Fairwell to King Khan

Bayern Munich beat Herta Berlin 4-1 to conclude their Bundesliga winning season, which was a perfect send-off to Oliver Khan and Ottmar Hitzeld who are retiring. With three goals, once again by Luca Toni and the other from Franck Ribéry, cruised to victory on this final emotional day.

With a career that started with his debut for Karlsruher SC in 1987, Khan was replaced with one minute left to a resounding ovation.

seven matches on Saturday

There's a host of great Football matches this Saturday that you'll want to stay up-to-date on. So before you throw on your Lafleur (hmm..maybe the Béliveau) jersey for game 2 in the quest for the twenty-fifth, remember to check-out;

Serie A
A.C. Milan @ Juventus F.C.
A clash of titans and a Juve win could lock down their Champion League visions as well as seriously harm AC. Milan will limp in without Alexandre Pato and both Kakha Kaladze and Alessandro Nesta are serving suspensions. Juventus will miss Pavel Nedved and Cristiano Zanetti in what is going to be a great clash. Looking forward to the Alessandro Del Piero show once again.

Bundesliga
FC Schalke 04 @ SV Werder Bremen
The race in the Bundesliga is incredibly tight and a Werder Bremen could send them two points above Schalke, into a Champions League spot and push Schalke into a UEFA Cup bid. A lot is on the line with this one and Schalke also has to respond in a short-week after losing to Barcelona.

La Primera División de México
América @ Chivas El Súper Clásico - it may not have the impact of some years with them on opposite ends of the table but this is a must see event (well...actually this one is in the Sunday list - but one to watch for)

Monterrey @ Pachuca exciting match to watch and to see if the magic of Ricardo Lavolpe and the goal-scoring machine, Humberto Suazo continues.

Championship League
Watford F.C @ West Brom
Watfords 3-0 debacle against Barnsley mid-week was a dreadful loss this time of year with promotion in sight. With Wolverhampton surging up the table a loss today could put them perilously close to losing their playoff position. A victory by West Brom puts them firmly in the lead with automatic promotion.

Wolverhampton @ Bristol City
The Wolves are on a mission and thundering up the table but face a massive test against Bristol City. At least four squads, Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Charlton and Plymouth will be watching this intently as as Wolves win could seriously harm their promotion efforts.

League One
Carlisle United @ Leeds United
Massive match with far too many complexities given the Leeds arbitration hearing is next week and the possibility of the fifteen point reduction being reversed. A victory here and a reversal of the points could see Leeds move within a point of the league title.

I'm off for the weekend..join-in mes amis Allez l'OM, allez

Bundesliga

The Bundesliga title is Bayern München's as they have an comfortable nine-point lead and will now push forward towards their goal of the treble and the culmination of their incredible turn-around from last season.

With eight matches left in the campaign the race for the European bids are wide open with at least seven teams in the running for four possible berths. Results from the weekend:

Friday
Energie Cottbus @ MSV Duisburg

Saturday
FC Schalke 04 1 FC Hansa Rostock 0
SV Werder Bremen 2 Hertha BSC Berlin 1
Arminia Bielefeld 1 Karlsruhe SC 0
clutch win by Arminia Bielefeld as they fight out of the relegation zone with a Leonidas Kampantais goal one minute into added-time.

VfB Stuttgart 1 Hamburger SV 0

FC Nürnberg 3 Eintracht Frankfurt 1
another clutch victory from a squad facing relegation.

VfL Wolfsburg 3 Hannover 96 2

Sunday
Borussia Dortmund 2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1
terrible collapse by Leverkusen in allowing two late goals to give Dortmund the win.

Bayern München 3 VfL Bochum 1

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Bayern München	27	16	9	2	47	16	57
FC Schalke 04	27	13	9	5	41	26	48
Hamburger SV	27	12	11	4	37	20	47
SV Werder Bremen	27	14	5	8	55	39	47
VfB Stuttgart	27	14	3	10	45	40	45
Bayer 04 Leverkusen	27	13	5	9	47	30	44
VfL Wolfsburg	27	12	7	8	45	38	43
Eintracht Frankfurt	27	11	9	7	33	34	42
Karlsruhe SC	27	10	8	9	30	34	38
Hannover 96	27	9	8	10	38	45	35
Borussia Dortmund	27	9	7	11	41	45	34
VfL Bochum	27	8	9	10	41	44	33
Hertha BSC Berlin	27	9	5	13	29	35	32
Energie Cottbus	27	6	8	13	29	43	26
Arminia Bielefeld	27	6	7	14	26	51	25
FC Hansa Rostock	27	6	6	15	22	38	24
FC Nürnberg	27	5	8	14	30	43	23
MSV Duisburg	27	6	4	17	27	42	22

Friday
VfL Wolfsburg @ FC Nürnberg

Saturday
Arminia Bielefeld @ Energie Cottbus
MSV Duisburg @ Hamburger SV
Eintracht Frankfurt @ Hannover 96
FC Schalke 04 @ SV Werder Bremen
FC Hansa Rostock @ Karlsruhe SC
Hertha BSC Berlin @ VfL Bochum

Sunday
VfB Stuttgart @ Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Borussia Dortmund @ Bayern München

Bundesliga

I'll post previews on Thursday including a look at the remarkable battle for Champions League and UEFA Cup berths as well as to avoid relegation. Upcoming Bundesliga action this week:

Friday
Energie Cottbus @ MSV Duisburg

Saturday
FC Hansa Rostock @ FC Schalke 04
SV Werder Bremen @ Hertha BSC Berlin
Karlsruhe SC @ Arminia Bielefeld
Hamburger SV @ VfB Stuttgart
FC Nürnberg @ Eintracht Frankfurt
Hannover 96 @ VfL Wolfsburg

Sunday
Bayer 04 Leverkusen @ Borussia Dortmund
VfL Bochum @ Bayern München

		GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
1	Bayern München	26	15	9	2	44	5	54
2	Hamburger SV	26	12	11	3	37	8	47
3	FC Schalke 04	26	12	9	5	40	12	45
4	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	26	13	5	8	46	8	44
5	SV Werder Bremen	26	13	5	8	53	17	44
6	VfB Stuttgart	26	13	3	10	44	16	42
7	Eintracht Frankfurt	26	11	9	6	32	12	42
8	VfL Wolfsburg	26	11	7	8	42	14	40
9	Karlsruhe SC	26	10	8	8	30	13	38
10	Hannover 96	26	9	8	9	36	24	35
11	VfL Bochum	26	8	9	9	40	21	33
12	Hertha BSC Berlin	26	9	5	12	28	15	32
13	Borussia Dortmund	26	8	7	11	39	14	31
14	FC Hansa Rostock	26	6	6	14	22	14	24
15	Energie Cottbus	26	5	8	13	28	19	23
16	MSV Duisburg	26	6	4	16	27	22	22
17	Arminia Bielefeld	26	5	7	14	25	16	22
18	FC Nürnberg	26	4	8	14	27	14	20

Results from this past weekend
Saturday
FC Bayern München 1 FC Nürnberg 1
Arminia Bielefeld 1 Hamburger SV 1
- this might be the most remarkable streak in the game right now as Hamburger once again tied
Eintracht Frankfurt 2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0
FC Schalke 04 0 Karlsruhe SC 0
MSV Duisburg 2 SV Werder Bremen 1
Borussia Dortmund 3 VfL Bochum 3

Sunday
VfB Stuttgart 0 Hannover 96 0
Energie Cottbus 2 Hertha BSC Berlin 1

Bundesliga

The Bundesliga heats up tomorrow in what is the closest race in all the major leagues with eight teams within nine points, three times are tied for third and five European bids available (excluding the top spot which Bayern München pretty much has sewn-up). However most of the matches this weekend are with teams from opposite ends of the table and shouldn't create any significant changes.

Friday
VfL Wolfsburg @ FC Hansa Rostock
Hansa Rostock hasn't won in five matches and this is a structurally important three points for Wolfsburg if they want to win a European bid.

Saturday
FC Bayern München @ FC Nürnberg
This is a straight-forward bottom of the table team facing one of the emergings team in all of Europe and my choice to win the UEFA Cup. Bayern München won't slip-up again as they are closing-in on the title.

Arminia Bielefeld @ Hamburger SV
Precisely the same conditions as the Bayern München - Nürnberg match with squads on opposite end of the table. Stunning as it may seem for Hamburger fans, this won't end in a tie.

Eintracht Frankfurt @ Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Leverkusen is emerging as one of the surprise teams Europe and only major slip-up was last weeks tussle against Bayern München. They need a full three points to keep up with Hamburger SV and a Champion League spot.

FC Schalke 04 @ Karlsruhe SC
Schalke is quite obviously one other Champions League surprises and have a tough match this week against FC Barcelona. Karlsruhe SC has been slipping down the table and I expect their problems to continue this weekend.

MSV Duisburg @ SV Werder Bremen
Borussia Dortmund @ VfL Bochum

Sunday
VfB Stuttgart @ Hannover 96
Hertha BSC Berlin @ Energie Cottbus

	GP	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Against	Total
Bayern München	25	15	8	2	43	14	53
Hamburger SV	25	12	10	3	36	18	46
Bayer 04 Leverkusen	25	13	5	7	46	26	44
SV Werder Bremen	25	13	5	7	52	36	44
FC Schalke 04	25	12	8	5	40	26	44
VfB Stuttgart	25	13	2	10	44	40	41
Eintracht Frankfurt	25	10	9	6	30	31	39
VfL Wolfsburg	25	10	7	8	41	36	37
Karlsruhe SC	25	10	7	8	30	33	37
Hannover 96	25	9	7	9	36	42	34
VfL Bochum	25	8	8	9	37	38	32
Hertha BSC Berlin	25	9	5	11	27	31	32
Borussia Dortmund	25	8	6	11	36	41	30
FC Hansa Rostock	25	6	6	13	22	36	24
Energie Cottbus	25	4	8	13	26	42	20
Arminia Bielefeld	25	5	6	14	24	50	21
FC Nürnberg	25	4	7	14	26	41	19
MSV Duisburg	25	5	4	16	25	40	19