Bundesliga Returns With Style, Electricity & Controversy

By: chris | January 30th, 2009

Fans of the Bundesliga have been waiting for this one a long, long time, and were they ever rewarded for their patience. Though the scoreline would indicate otherwise, it was a wide open game with a plethora of chances at either end – and quality chances at that. You’d think it’s just a bit of frost hanging on from the winter hibernation and this game in April ends 6-5, but given Bayern’s 5-1 trouncing of Stuttgart in the Pokal midweek, there simply should’ve been more. Lots of posts, lots of great saves, lots and lots of controversy.

Luca Toni scored a great individual goal – albeit with the goalkeeper playing like a “schoolgirl” according to Ray Hudson – when the whistle sounded. Initially it seemed as though the whistle had blown prematurely and Bayern would be taking a penalty as the defender was doing his best to undress Luca in the area. Twas just the opposite, however, and somehow, someway, the linesman saw a foul and Bayern’s 1-0 lead was lost.

* – Easily the best Luca-Ray moment happened when Ray said “Luca Toni goes down like a big wet girl”, only for Phil, the sidekick, to ask him to repeat it and Ray going completely silent.

Fast forward down the other end and Hamburg’s David Jarolim drove a ball into Michael Rensing that he couldn’t handle and bounded to Mladen Petric for the only goal of the game. However, more controversy as Petric looked to have been offside, but replays proved Bayern weren’t completely screwed over with the result, as it was simply perfectly timed.

This 1-0 result means Hamburg are now tops of the league until, and perhaps after, Hoffenheim resume their Cinderella story without Cinderella. A massive result for the team but more specifically Martin Jol. With Real Madrid going 5-0-1 under Juande Ramos, Tottenham fans can continue to wonder, “what the hell is wrong with our team?”.

Controversy aside, the game was positively electric and we can be thankful that Europe’s greatest spectator league is back and running at full throttle.

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