German Bundesliga black horse Wolfsburg were on the brink of winning their first-ever title after they crushed Hannover 5-0 on Saturday, while defending champions Bayern Munich had their title-defending hope slackened as they were snubbed by Hoffenheim 2-2.
Wolfsburg's striker Edin Dzeko's hat trick and Grafite's two goals underlined the leading position of the team in the Bundesliga standings.
A crushing 5-0 victory over Hannover brought Wolfsburg three points near to their title ambitions. Striker Dzeko opened the scoring with a drop-kick early in the 13th minute. Grafite minutes later scored twice for the “Wolves”. In the second half, it was again Dzeko who scored twice and brought the 5-0 victory over Hannover 96 who kept their 11th position in the Bundesliga.
Bayern Munich unluckily lost two points due to a 2-2 at Hoffenheim. French star Frank Ribery opened scoring in the 16th minute after receiving a right-wing pass from Podolski. Only five minutes later Hoffenheim's striker Demba Ba equalized. At the 30th minute it was Hoffenheim who took the lead by mid Carlos Eduardo. One minute before break Italian international, and Munich's striker Luca Toni headed the equalizer.
Bayern Munich remains on the second place with a margin of two points to Bundesliga leaders Wolfsburg.
Bayern also have a stern test in securing Champions League qualification next week, with in-form Stuttgart coming to town next week - level on points with Bayern.
Thanks to a 2-0 victory over bottom team Energie Cottbus, Stuttgart climbed up from 4th to 3rd position.
Stuttgart, equally as Bayern Munich, has two points gap to the leading team Wolfsburg. Stuttgart managed to score an early goal all in the 19th minute with a dead-ball goal by mid Thomas Hitzelsperger. Bundesliga bottom team Cottbus almost equalized but, Stuttgart's striker Cacao doubled the lead.
The game between Hertha Berlin and Schalke 04 ended with poor 0-0. In spite of some good chances for Hertha, no goals were produced. Hertha thus lost their option in the title race. Hertha slipped from 3rd to 4th position and have to strive to keep their European League spot.
Borussia Dortmund humiliated Arminia Bielefeld with a 6-0 victory. Borussia jumped from 6th to 5th position and occupy the last European League spot. Bottom team Arminia Bielefeld remain on 16th position and are relegation threatened.
Hamburger SV already shot out of the title race last week. With Saturday's 1-0 defeat against Koeln, Hamburg even lost the last European League spot. They slipped from 5th to 6th place.
Bayer Leverkusen hammered 15th-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach with a 5-0 victory. Both teams kept their position in the Bundesliga. For Moenchengladbach this defeat means another week of anxious for safe position in the Bundesliga.
Werder Bremen was defeated by bottom team Karlsruher SC 3-1. The astonishing victory of Karlsruher SC over Bremen keeps Karlsruhe the possibility open for a save place in the Bundesliga. Both teams remain on their position, Werder on 10th and Karlsruhe on 18th.
Bochum's 2-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt brought them a safe place for next Bundesliga season. Bochum climbed up from 15th to 14th position while Eintracht Frankfurt remains on 13th position.
The last round of this season's Bundesliga games will be staged on May 23.
(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2009)
