Victories of favorites in the Bundesliga

2005-05-08 10:23 © EuroFootball.com

On Saturday, seven matches of the 32nd round of the German national football championship were played. No major surprises were recorded - favorites secured victories and maintained the intrigue in the battle for places in the Champions League and UEFA Cup tournaments.

The Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich secured another victory - their twenty-second this season. This time, the "Bavarians" defeated the "Mainz" club 4-2 as guests. The match was intense, but in the last eight minutes of the game, R. Makaay played excellently and scored two goals, burying the home team. In total, the Dutchman scored three goals in this match, and M. Ballack contributed with one goal.

The "Schalke" club finally started to climb out of the deep pit. The Gelsenkirchen team defeated "Arminia" 2-0 as guests and maintained their second position. The scorers for the winners were Lincoln and Ailton.

A successful round also for the "Stuttgart" club in third place. "Stuttgart" defeated the visitors from Hannover 1-0 after a tense battle at home. K. Kuranyi scored the winning goal with two minutes left to play.

The "Hertha" players have not lost hope of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. The capital team defeated the "Wolfsburg" club 3-1 at home. The "Hertha" team is just two points behind the third place, which gives the right to play in the qualifying matches for the Champions League.

Meanwhile, the "Bayer" club, which had been struggling for a long time, seemed to have gained a second wind towards the end of the season - in the last four matches, the Leverkusen team collected ten points and maintained hopes of playing in the UEFA Cup next season. On Saturday, the "Bayer" club defeated "Hansa" 3-0 and climbed past "Werder" in the standings, although the latter team has played one game less.

Results of Saturday's matches:

• 3 - 0
  1. 27' [1 - 0] Dimitar Berbatov
  2. 58' [2 - 0] Andrej Voronin
  3. 88' [3 - 0] Dimitar Berbatov
• 3 - 1
  1. 17' [0 - 1] Martin Petrov
  2. 63' [1 - 1] Arne Friedrich
  3. 81' [2 - 1] Marcelinho
  4. 87' [3 - 1] Alexander Madlung
• 0 - 2
  1. 9' [0 - 1] Lincoln
  2. 90' [0 - 2] Ailton
• 1 - 0
  1. 88' [1 - 0] Kevin Kuranyi
• 1 - 2
  1. 24' [0 - 1] Stefan Blank
  2. 40' [0 - 2] Ferydoon Zandi
  3. 73' [1 - 2] Zlatan Bajramovic
• 2 - 1
  1. 21' [1 - 0] Markus Daun
  2. 85' [2 - 0] Marek Mintal
  3. 90' [2 - 1] Vratislav Lokvenc
• 2 - 4
  1. 17' [0 - 1] Roy Makaay
  2. 35' [1 - 1] Benjamin Auer
  3. 42' [1 - 2] Michael Ballack
  4. 59' [2 - 2] Michael Thurk
  5. 82' [2 - 3] Roy Makaay
  6. 89' [2 - 4] Roy Makaay