Schalke defeated Werder Bremen in the all-important match of the weekend’s round of Bundesliga fixtures. With the victory, Schalke go 3 pts. clear of Bremen, creating a little breathing space at the top.

As the usual suspects were of no consequence in the match, it was the forgotten man, the Danish and ex-Rangers striker, Peter Lovenkrands, who found 2 goals on each side of the half to push the Royal Blues to the German promontory.

Bayern Munich compounded their problems slipping to 4th with a loss in Friday’s match against Nurnberg, even with the return of manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, and have all but given up hopes on a 3rd consecutive Bundesliga title.

Oliver Kahn has publicly criticized his side as being “petty” and fragile, rounding on the Bayern management that have called on the stalwart keeper to be more vocal in the dressing room.

Stuttgart remains in 3rd spot with their 1-0 victory over Dortumund while Hertha Berlin rounds out the top 5 with a 2-1 victory over regulation fodder, Hamburg, who started off the season playing in the Champions League.

Next week will be another German powder keg as Schalke faces Hertha Berlin at home while Bremen meets up with Stuttgart on the road for another weekend of German top shelf matches.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 5th, 2007 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Soccer World, Germany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.