and Pizarro added two more late on. Leverkusen continue to frustrate with their inconsistency and this time it was a win for Bruno Labbadia's side. It was the prolific front two of Stefan Kiessling and Patrick Helmes that got goals - Helmes from the penalty spot - and it would have been worse but for some fine goalkeeping from Faryd Mondragon.

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