Bayern break more records, Frankfurt slump again
BERLIN (AFP) –
Frankfurt’s players react as Stuttgart’s Georg Niedermeier (3rd L) celebrates scoring the 2-1 during the German first division Bundesliga football match Eintracht Frankfurt vs VfB Stuttgart in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on March 17, 2013.
Bayern Munich continue to break Bundesliga records and are now just two more wins from the title while Eintracht Frankfurt’s slump continued on Sunday with a 2-1 defeat to VfB Stuttgart.
Bayern remain 20 points clear after Saturday night’s 2-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen, while Frankfurt are fourth and without a win in their last six games after losing at home to Stuttgart.
Frankfurt took an early lead when midfielder Stefan Aigner netted on 17 minutes to break Eintracht’s goal drought having gone six games without scoring since their 2-0 win at Hamburg at the start of February.
Stuttgart roared back to claim their first win after four defeats, including losing twice to Lazio in the Europa League, when striker Vedad Ibisevic converted a penalty before midfielder Georg Niedermeier headed a late winner.
The win leaves Stuttgart 12th before they host defending champions Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
Frankfurt coach Armin Veh, who has been linked to Schalke 04, said he will decide his future during the forthcoming international break, but has not signed a contract with the Royal Blues, despite reports.
“If I had done so, I would have already said so,” he said while Eintracht’s director of sport Bruno Huebner has said he hopes to keep Veh in Frankfurt.
A first-half goal by Holland’s Luuk de Jong, was enough to give Borussia Moenchengladbach a 1-0 win at home to ten-man Hanover which left his side seventh, just outside the European places for next season.
Hanover, who are tenth, had midfielder Sergio Pinto sent off for a second yellow card late in the game, while Gladbach are undefeated in their last four games.
Having opened the season with a record eight wins, while conceding just eight goals in their first 24 league matches — another record — Bayern claimed another new Bundesliga mark with their 12th away league win this campaign at Leverkusen.
Having won 22 of their 26 league games, they now only need to beat Hamburg at home next Saturday, then win at Frankfurt on April 6 to have their 23rd German league title confirmed.
Bayern, who face Juventus in the Champions League quarter-finals, took the lead when Mario Gomez showed his strength with the opening goal on 37 minutes as his side bounced back from their midweek defeat to Arsenal.
Leverkusen, the only team to beat Bayern in the Bundesliga this year, pulled a goal back through Simon Rolfes on 75 minutes, but Bayern took the three points through a Philipp Wollscheid own goal on 87 minutes.
Second-placed Borussia Dortmund routed Freiburg 5-1 with Poland’s Robert Lewandowski and Turkey’s Nuri Sahin both scoring twice.
Dortmund, who play Malaga in the last eight of the Champions League, ran riot at Signal Iduna Park as Lewandowski set a new club record of scoring in each of his last eight league games.
Schalke were hammered 3-0 at Nuremberg to drop down to fifth and out of the Champions League places, having been dumped out of Europe’s top competition with a home defeat to Galatasaray on Tuesday.
Relegation-threatened Augsburg picked up their fourth win in their last 10 games to keep their survival hopes alive with a 1-0 win at eighth-placed Hamburg, but the Bavarian team remains five points from safety.
Werder Bremen midfielder Aaron Hunt converted two second half-penalties to give his mid-table team a point in their 2-2 draw at bottom side Greuther Fuerth.