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  • Monday 31 August 2009

    Robben and Ribéry make Bayern a force: Bundesliga reviews

    Monchengladbach 2-0 Mainz
    Schalke 0-1 Freiburg
    Stuttgart 0-0 Nurnberg
    Eintracht 1-1 Dortmund
    Hannover 0-1 Hoffenheim
    Leverkusen 2-1 Bochum
    Bayern 3-0 Wolfsburg
    Hertha 2-3 Bremen
    Hamburg 3-1 Cologne

    It's official. It takes €25m, or thereabouts, to turn a club from a complete farce into a genuine force. That's the price Bayern paid to Real Madrid for Arjen Robben, but that's only really half the story: Franck Ribéry is back as well. The value of the Frenchman to the club is enormous, as the performances without him have testified. Wolfsburg, on the other hand, just aren't clicking. Josué was out for this one and the team struggled to get Edin Dzeko involved, though the Bosnian came close twice, hitting the post with a superb shot on the the turn and forcing Hans-Jorg Butt - the veteran in for the ever more flappy Michael Rensing - into a brilliant reflex save. Mario Gomez had put the Bavarians ahead when Diego Benaglio couldn't hold Hamit Altintop's long range strike and spilled it at Gomez's feet, but the real difference opened up when Altintop was withdrawn at half-time and Robben was sent on. Bayern were a team transformed with attacks coming from all angles, totally overwhelming the Wolfsburg defence. With Anatoliy Tymoschuk providing defensive solidity in midfield, Ribéry and Robben had free rein and the former sent the latter away for Bayern's second, though the shot took a nasty deflection which took it away from Benaglio. The same two were involved for the third, Ribéry slipping a square ball in for the Dutchman who sent the defenders out for a paper with an outrageous dummy before slotting home. What a debut. They're back.

    It's Hamburg who are top though after another impressive win, Paolo Guerrero bagging two more as Cologne, who slip to bottom place, were put away 3-1. Guerrero's first came courtesy of some slack defending, but the second was all quality, his low strike coming on the end of some slick football. Adil Chihi gave Cologne hope with quarter of an hour to go thanks to this 30-yard speculator, but Piotr Trochowski's late penalty ensured no dramas for the new league leaders. Leverkusen eased past Bochum to remain level with Hamburg, though they had to come from behind after Diego Klimovic put Bochum ahead. Manuel Friedrich levelled it and the in-form Stefan Kiessling won it for Leverkusen. Freiburg notched their first win away at Schalke, Du-Ri Cha with the only goal of the game while Stuttgart could only mamage a goalless draw with Nurnberg. Carlos Eduardo got Hoffenheim's only goal as they won their first game of the season away at Hannover while Eintracht came from behind to draw with Dortmund, Ioannis Amanatidis equalising Mohamed Zidan's opener.

    Mainz could have gone top on Friday night, but Gladbach got goals in each half, Raul Bobadilla and Marco Reus the scorers, to end Mainz's little run of results. Hertha lost again, this time by the odd goal in five to Bremen. After a goalless first 45, Mesut Ozil and Tim Borowski put Bremen two up, Lukas Piszczek pulled one back before Naldo made the game safe with seven minutes to go. Patrick Ebert's last minute goal was just consolation.

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