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On Saturday, the 21st round of the Bundesliga championship began. Seven matches were played and several unexpected results were recorded, including one very impressive one.
Undoubtedly, the most interesting match of the round took place in Gelsenkirchen, where the local team "Schalke" defeated the "Bayer" team with a very unusual score of 7-4. The first goal was scored in the 9th minute of the match, when S.Larsen broke through the "Bayer" defenders and beat the visitors' goalkeeper. "Schalke" continued to attack and doubled the lead after ten minutes with a goal by M.Krstajic.
The "Bayer" coach did not wait for halftime and tried to quickly address the defensive problems of his team. In the 29th minute, instead of P.Freier, the Brazilian defender Athirson appeared on the field. However, this did not motivate the "Bayer" team and just five minutes later, "Schalke" increased their lead to 3-0, with Z.Bajramovic successfully converting a pass from his teammate. Playing just over half an hour, the hosts were leading 3-0. Just before the end of the first half, the visitors from Leverkusen showed signs of life when A.Voronin scored a header to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
Inspired by the successful end of the first half, in the second half "Bayer" started fighting back and in the 50th minute, the score became 3-2. After conceding the second goal, "Schalke" seemed to get a second wind and extended their lead to 5-2 in just thirteen minutes with goals from K.Kuranyi and S.Larsen. However, Leverkusen's players managed to rally and after the second knockout - just a minute later A.Voronin scored a goal, then five minutes later J.Krzynowek also hit the target, making the score 5-4.
However, the hosts did not waver and were determined to continue the goal fest and to bombard the opponents' goal - in the 76th minute, Lincoln increased the lead with a penalty kick, and then just five minutes later G.Asamoah finished off the visitors. The match ended with a score of 7-4 and made history - only five matches in the entire history of the German league had more goals scored.
The "Werder" players suffered a painful defeat, losing 0-2 at home to the league's strugglers "Kaiserslautern". The winner was determined only at the end of the match - in the 71st minute, B.Sanogo put the visitors ahead, and then ten minutes later E.Skela doubled the lead. It is worth mentioning that in this match, the Bremen team could not rely on their main goalkeeper A.Reinke, who had suffered a serious injury to his face in the previous round.
Earning their eighth point in the last five matches, "Kaiserslautern" finally managed to escape the bottom position in the league and move up a step. However, their closest competitors "Koln" have played fewer matches and a victory against "Borussia" could put them back level with "Kaiserslautern".
It was a disappointing debut for the new "Stuttgart" coach A.Weho - the struggling "Stuttgart" club lost 2-1 away to the "Arminia" club, suffering their second defeat in the last four matches. I.Boakye, who has been in fantastic form, scored twice for "Arminia".
Following their misfortune in the last round, the "Hamburger" team managed to bounce back with a narrow 1-0 victory at home against "Mainz". The home fans did not have to wait long for a goal, as in the 6th minute M.Mahdavikia found the net after a pass from N.de Jong, putting his team in the lead. Taking advantage of the unexpected defeat of "Werder", "Hamburger" regained the second position and reduced the gap from the leader "Bayern" to seven points, although the latter team has played one game less.
Saturday's statistics:
1 - 0
6` [1 - 0] Mehdi Mahdavikia
1 - 1
4` [1 - 0] Klemen Lavric
20` [1 - 1] Bo Svensson
64` Eugen Polanski ("Gladbach") sent off.
7 - 4
9` [1 - 0] Sören Larsen
17` [2 - 0] Mladen Krstajic
34` [3 - 0] Zlatan Bajramovic
40` [3 - 1] Andrej Voronin
50` [3 - 2] Dimitar Berbatov
55` [4 - 2] Kevin Kuranyi
63` [5 - 2] Sören Larsen
64` [5 - 3] Andrej Voronin
70` [5 - 4] Jacek Krzynowek
76` [6 - 4] Lincoln
81` [7 - 4] Gerald Asamoah
2 - 1
31` [1 - 0] Isaac Boakye
37` [1 - 1] Ludovic Magnin
50` [2 - 1] Isaac Boakye
0 - 1
78` [0 - 1] Chavdar Yankov
0 - 2
71` [0 - 1] Boubacar Sanogo
88` [0 - 2] Ervin Skela
1 - 1
32` [0 - 1] Marcelinho
63` [1 - 1] Kevin Hofland
55` Malik Fathi and 78` Arne Friedrich ("Hertha") sent off.
