Stickied German Football

I don't think they were. The defence was shambolic and Benaglio should have saved one or two. Really thought they were getting back in the game in the latter stages of the first half but then Knoche just let's Higuain past him and Naldo has a shocker. It was more Wolfsburg gifting chances to Napoli and Napoli taking them than Napoli being better than Wolfsburg.

Yeh to be fair I had stopped watching at 2-0, just after Schurrle hit the bar. It just seemed every time Napoli went forward they looked a huge threat, although the first goal was certainly a questionable one as Higuain practically caught it.

Wolfsburg are a good side, explains why they are 2nd, but in Europe they don't have enough quality - Napoli outclassed them. Hamsik was quality - but Wolfsburg made simple errors.

It would be a shock should the final not be contested by Napoli and Zenit, although Zenit lost with a lot do to in the return leg still.

he will be gone at the end of the season. hopefully.

Doesn't look good on him, unfortunately.

I've backed Hoffenheim/draw today as I can see the off-field issues affecting Bayern a little bit. Hoff aren't in the best form but they still have some players who are able to hurt Munich on their day; Volland & Firmino especially.

Also fancy away wins for Koln and Stuttgart today. Feel Augsburg have stuttered recently and aren't the best at home, and Stuttgart finally seem to be showing a bit of fight. The bottom half is so tight it's great for a neutral (so long as BVB don't get dragged back into it!). They should be winning their game today, and I imagine it'll be an incredible atmosphere there today.

How many more wins do Bayern need?

Unsurpringsly, Tuchel appointed Dortmund manager until 2018.

Hannover have sacked Korkut. Bit late for that and reckon it won't change much. Whether they win a game or not, they won't go down I don't think.

Tuchel is a good appointment for Dortmund - he's a young, bright and creative manager, mirroring Klopp in some ways.

He'll be a success like he was at Mainz, considering he was offered the Hamburg job before Bruno Labbadia was appointed shows he waited patiently for the right job.

As for Hannover, they are close to the drop - they have been in free-fall for months now. They really shouldn't be there. It would be surprising for them to be relegated. Currently I predict that Hamburg and Stuttgart will go down, with Paderborn resigned to the relegation play-offs.

Klopp leading Dortmund into Europe just before he leaves? Certainly a good transformation considering where they were two and a half months ago, although aided by the small number of points separating lots of teams.

The relegation battle rumbles on too, certainly an interesting one.

Bottom teams picking up useful points apart from Hannover.

Bayern Munich have won the league already.. Who saw that coming!?

Is there a highlight round up for Bundesliga.2 games anywhere? Was at Union Berlin v Ingolstadt yesterday, Union's equaliser was a right beauty, desperate to see it again.

Great ground innit.

These penalties are great, Lahm and Alonso both slipping and missing.

Both Lahm and Alonso have slipped taking their penalties in the Bayern - Dortmund game that has gone to pens.

Dortmund 2 - 0 up at the moment.

Dortmund go through.

Klopp can go out on a high still

Has a (major) German team ever scored nil in a penalty shootout before?

Hamburg vs Montpellier in the 90s

Cmon Bielefeld. Knock out Wolfsburg and then Dortmund!

schalke fans chanting " the FCN will come back very soon" after they relegated Nuremberg on the last matchday in 13/14

How wrong they were.

Nurnberg haven't had a great season. They were managed by Valérien Ismäel, a former French Bremen and Bayern player and he was terrible. As soon as they got rid they were fine but it was already too late for promotion.
I do agree that a town the size of Nurnberg should be in the top league. It's kind of a big deal. They should be the favourites to go up next season along with Leipzig (who will splash a lot of doh this summer to go up).

Might be curtains for Stuggart if Hamburg keep in front.

Not so sure. Schalke is not that easy a trip so Stuttgart losing is not that suprising. Stuttgart still have to play Mainz and Hamburg at home (winnable) and travel to Paderborn on the final day. It's in their hands.

Bayern lost at Leverkusen 0-2 in a game where they rested a lot of key players ahead of the semi against Barca on Wednesday. They still had quite a few chances but Leverkusen took their goals well via Calhanoglu and Brandt.
Gladbach kept their 3rd place though with a late win at Hertha Bsc 2-1. The two sides winning and Wolfsburg's faltering form (3 wins from 8 games) means that the gap between 2nd and 3rd/4th isn't that big anymore: Gladbach are only 2 points behind Wolfsburg now! Big game next weekend as Gladbach host Leverkusen. A home win would clinch CL football for Gladbach who desperately want to avoid the play-off after bad experience last time. Wolfsburg will be at Paderborn and will be expected to win. No excuses anymore as Europe is over.
First win in 7 for Schalke who had to dig deep after being 1-2 down at home to Stuttgart to win 3-2. They are now 2 points clear of Augsburg who could only draw 0-0 at home to Köln. Of the sides ready to pounce are Bremen who won at home to Frankfurt 1-0. Hoffenheim and Dortmund drew 1-1, a result that favours neither side in their EL ambitions.

At the bottom, massive wins for Hamburg and Paderborn. Hamburg won at Mainz (who are practically safe) thanks to a late winner while Paderborn won a 6-pointer at Freiburg 2-1 after being 0-1 down. This leaves Stuttgart bottom 3 points adrift after their cruel loss at Schalke. Hannover, despite getting a good result at Wolfsburg 2-2, are second bottom and in a relegation spot for the first time of the season. The play-off spot is occupied by Freiburg who looked safe a couple of weeks but in trouble currently. Hamburg are now 14th, their best league position for over 2 months!
Hertha and Frankfurt are next in line. Hertha need to be careful as they are only 4 points clear. I doubt Frankfurt will go down but their form is terrible. 6 games without a win. Both of these sides square up in the capital in a fortnight which should determine who will be mathematically safe at this point.
Next week sees another crucial game at the bottom: Hamburg vs Freiburg. Win for the home side would go a long way guaranteeing status int he Bundesliga next season.

In the second division, Ingolstadt are within touching distance of promotion if they beat Nürnberg this evening. Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe both lost which means that if Ingolstadt win today, they'll only a point to secure promotion next week.
The big losers of the weekend at the bottom of the Buli Zwei are 1860 Munich. 0-3 loss at home to Union Berlin while both St Pauli and Aue won their games. We're going down!

In the 3rd division, still no promotion for Bielefeld after their Pokal heroics. They could only draw 2-2 at home to Kiel this weekend and stay just 4 points clear of them (they're 3rd) with 3 games to go. Duisburg confirmed 2nd spot with a 2-1 success over Preussen Münster. It looks like the top 3 will stay this way as Kiel are 6 points clear of Stuttgarter Kickers.

Excellent write up.

Gladbach Leverkusen should be a great game, both in superb form.

Also noticed a few transfers seem to be happening already. Anthony Ujah is joining Bremen from Koln, while youngster Davie Selke is leaving Bremen for RB Leipzig.

Ujah is a bit of a loss for Koln, but I wonder if they'll try and lure Podolski back as it's over for him at Arsenal, to be honest. Or do Inter have first dibs?