Matchday 11 Bulletins
Cologne - Table toppers FC Bayern München extended their lead at the Bundesliga summit with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 11. Thomas Müller bagged a hat-trick at the Commerzbank Arena, with Xherdan Shaqiri netting Bayern's fourth late on.
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Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund put an end to a run of eight games without a win, Bayer 04 Leverkusen were forced to settle for a goalless draw with 1. FSV Mainz 05, while Roberto Di Matteo's FC Schalke 04 slumped to a third straight away defeat in the league after going down 2-0 at SC Freiburg.
bundesliga.com is on hand to keep you up to date with the reaction from Saturday's encounters, as well as all the build-up to Sunday's two top-flight matches.
MATCHDAY 11 RESULTS:
Friday
Hertha Berlin 0-2 Hannover 96
Saturday
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0-0 1. FSV Mainz 05
FC Augsburg 3-0 SC Paderborn 07
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 3-4 1. FC Köln
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-4 FC Bayern München
SC Freiburg 2-0 FC Schalke 04
SV Werder Bremen 2-0 VfB Stuttgart
Sunday
VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 Hamburger SV
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Monday 10 November
Thanks again for following bundesliga.com's coverage of a cracking Matchday 11, full of some unforgettable goals and performances. Two which stood out were Thomas Müller's hat-trick in Bayern's win in Frankfurt, and another remarkable display from Kevin de Bruyne. Müller is a contender for our Player of the Week award, and both will be in action over the international break. Can de Bruyne, perhaps the best player in the league right now, take this sort of form with him over the next fortnight?
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Reus suffers ankle injury
Dortmund's
against Gladbach wasn't without its casualties, with Marco Reus following
into the treatment room after the game. Click
for the full story.
Roberto Di Matteo says Schalke shouldn't be too downhearted after slumping to a third consecutive loss on the road at SC Freiburg on Saturday. "We've got to take strength from the fact we have not lost at home," the Italian said. "It's been a difficult season from the beginning and we shouldn't be surprised if we're playing catch-up right to the end." Check out what Benedikt Höwedes and Ralf Fährmann thought of the game here.
The relief was palpable inside the Signal Iduna Park after a bizarre own goal from Gladbach's Christoph Kramer handed Dortmund their first league win since mid-September on Sunday evening. The result put an end to an eight-match winless run in the Bundesliga as well as taking Jürgen Klopp's side off the foot of the table and out of the relegation zone in the process. Find out what the BVB camp made of the game right here.
Germany's 2014 FIFA World Cup winners were welcomed to Berlin by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday to pick up the in recognition of their success in Brazil this past summer. The 'Silver Laurel Leaf' is the country's highest sporting honour and was presented to all 23 players who lifted the World Cup aloft in Rio de Janeiro on 13 July. Well deserved, too!
Say cheese!
Bayer 04 Leverkusen's coach and players were refusing to make excuses following their goalless draw with 1. FSV Mainz 05 at the BayArena on Saturday afternoon. Die Werkself have won just two out of their last nine league games after Matchday 11's misfire, and Roger Schmidt says his side must improve if they are to climb back up the Bundesliga table in the coming weeks.
Speaking of Kiyotake, why not take another look at the Japanese international's strike against Hertha Berlin on Friday?
Borussia looking on the bright side...
Don't forget to vote for your Matchday 11 Player of the Week! Müller, Hannover 96's Hiroshi Kiyotake (pictured) and 1. FC Köln's Pawel Olkowski are this week's candidates. Müller and Olkowski also feature in the Goal of the Week vote on our FANZONE page, which also includes SC Freiburg's Jonathan Schmid, SV Werder Bremen's Fin Bartels and Hannover's Jimmy Briand. If that wasn't enough, you can vote for your Team of the Week on Twitter using the hashtag #BLTOTW!
Nip over to our WATCH page for highlights from all nine of this weekend’s encounters. You will also find post-match interviews with several head coaches and players, including hat-trick hero Thomas Müller.
It's two league wins on the bounce for new Werder Bremen head coach Viktor Skripnik...
VfL Wolfsburg look unstoppable at present. Dieter Hecking's side lie second in the table after winning their last six league matches, and Belgium international Kevin De Bruyne has been at the heart of the Wolves' outstanding form. Wolfsburg beat Hamburger SV 2-0 at the Volkswagen Arena to move onto 23 points - four behind Bayern, but six ahead of fifth-placed TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Are De Bruyne and Co. heading for the UEFA Champions League?
It's not been a bad weekend for FC Bayern either, all things considered...
For a round-up of the five biggest stories to have emerged from Matchday 11 of Germany's top flight, head on over here. Alternatively, if numbers are more your thing, check out our statistical round-up of the weekend's action.
Apologies, Christoph...
Find out here what Jürgen Klopp and his fellow Bundesliga coaches made of their teams' respective performances on Matchday 11. BVB's head honcho was a relieved man after die Schwarz-Gelben's first league victory since Matchday 3 while Pep Guardiola, who saw his FC Bayern side consolidate their position at the top of the table with a comfortable win at Eintracht Frankfurt, had words of praise for his opposite number Thomas Schaaf.
BVB certainly aren't getting carried away after their first league win since Matchday 3...
Guten Morgen everyone! It's a particularly good morning for everyone connected with Borussia Dortmund, who climbed off the foot of the table - still difficult to fathom - with a narrow 1-0 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach, courtesy of poor Christoph Kramer’s spectacular own goal. It wasn't all good news for BVB, though: Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos fractured his leg in the win, but is likely to return to first-team action in no less than two weeks.
Sunday 09 November
Sunday night was one to forget for Christoph Kramer, but he can't quite rely on the handy concussion excuse this time around as the Gladbach World Cup winner, normally so reliable, scored an own goal of bizarre proportions to bring an end to the Foals' club-record 18-game unbeaten streak. Dortmund were the benefactors of the strange turn of events and climbed off the foot of the table as a result. What a way to end Matchday 11. Good night!
Dieter Hecking's Wolves are flying! That's now six wins in a row after today's 2-0 win against Hamburg, and eight in all competitions. Ivica Olic scored his fourth in seven appearances against his former club, but it was Kevin De Bruyne that was the star of the show. The Belgian international laid on both goals and now has nine in 11 assists tis season. The best player in the Bundesliga right now?
Battle of the Borussias
Dortmund's
is looking forward to this evening's must-see clash with Gladbach. Interestingly, the overall head-to-head between the two sides in the Bundesliga era reads 28 wins apiece and as many draws.
paid homage to head coach Pep Guardiola following FC Bayern's 4-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. "Thanks to Guardiola, I'm a better player" admitted the Frenchman. "I can be used in a number of positions and rotate positions with my team-mates during games. That's hard to deal with if you're the opposition and it's something that tends to work well for us like it did in Frankfurt."
Exactly 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall is a perfect time to catch up with former Schalke, Dortmund and Germany international midfielder Steffen Freund. The 44-year-old was born in Brandenburg in the former East Germany and gave this compelling interview to bundesliga.com in which he recounted his experiences of how the Wall fell, his subsequent move to the West and his perception of unified Germany in a footballing sense today. A fascinating read.
Borussia Dortmund, would you believe it, are bottom of the table - BOTTOM - after yesterday's results, and if they fail to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach this evening, they'll stay there for at least two more weeks. Who would have thought that at the start of the season? Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is targeting a change in fortunes this afternoon, however, as he explained in an exclusive interview with bundesliga.com.
Bayern still unbeatable
Frankfurt's Haris Seferovic optimistically said before the weekend that anything could happen against Bayern. He was right: the Eagles put up some resistance against the Reds but were comfortably beaten 4-0, with Thomas Müller bagging a hat-trick that sent Bayern seven points clear at the top. It was also the 50th consecutive unbeaten league game for Jerome Boateng:
Hats off to a hero
It's strangely appropriate that Andreas Brehme celebrates his birthday on 9 November. He turned 29 on the day the Berlin Wall fell - just under eight months later, he scored the penalty that made West Germany world champions for a third time.
Wolves in town
Hamburg, meanwhile, have an equally tough game against Wolfsburg, who have won their last five in the league. Is this Julian Green's game face?
Good morning everyone. There are two more games in the top flight today but before we get stuck into the action, let's take a moment to reflect on this date in the calendar: 9 November, perhaps the most significant date in German history. On this day 25 years ago, the country was unofficially reunited when the Berlin Wall came down, allowing East Germany and West Germany to come together after 28 years of partition. Germans everywhere will be feeling proud today.
Sunday 09 November
We're going to leave you with some post-match reaction from today's games at the Commerzbank Arena, the BayArena and the Weser-Stadion. Click on the links below to read the players' thoughts on the three respective games. Make sure you joins us tomorrow, there's plenty to look forward to after all (as if you needed reminding). Bye for now!
Müller: 'We're playing really well'
Kießling: '0-0 draw not good enough'
Bartels: 'We're enjoying the winning feeling'
Why not head over here for a look at our round-up report of Saturday's Bundesliga action? Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (c.) and FC Schalke slumped to yet another away defeat, while FC Augsburg and 1. FC Köln both recorded valuable wins...
SV Werder Bremen climbed off the foot of the Bundesliga table courtesy of a 2-0 victory over fellow strugglers VfB Stuttgart on Saturday evening. Goals from Sebastian Prödl and Fin Bartels handed die Grün-Weißen their first home victory of the campaign and their third straight success under new head coach Viktor Skripnik. VfB, meanwhile, could find themselves bottom of the league after Matchday 11, depending on Sunday's results.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen were forced to settle for a goalless draw at home to 1. FSV Mainz, who had goalkeeper Loris Karius to thank for earning Kasper Hjulmand's side a share of the spoils. The 21-year-old custodian made several outstanding stops at the BayArena to keep the scoreline at 0-0, but die Werkself will be frustrated that they didn't manage to put away at least one of their scoring opportunities.
FC Bayern München extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga table to seven points ahead of Sunday's top-flight fixtures with a 4-0 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt. Thomas Müller scored a hat-trick at the Commerzbank Arena, before Xherdan Shaqiri completed the rout late on. With fellow Champions League participants Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Schalke 04 both dropping points on Saturday, it's been another good weekend for the champions so far.
Remember this image, anyone? This is Bayern's Bastian Schweinsteiger celebrating his match-winning goal away to Frankfurt on Matchday 28 of the 2012/13 season, the weekend on which Bayern sealed the league title, with the Champions League and DFB Cup following a few weeks later. Schweinsteiger is currently injured but his team-mates can open up a seven-point lead over second-placed Wolfsburg with a win over Eintracht today. Here's our match preview.
Borussia's match-winner?
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is due a goal for Dortmund - he hasn't scored in the league since the end of August. Might tomorrow be his day for Dortmund against Gladbach?
High fives?
Having won their last four against Frankfurt, league leaders Bayern are out to extend the hoodoo on the Eagles this afternoon. Waylaid defender Holger Badstuber, for one, has his fingers crossed the Bavarians can continue their fine run of form...
Game faces on
Schalke 04 face a tough trip to SC Freiburg this afternoon, but they do have Kevin-Prince Boateng in the fold after he missed the last two games with injury.
One down, eight to go. Hannover and Hertha served up a appetiser of the Bundesliga feast that will be Matchday 11 in Berlin last night, but save some room for what's coming up next on the menu: Frankfurt vs. Bayern, Mainz vs. Leverkusen and Bremen vs. Stuttgart, as well as the three Saturday afternoon kick-offs, Hamburg vs. Wolfsburg and the battle of the Borussias on Sunday. Best bring your bib...
Saturday 08 November
We leave you with some post-match reaction from the capital following Hannover's victory over Hertha. Christian Schulz, in particular, was thrilled with Hiroshi Kiyotake's contribution in the 2-0 victory, saying the Japanese international has "reached the level of performance where he can make a big contribution in every game". To find out what some of the other players made of the Matchday 11 opener, head over here. See you all tomorrow!
Hannover players celebrate after beating Hertha Berlin 2-0 at the Olympiastadion...
TEAM NEWS:
The line-ups are in for tonight's Matchday 11 opener...
Tonight's encounter between Hertha Berlin and Hannover 96 gets Matchday 11's Bundesliga radio schedule underway, but there are two more intriguing top flight matches to look forward to on the airwaves this weekend. SV Werder Bremen vs. VfB Stuttgart will be broadcast live on Saturday afternoon, before the weekend's final audio installment between VfL Wolfsburg's and Hamburger SV is broadcast on Sunday. Make sure you tune in!
Pep knows exactly where Frankfurt's strengths lie...
Four players currently lead the way at the top of the Bundesliga scoring chart, with plenty more eager to make up ground on the front-runners. Ahead of Matchday 11, bundesliga.comhas taken a closer look at the top flight goalgetters who've flown out of the traps at the beginning of the 2014/15 campaign.
Germany squad announced
Joachim Löw's men have an important UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier against Gibraltar coming up next week, and alongside the regular participants, a few new faces have made their way into the squad.
The most captivating sub-plot this weekend when Dortmund face Gladbach must surely be facing his former club. The 25-year-old helped save the Foals from relegation in 2011 before firing them to the qualifying rounds of the Champions League in 2011/12. In 2012, he then moved back to his hometown cluB Dortmund, for whom has 32 goals and 27 assists in 67 appearances. The man is a legend at both clubs, but here's a nod to his days in Mönchengladbach.
Time for some news from Leverkusen, and it's good if you're a Bayer 04 fan.The club have confirmed on Friday morning that defender Emir Spahic has committed to a new deal at the club until 2016. The 34-year-old, who represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, has been ever-present for the Werkself since joining in the summer of 2013. Read more on the story here.
"Good news! Emir Spahic has extended his contract, which was set to expire at the end of the season, until 30 June 2016!"
Frankfurt away
FC Bayern are in action at the Commerzbank-Arena this weekend:
So let's delve a little deeper into just how brilliant Gladbach are playing right now: five wins, five draws and just five goals conceded in ten league games; into the third round of the DFB Cup; top of Europa League group A; the best team to have faced FC Bayern this term. The plaudits and achievements are almost endless, but here's the cherry on top: undefeated in 18 matches following Thursday's 2-0 win at Apollon Limassol. No wonder there's a swagger about them:
So which of the Borussias is a better team right now? A tough question, but an answer might just present itself at around 19:30 CET on Sunday evening, when the final whistle blows to end Dortmund vs. Gladbach. BVB have been woeful in the Bundesliga of late but reached the Champions League knockout rounds on Tuesday, while the Foals have been brilliant across the board this season and won both of these matches last term. It should be a memorable game at the Signal Iduna Park.
So here we are. After UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europe League action this week - with broad success for the German representatives - domestic football is back on the agenda. We start in the capital with two sides for whom the word 'Europe' has been something of a foreign concept in recent seasons following flirts in continental competition: Hertha and Hannover. Re-establishing themselves as stable top-flight clubs is the remit for these two at present. Here's our match preview.
Friday 07 November