Bundesliga : The relegation battle intensifies

Round 27 of the 2011/12 Bundesliga season saw a number of teams in the relegation zone win, which has put pressure on teams above them then out of the earlier four now eight, maybe even nine clubs could be fighting to stay in the league until the end of the season.

Especially the incredible runs from FC Augsburg and SC Freiburg, who a few weeks ago seemed doomed for relegation has surprised many while other clubs like 1.Kaiserslautern, Hertha BSC Berlin, Hamburger SV and FC Cologne have not been picking-up enough points.

Bulgarian Krassimir Balakov made his debut as the new coach at bottom side 1.FC Kaiserslautern. Balakov happens to be a former Bundesliga star at Stuttgart and knows the league well, but he only joined midweek from Croatian side Hajduk Split. He couldn’t do much as Lautern lost 0-2 in Freiburg against an inform side who moved into 13th spot.

Another inform side Augsburg needed an injury time equalizer against Bremen to continue their unbeaten run, while Hertha BSC scored a crucial win away to Mainz though staying on an automatic relegation spot. But the worry of the league are Hamburg and Cologne who suffered more defeats. While Hamburg has now lost four matches in a row, Cologne were trashed 6-1 by champions Dortmund.

For Dortmund the 6-1 win against Cologne on Sunday was crucial then Bayern Munich had closed the gap to just two points after their hard-earned 2-1 win against Hannover 96. The title race is one as both sides keep the momentum going, while Schalke moved into third spot with a 2-0 win against Leverkusen, while Mönchengladbach lost to Hoffenheim as they did not overcome their midweek German Cup blues.

Round 27 Results

VfL Wolfsburg 2-1 Hamburger SV

1.FSV Mainz 05 1-3 Hertha BSC Berlin

Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-2 1899 Hoffenheim

FC Bayern München 2-1 Hannover 96

SV Werder Bremen 1-1 FC Augsburg

SC Freiburg 2-0 1.FC Kaiserslautern

FC Schalke 04 2-0 Bayer 04 Leverkusen

VfB Stuttgart 1-0 1.FC Nürnberg

1.FC Köln 1-6 Borussia Dortmund

Edited by Staff Editor