Cologne 1-0 Mainz
Nurnberg 3-0 Hertha
Bremen 2-0 Hoffenheim
Freiburg 1-2 Bayern
Eintracht 2-1 Hannover
Stuttgart 1-2 Schalke
Hamburg 0-0 Leverkusen
Wolfsburg 2-1 Monchengladbach
Dortmund 2-0 Bochum
Hamburg will be the happier with the outcome of their game against Leverkusen which saw the top two cancel each other out to a great extent. Leverkusen's cautious approach might have made more sense had all of Hamburg's rich attacking arsenal been on show, but Bruno Labbadia was without a host of strikers and Leverkusen were disappointing in their lack of endeavour. That result allowed everyone else to close in and Schalke are now just two points back from the pair of them after a win over Stuttgart. Ivan Rakitic put Schalke ahead, a quick break tearing the heart out of the Stuttgart defence. Cacau was Stuttgart's best on the day and he had warmed Manuel Neuer's palms on a number of occasions before he equalised quite late on, profiting from the unselfish work of Julian Schieber. Just three minutes later, Kevin Kuranyi sprang the offside trap and fired across Jens Lehmann for the winner.
Bayern won their first in three away at Freiburg, though were hardly convincing. In the absence of many of their big guns and with Luca Toni yet again failing to make an impact, it was left to 20-year old Thomas Muller to put the Bavarians ahead. Toni had contrived to shoot straight at the keeper from point blank range when scoring was easier, but the ball broke to the new wunderkind and he lashed it in from twelve yards. Half way through the second half, Freiburg contributed to their own downfall when Du-Ri Cha's misplaced backpass wrong footed his goalkeeper and trickled agonisingly over the line. That meant Stefan Reisinger's last minute goal, tap-in at the back post after being brilliantly found in the box by Mohamadou Idrissou, was just consolation. Wolfsburg and Bremen keep up the chase after both won. The champions scored at the end of each half, Alex Madlung's header from a corner at the end of the first and Christian Gentner's 15-yard drive at the end of the second. There was still time after that for Gladbach to get one back, Michael Bradley chesting down and firing low past Diego Benaglio. Bremen made Hoffenheim pay for Carlos Eduardo's early penalty miss as they won with a nice header from Claudio Pizarro - his sixth of the season - and Per Mertesacker sticking a foot out to convert a free-kick late on.
Hertha lost again and remain rooted to the foot of the table. They were two down to Nurnberg before the game was quarter of the way through as their defence continues to leak like a Whitehall official in possession of expenses data. Failure to clear a header cost them thr first, Daniel Gygax slotting home from a narrow angle, and Albert Bunjaku won't have many easier than the back-post tap-in he had for the second. Bunjaku's second took a little more work, slammed home from 20 yards, and Hertha's misery was complete. Bochum's loss to local rivals Dortmund sees them slip back to second bottom. Lucas Barrios's controlled finish put Dortmund in front and Neven Subotic made the game safe for Dortmund when he headed in a free-kick early in the second half. Cologne pulled away a little with just their second win of the season, Milivoje Novakovic's tap-in just before the break enough to see off Mainz. Eintracht remain in the top half after beating Hannover who can't defend corners. Nikos Liberopoulos headed in the opener from a corner midway through the first half, but Jiri Stajner levelled after the break as Eintracht indulged in some calamitous defending of their own. They were level for just six minutes prodded in a parried header as Hannover returned the favour. 90 minutes of pure, comic defences.
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