The game was a truly end-to-end affair, with numerous chances for both sides; one of which, a Luca Toni effort in the 28th minute, seemed perfectly legitimate but was ruled out. Hamburg did get on the scoresheet just before halftime when Mladen Petric headed in after a save from Bayern goalkeeper Michael Rensing. Bayern pushed on in the second-half, despite Franck Ribery struggling to get in the game, and created chances but Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni were particularly culpable of squandering chances, and Hamburg held on for a 1-0 win.
League leaders TSG Hoffenheim welcomed Energie Cottbus to the new Rhein-Neckar Arena for the first Bundesliga game at the stadium. Despite the long-term injury of Vedad Ibisevic, who has 18 goals for the season, Hoffenheim won comfortably through goals from Demba Ba and Boubacar Sanogo. New signing Timo Hildebrand, the former Vfb Stuttgart goalkeeper, who was signed from Valencia in Spain, went off injured but it is expected to play next week.
In the capital, Hertha Berlin, after a superb year in 2008, began where they left off with a 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt at the Olympiastadion. Two goals from Marko Pantelic, who continues not to see eye-to-eye with coach Lucien Favre, were enough for Berlin despite sustained second-half pressure from Frankfurt which included Benjamin Köhler's strike.
Hannover 96 welcomed back German international goalkeeper Robert Enke after a four month lay-off, for the game against Schalke. Germany's number one was instrumental in rebuffing a number of efforts from Schalke as Hannover won a very open game by one goal to nil. Sergio Pinto scored the goal and Schalke forward Gerald Asamoah was particularly guilty of missing oppurtunites for the away side.
Elsewhere, Vfb Stuttgart beat bottom side Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Mercedes-Benz Arena with goals through Romanian international Ciprian Marica and German international Mario Gomez. Wolfsburg secured a draw on an absolutley awful pitch in Cologne, while Borrussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen managed the same result at the Signal Iduna Park, the biggest club stadium in Germany. Vfl Bochum had an important win at home to fellow strugglers Karlsruhe with goals through Fuchs and Klimowicz and Arminia Bielefeld cause the shock of the weekend, winning 2-1 against Champions League regulars Werder Bremen. Bremen badly missed the suspended Diego and Claudio Pizarro and find themselves in the bottom half of the league going into matchday 19.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | TSG Hoffenheim | 18 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 17 | 21 | 38 |
| 2 | Hertha Berlin | 18 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 8 | 36 |
| 3 | Hamburg | 18 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 18 | 3 | 36 |
| 4 | Bayern Munich | 18 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 35 |
| 5 | Bayer Leverkusen | 18 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 12 | 15 | 33 |
| 6 | Borussia Dortmund | 18 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 30 |
| 7 | VfB Stuttgart | 18 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 28 |
| 8 | Wolfsburg | 18 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 10 | 27 |
| 9 | Schalke 04 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 27 |
| 10 | Werder Bremen | 18 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 28 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 15 | 10 | 26 |
| 11 | Cologne | 18 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 14 | -6 | 23 |
| 12 | Hannover 96 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 21 | -11 | 20 |
| 13 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 18 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 21 | -7 | 19 |
| 14 | Arminia Bielefeld | 18 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -11 | 17 |
| 15 | VfL Bochum | 18 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 | -9 | 14 |
| 16 | Karlsruhe | 18 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 23 | -19 | 13 |
| 17 | Cottbus | 18 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 16 | -19 | 13 |
| 18 | Borussia M'gladbach | 18 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 19 | -19 | 11 |
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