All six basement children were in action on Saturday afternoon. Hoffenheim, without a win under Pellegrino Matarazzo, celebrated a big win.
TSG Hoffenheim celebrated an immensely important victory in the fight to stay up. In the relegation duel with Hertha from Berlin, the Kraichgau clearly prevailed 3-1. For TSG it was the first points under their new coach Pellegrino Matarazzo.
The relegation battle was also the dominant theme in the other duels. The Bochum team surprisingly defeated the Champions League participants, Rasenballsport Leipzig 1-0 at home. FC Schalke secured a late 1-1 draw at FC Augsburg, while VfB Stuttgart lost 1-0 to VfL Wolfsburg.
That’s how the games went
In Sinsheim, Andrej Kramaric scored the first two goals for Hoffenheim with two converted penalties (24th and 37th), Ihlas Bebou (51st) increased to 3:0. Hertha could no longer benefit from the red card for TSG professional Munas Dabbur (71st) and only got a consolation goal from Stevan Jovetic (90th + 2).
Four days after the Champions League humiliation by Erling Haaland and Manchester City, Leipzig also made a fool of itself in the Bundesliga. At their actual favorite opponent VfL Bochum, against whom RB had previously won all eight competitive games, Leipzig lost 0-1 (0-0) and could slip out of the Champions League places on Sunday. In the current competition in the premier class, RB was eliminated on Tuesday with a 7-0 defeat in the round of 16 second leg in Manchester, with ex-Dortmunder Haaland scoring five times.
Bochum, on the other hand, are 14th after their second win in a row and suddenly have a four-point lead over the relegation place. Two weeks ago after the 0: 2 against Schalke they were still last. The scorer of the decisive goal was Erhan Masovic (48th). The Serbian defense chief scored for the fourth time in the second half of the season.
Schalke 04 remained unbeaten in the second half of the Bundesliga, but missed the leap to a non-relegation zone. The team of coach Thomas Reis fought a superior number at FC Augsburg 1: 1 (0: 0) and screwed up the Bavarian Swabia’s anniversary with the 200th Bundesliga home game.
Midfielder Arne Maier (51st) made FCA cheer in front of 30,660 spectators in the sold-out WWK Arena. But after the red card against striker Ermedin Demirovic (53rd), who hit Tom Krauss in the head with his foot, Marius Bülter (90th + 3, penalty kick) equalized.
At Augsburg, the focus was particularly on DFB newcomer Mergim Berisha. The striker needed less than 60 seconds to put himself in the limelight with a header just over the goal, but was unlucky in the end and was substituted (74′).
With the next defeat, the situation of VfB Stuttgart in the relegation battle of the Bundesliga becomes more and more tricky. The 0:1 (0:0) against VfL Wolfsburg was another setback for the Swabians.
In a long-distance duel with their rivals in the fight for remaining in the class, the Swabians slipped from trainer Bruno Labbadia to last place in the table.
In front of 44,900 spectators, former VfB striker Omar Marmoush decided the game for Wolfsburg with his goal in the 56th minute. Coach Niko Kovac’s team from Lower Saxony had the hoped-for sense of achievement to keep up in the race for international places. In the final phase, Stuttgart demanded a hand penalty when substitute Enzo Millot shot Sebastiaan Bornauw – but referee Felix Brych decided against a penalty.
