Bayern 2-1 Monchengladbach
Dortmund 4-0 Nurnberg
Stuttgart 1-1 Bochum
Hannover 0-0 Leverkusen
Hamburg 0-0 Hoffenheim
Wolfsburg 2-2 Freiburg
Eintracht 2-0 Mainz
Cologne 0-0 Bremen
Schalke 2-0 Hertha
A point against Bochum actually moved Stuttgart up a place on the league ladder, but they remain in the bottom three and that was enough for the board to sack Markus Babbel as manager. A year ago, he took over a shambles of a side after Armin Veh was dismissed and set about building an impressive unbeaten run that took the club to within an ace of winning the league. Mario Gomez was sold, but in his place came Pavel Pogrebnyak and Alex Hleb: the former simply hasn't settled while the latter embodies the old cliché about never going back. A dismal Champions League campaign also hasn't helped Babbel's cause and he's out with Christian Gross - who still somehow has a decent reputation in Germany - coming in. Serdar Tasci's goal on the hour looked to have won a valuable three points, especially when Diego Klimovic was sent off for Bochum with time running out. However, a stunning Christian Fuchs free-kick in the last minute rescued a point for fellow strugglers Bochum and sealed Babbel's fate.
Draws were order of the day at the top end, Leverkusen held by Hannover for whom goalkeeper Florian Fromlowitz was outstanding, Cologne kept Bremen at bay, Hamburg and Hoffenheim failed to muster a goal and Wolfsburg were held by Freiburg. Freiburg were ahead twice through Mohamadou Idrissou and Ivica Banovic, but were pegged back twice, first by a terrible own goal from Feliz Bastians and later by Fabian Johnson, set up brilliantly by Zvejzdan Misimovic. Edin Dzeko looked to have won it late on when picked out six yards from goal by Misimovic, but a great save from Simon Pouplin secured a point for Freiburg.
So anyone scoring a win at the top end made hay and two of them did: Bayern and Schalke. After a goalless first half, Schalke eventually got the reward that their dominance of the game against Hertha deserved. Kevin Kuranyi headed home their first on the hour from a suspiciously offside looking position and Hertha's task was made much harder when Christoph Janker was sent off for a second yellow. Rafinha added a penalty in the dying few moments to wrap it up leaving Hertha still further adrift at the bottom. Bayern looked to be heading for a draw in the Friday game at home to Gladbach, Roel Brouwers equalising Mario Gomez's opener, but a superb free-kick from Holger Badstuber found the inside of the far post to nick all three points.
Dortmund won again and it's been ages since they last lost. They were three up by half time, Kevin Grosskreutz, Lucas Barrios and Mohamed Zidan sending BvB on their way. Mats Hummels added a fourth in the second half to send Dortmund up to seventh, just a point off the European places. Eintracht won the Rhein-Main derby with Maikl Franz reaching a deep cross at the back post to volley home on the half-hour. Mainz's Chadlj Amri was sent off after the break, his second yellow resulting in the inevitable red twenty minutes from time. Mainz battled hard, but Alex Meier was on the end of a quick break that had Eintracht four-on-two with seconds remaining to seal local bragging rights, for the time being at least.
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