On Monday morning, Bayern Munich coach Jürgen Klinsmann was informed that he was surplus to requirements. This came as no surprise to Bundesliga fans, as Bayern had crashed to a 7th league defeat at home against Schalke on Saturday afternoon. Luckily for Bayern, however, they are still in the title race, as league leaders Wolfsburg suffered a shock defeat at the hands of lowly Energie Cottbus, whilst Hamburg lost away in Dortmund. With just five match days to go, the title race has been blown wide open: The five teams at the top are separated by just three points. And many still have to play each other.

VfL Wolfsburg looked to be in the driving seat, as they played on Sunday with the knowledge that both second and third placed Bayern Munich and Hamburg had lost. After 10 successive wins there was no reason to believe they would stumble here. And yet they were off the pace and looked nervous, as they surprisingly lost 2-0 against relegation-threatened Energie Cottbus. The defeat meant that they squandered the chance to increase their lead at the top to five points. Coach Felix Magath attempted to disguise his disappointment by saying, “For us it is about taking fifth place and getting into Europe next season, so things look good.”

Things actually do look pretty good in Stuttgart, one of Magath’s former clubs. The Swabians landed their fifth win in a row by beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 at home. Frankfurt put up a fight but fell behind in the 33rd minute when Brazilian striker Cacau headed home a Magnin cross. Stuttgart were far from dominant, but the team from Germany’s banking city struggled to develop any real pressure. So when Mario Gomez scored his 19th goal of the season to put Stuttgart 2-0 up in the 48th minute, any hopes that Frankfurt had of getting back into the game were dashed.

Berlin back in the title race

Hertha BSC Berlin, four points clear at the top of the table in mid-March, got themselves back to within three points of league leaders Wolfsburg, by landing a 0-1 away win against TSG Hoffenheim, themselves no strangers to sitting comfortably at the top of the league.

Unlike Hoffenheim who topped the league at the half-way point of the season, Bayern Munich have not lead the league at all this season and managed to move further away from doing so, by crashing to an embarrassing 0-1 home defeat against Schalke. Bayern had in fact dominated the game, but as is so often the case with Schalke 04, a deadball situation lead to a goal. Christian Pander whipped in a corner for Halil Altintop to head home in the 21st minute.

Try as they might, Bayern could not beat Schalke’s excellent keeper Manuel Neuer. And as the game wore on, the frustration began to tell. Franck Ribery slid into a late tackle against Jefferson Farfan and saw his second yellow, to receive his marching orders in the 76th minute. As Jermaine Jones had been send off with a second booking six minutes earlier, it was 10 against 10 for the final quarter of an hour. But Bayern could not manage to find the back of the net and get the points that would have been needed to save Klinsmann’s job.

Relegation battle heats up

Down at the bottom end of the table things took an interesting turn too. Bottom-of-the-league Karlsruhe SC beat Bayer Leverkusen 0-1 away from home to move to within three points of 16th spot and the opportunity to stay in the league that the relegation play-off game that comes with the position would afford. It was a game that Leverkusen controlled, without playing particularly well. Leverkusen had the lion’s share of the chances, but squandered them with a reckless abandon that their fans have become accustomed to. The goal, when it finally came, was a mixture between comedy and unbelievable good fortune. Karlsruhe defender Langkamp slid into a 50-50 tackle and propelled the ball up and over Leverkusen’s astonished keeper Adler to put his team 1-0 up.

Elsewhere in the nether regions of the league, Mönchengladbach (17th) played Armenia Bielefled (16th) at home. This was a match that was a timely reminder why both teams are stuck down at the bottom of the table, as neither side offered any compelling argument for neutrals to think otherwise. A 1-1 draw was all the two sides could muster. Not even German international Marko Marin could provide a much-needed spark and so the sides shared the points.

Results:

1899 Hoffenheim  -  Hertha BSC Berlin 0:1
Bayern München  -  FC Schalke 04 0:1
Borussia Dortmund  -  Hamburger SV 2:0
VfB Stuttgart  -  Eintracht Frankfurt 2:0
Bayer Leverkusen  -  Karlsruher SC 0:1
Werder Bremen  -  VfL Bochum 3:2
Hannover 96  -  1. FC Köln 2:1
Energie Cottbus  -  VfL Wolfsburg 2:0
Borussia Mönchengladbach  -  Arminia Bielefeld 1:1

Table

1 VfL Wolfsburg    57 P
2 Hertha BSC Berlin     55 P
3 Bayern München   54 P
4 VfB Stuttgart   54 P
5 Hamburger SV    54 P
6 FC Schalke 04   49 P
7 Borussia Dortmund    49 P
8 1899 Hoffenheim   45 P
9 Bayer Leverkusen   42 P
10 Werder Bremen     39 P
11 Eintracht Frankfurt   32 P
12 1. FC Köln 32 P
13 Hannover 96     32 P
14 VfL Bochum    28 P
15 Energie Cottbus   26 P
16 Arminia Bielefeld     25 P
17 Borussia Mönchengladbach 24 P
18 Karlsruher SC     22 P