Bundesliga Saturday Round-Up: Bayer Leverkusen Go Top, Schalke Stutter

VfB Stuttgart 0-0 Nurnberg

Schalke 0-1 Freiburg

Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Bochum

Hannover 0-1 Hoffenheim

Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Borussia Dortmund    

VfB Stuttgart 0-0 Nurnberg  

Markus Babbel’s Stuttgart had to settle for a point at home to Nurnberg, after securing Champions League group stage football in midweek.  

The point for the newly promoted side isn’t enough to take them out of the bottom three, but trainer Michael Oenning will take the result.      

Schalke 0-1 Freiburg  

Schalke trainer Felix Magath suffered his first loss in charge of the Koenigsblauen, following a lacklustre defeat at the hands of Freiburg at the Veltins Arena.  

An even first half looked like ending all-square but then Freiburg took the lead five minutes before the interval. Substitute Tommy Bechmann won possession on the right before feeding Korean right-back Du-Ri Cha. He played a quick one-two, before firing past Manuel Neuer from inside the area.  

That proved to be the only goal of the game, although Levan Kenia did hit the post in the final ten minutes, as the home side looked for the equaliser.    

Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Bochum  

Leverkusen absolutely dominated this game, but had to be satisfied with a 2-1 home win over Marcell Koller’s Bochum.  

The opening goal of the game was scored by the away side, completely against the run of play. Joel Epalle fired in a shot from distance and with defender Manuel Friedrich chasing in with Diego Klimowicz, the Bayer centre-back deflected the shot into the back of the net for an own-goal.   

The Werkself, however, got themselves back on level terms and it was Manuel Friedrich who made amends for his own goal by scoring the equaliser. Michael Kadlec sent over a free-kick into the penalty area and Friedrich was on hand to head home.  

The home side could have been 7-0 up at half-time with the chances created, but football being football they went in level.  

However, on 68 minutes they did grab the lead their play deserved when Stefan Kiessling scored. A throw-in saw Toni Kroos cross into the middle, where the Bayer striker was on hand to fire in.    

Hannover 0-1 Hoffenheim  

Hoffenheim grabbed an important first win of the season with a 1-0 away win over Hannover at the AWD Arena.  

After seeing the home side waste a few chances of their own, Hoffenheim punished Hannover by opening the scoring five minutes before the half-time break. Carlos Eduardo played a neat one-two with Sejad Salihovic, before beating Karim Haggui to the ball and firing a left-foot shot under the bar.        

Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Borussia Dortmund  

It was a case of honours even at the Commerzbank Arena, as Frankfurt and Dortmund finished all-square  

The opening goal fell to the home side after 62 minutes with Mohamed Zidan scoring his first of the season. Felipe Santana won the ball on the left-hand side and began the attack. Tamas Hajnal received the ball before passing to Zidan, who took the chance presented to him before firing into the right-hand corner.  

Six minutes later, though, and it was all-square once again when Ioannis Amanatidis scored the equaliser for Frankfurt. A mistake from Neven Subotic gifted the ball to the Greek forward 18 meters from goal and he took advantage to score his third of the season.

Mathew Burt, Goal.com