Bundesliga roundup: Bayern leave it late to rescue point, five-star Wolfsburg thrash Hertha
Bayern Munich 1 Koln 1
Joshua Kimmich’s 90th-minute wonder goal denied Koln their first victory at the Allianz Arena since 2009, as Bayern Munich maintained their unbeaten record at home this season in dramatic fashion at the death.
Having netted seven past Werder Bremen in the weekend’s fixtures, Koln picked up exactly where they left off at the Allianz Arena, taking the lead after just three minutes.
Fresh off the back of a man-of-the-match performance, Ellyes Skhiri scored his third goal in two matches with a delightful back-post volley, stunning the record champions into early submission.
The hosts would come close to levelling before the break, namely through Serge Gnabry, whose effort from close range forced Koln goalkeeper Marvin Schwabe into a save.
Following his side’s 1-1 draw with title challengers RB Leipzig, Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann labelled his side’s performance as “average”, but somehow the 32-time Bundesliga champions had managed to regress even further.
Unhappy with the efforts of his players, Nagelsmann turned to substitute Thomas Muller, with the ex-German international coming closest to an equaliser.
Rising highest from a whipped ball into the box, Müller’s arrow-like header looked destined for the top corner, only for goalkeeper Schwabe to tip the ball away from danger.
While they unsurprisingly dominated possession, a steadfast Koln backline refused to give up any space for the hosts to operate in. It’s why when the eventual equaliser arrived it came as no surprise, with Kimmich rifling home a long-range effort from 20 yards out to kill Koln’s dreams of a famous victory.
A let-off for the reigning champions, whose lead at the top of the table is cut to just four points, with RB Leipzig now hot on their heels.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Marvin Schwabe (Koln)
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Hertha Berlin 0 Wolfsburg 5
Wolfsburg recorded a sixth consecutive Bundesliga victory with an emphatic 5-0 win over relegation-threatened Hertha Berlin at the Olympiastadion, as Niko Kovac’s side moved into the European places.
Hertha, losers in four of their previous five league games, had that sinking feeling again when Mattias Svanberg put Wolfsburg in front in only the fourth minute. The 24-year-old scored his first-ever Bundesliga goal in some style, firing home an excellent volley from Patrick Wimmer's enticing free-kick into the box.
Svanberg played a telling role in Wolfsburg’s second goal too, as his free-kick struck Dodi Lukebakio’s arm in the wall and a penalty was awarded. Maximilian Arnold blasted home the subsequent spot-kick, which flew past Oliver Christensen despite the Danish shot-stopper diving the right way.
It left the Old Lady with a mountain to climb just after the half-hour mark, which became even steeper three minutes later thanks to Jonas Wind.
The Dane provided an exquisite finish over Christensen following some excellent link-up play involving Arnold and Svanberg, and had the visitors dreaming of scoring six again after hammering Freiburg on Saturday.
Sandro Schwarz was desperately searching for a response from his side, and made a triple change with the introduction of Jessic Ngankam, Marvin Plattenhardt and Filip Uremovic.
The shake-up in personnel initially seemed to have the desired effect, with Hertha coming out after the break with renewed vigour. Lukebakio had a chance to reduce the arrears with his long-range effort, which sailed just past the far post. Ngankam then picked out Wilfried Kanga, but the latter was thwarted by Maxence Lacroix before being able to pull the trigger.
The hosts’ revival was short-lived though, as Ridle Baku added a fourth with a fine angled finish from the right flank after being superbly picked out by Svanberg, before Omar Marmoush rounded off the scoring with a stunning left-footed strike after slaloming his way through the Hertha defence.
It may not have been six goals in the end for Kovac’s team, but it was another commanding display which moves them to within a point of the UEFA Champions League places. As for Hertha, they remain 17th after succumbing to a fifth defeat in their previous six Bundesliga matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mattias Svanberg (Wolfsburg)
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Hoffenheim 2 Stuttgart 2
Andrej Kramaric’s last-gasp equaliser rescued a point for Hoffenheim at home to Stuttgart, with the Schwaben now winless in their last 18 away matches in the Bundesliga.
With Hoffenheim and Stuttgart having not won in the Bundesliga since October and November respectively, a cagey affair was expected at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena, and that was how the first half panned out.
Despite the overall lack of quality shown by both teams, those in attendance did see two goals which were, unsurprisingly, the result of defensive errors.
Hosts Hoffenheim took the lead on 11 minutes when Stuttgart failed to clear their lines, allowing the ball to be worked to Angelino whose delicately chipped cross picked out Andrej Kramaric, and the Kraichgauer’s record scorer made no mistake from close range to put his team ahead with his 236th goal for Hoffenheim.
The visitors were showing very little threat against a team which had lost their last four league matches at home. However, they suddenly came to life in first-half stoppage time.
After Silas had seen his shot from an unfavourable angle saved by Oliver Baumann, Naouirou Ahamada slid a precise through ball in for Serhou Guirassy who fired it past Baumann and into the top right corner to put Stuttgart back on terms.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with very little between the teams and very little in the way of goalmouth action. Clear-cut chances were hard to come by, with Chris Fuhrich’s low drive from the edge of the area a rare effort on goal.
All of the drama was saved for the closing stages though, as Stuttgart captain Wataru Endo appeared to have won the game for the visitors with his sublime curling effort, however Kramaric had the final say when he drew the hosts level with one minute remaining.
The result means Hoffenheim remain 13th, while Stuttgart climb out of the relegation play-off position and into 14th.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim)