VfB Stuttgart Win Bundesliga Title
Home Victory Ensures Fifth German Title with Schalke 04 Runners Up
A home win over Cottbus earned VfB Stuttgart their fifth German Bundesliga title as Schalke are second and Werder Bremen third. Bayern Munich in fourth miss CL football.
VfB Stuttgart won the German Bundesliga title following their 2-1 success over Cottbus. Starting the day at the top of the table, two points ahead of Schalke 04, Stuttart required a win to be assured of their fifth German title. However, they made sure there were no slip ups with a home win over the team sitting in the lower half of the League.
Stuttgart have come with a great run, winning their final eight games to claim the title and have set themselves up for a League and Cup ‘double’ as they face FC Nuremberg in next weekend’s German Cup Final. They will play in next season's Champions League competition.
The day didn’t start as Stuttgart would have wanted, finding themselves a goal behind after twenty minutes. Radu gave the visitors the lead but then within five minutes Stuttgart were level when Thomas Hitzlsperger, the former Aston Villa midfield player scored. The game remained level into the second half but with just under half an hour remaining Khedira scored the crucial goal that eased the troubled nerves of the home supporters and won the title for Stuttgart.
With Stuttgart having a superior goal difference, Schalke 04 had to win their final home game against Arminia Bielefeld and hope that Stuttgart would lose and that they could score enough goals to turn round the goal difference statistics. Schalke showed from the outset that they meant business and were two goals ahead inside sixteen minutes through Lincoln and Altintop and with the news coming in that Stuttgart were behind, the excitement increased among the home supporters. However, they couldn’t add to those goals and with Stuttgart’s recovery it wasn’t enough and in the final minute they conceded a goal scored by Kucera.
Werder Bremen finished third following a two goal victory at Wolfsburg, the goals coming in the second half from Rosenberg. Bayern Munich finished fourth but miss out on Champions League football next season and will compete in the UEFA Cup. They defeated Mainz 5-2 at home in their final game. Three goals in eight minutes after half an hour set them up for victory with Santa Cruz, Scholl and Van Bommel scoring. After Mainz reduced their lead in the second half, two further goals from Karimi and Pizarro secured victory and confirmed Mainz’s relegation, although they immediately conceded a second goal.
Former European Cup finalists Borussia Moenchengladbach were relegated to the Second Division along with Mainz and Alemannia Aachen who lost by four goals at Hamburg, following their promotion last season.
