BUNDESLIGA FOOTBALL: Matchday 19

Vfb Stuttgart pulled off the result of Matchday 19 in the Bundesliga with a 4-2 away at Bayer Leverkusen. The game was played at the LTU Arena in Dusseldorf because the Bayer Arena is being extended and Leverkusen were not allowed to settle into their new temporary home as Mario Gomez scored in the second minute. The lead was doubled by former Aston Villa midfielder, Tomas Hitzlsperger, whose free-kick was clocked at 125 km/h. Gomez added his second after halftime, his 37th goal in 43 Budesliga games, and despite a Leverkusen fightback, Stuttgart took all three points back to Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Last season's second and third placed teams, Werder Bremen and Schalke respectively, met in Gelsenkirchen, with both managers under pressure because of their current mid-table predicaments. There were many chances for both sides; Bremen's centre-half Naldo had three good chances but it was Schalke came out on top, winning a tight game 1-0.

At the Borrussia Park in Mönchengladbach, top met bottom as Hoffenheim were the visitors. Mönchengladbach took a first-half lead through Alexander Baumjohann, who will move to Bayern Munich at the end of the season, and looked like they had won the game until Wellington nodded in a free-kick in the dying minutes.

Bayern Munich's first home game since the winter break was against Borussia Dortmund, who took an early lead through Valdez after a defensive slip from Demechelis. Brazillian Ze Roberto equalised but the game looked to be heading for a draw before German international Miroslav Klose found the net twice in the last few minutes to secure a 3-1 win for Bayern.

Elsewhere, second place Hertha Berlin could only manage a 1-1 draw at struggling Arminia Bielefeld with Liverpool's on loan striker Andrej Voronin scoring their goal. The shock of the round was at the Wildparkstadion, where former German international goalkeeper Oliver Kahn watched struggling Karlsruhe secure a 3-2 home win against Martin Jol's Hamburg. Frankfurt and Cologne drew 2-2 at the Commerzbank Arena while Wolfsburg secured a solid 2-0 home win over Vfl Bochum. Finally, Energie Cottbus secured a priceless home win over Hannover which drags them out of the relegation zone. Hannover, who have the worst away record in the Bundesliga lost 3-1 at the Stadion der Freundschaft.

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	TSG Hoffenheim	19	8	2	0	23	6	4	1	4	22	18	21	39
2	Bayern Munich	19	6	2	1	27	17	5	3	2	15	9	16	38
3	Hertha Berlin	19	7	2	1	19	8	4	2	3	11	14	8	37
4	Hamburg	19	8	1	0	15	6	3	2	5	14	21	2	36
5	Bayer Leverkusen	19	5	1	4	20	14	5	2	2	19	12	13	33
6	VfB Stuttgart	19	6	2	2	18	9	3	2	4	14	16	7	31
7	Wolfsburg	19	8	1	0	25	6	0	5	5	13	20	12	30
8	Schalke 04	19	6	2	1	13	5	2	4	4	12	12	8	30
9	Borussia Dortmund	19	3	7	0	17	9	4	2	3	12	14	6	30
10	Werder Bremen	19	6	2	2	28	15	1	3	5	12	16	9	26
11	Cologne	19	3	2	4	8	12	4	1	5	14	16	-6	24
12	Eintracht Frankfurt	19	3	3	3	16	12	2	2	6	10	21	-7	20
13	Hannover 96	19	5	4	1	18	11	0	1	8	4	24	-13	20
14	Arminia Bielefeld	19	2	4	3	11	13	1	5	4	7	16	-11	18
15	Cottbus	19	2	1	6	8	16	2	3	5	7	16	-17	16
16	Karlsruhe	19	4	1	4	10	13	1	0	9	8	23	-18	16
17	VfL Bochum	19	2	4	4	15	16	0	4	5	6	16	-11	14
18	Borussia M'gladbach	19	2	2	6	12	19	1	1	7	7	19	-19	12