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European mission accomplished, focus on league - Bayern
European mission accomplished, focus on league - Bayern
By Karolos Grohmann 12:39 GMT, Thu 9 Dec 2010
BERLIN, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich must address their poor league form after qualifying in convincing style for the Champions League knockout round, their captain Philipp Lahm said on Thursday.
Bayern topped Group E with five wins out of six games and signed off with a 3-0 defeat of Basel, but lie seventh in the Bundesliga and a huge 17 points off top spot.
"We can tick the Champions League off for now and we must put all our efforts into the league and (German) cup," defender Lahm said. "We are Bayern Munich and all that matters are victories."
While their league campaign has stuttered their European run was near perfect, a lone defeat at AS Roma in their penultimate group game the only minor blemish after winning the first four to record their best ever start.
"It may not have been the toughest of groups but we did it," said coach Louis van Gaal, who led Bayern to the Champions League final and the domestic league and cup double last season in his first year in charge.
"It may have looked easy but it was anything but. I can only be satisfied. We scored many goals and let in only a handful. You could not really ask for anything more." Bayern scored a German record 16 goals while conceding only one per game as they set a new national record of 15 points to top their group.
With the Champions League resuming in mid-February, Bayern will use the break to make up some of the lost ground in the league as they seek to defend their title.
Van Gaal has admitted the 17 points separating them from top spot may be too many but captain Mark van Bommel still holds out hope. "For this season I have not given up hope yet," said Dutchman van Bommel, only recently back from injury.
"We are so many points behind that our realistic aim should be to finish second but we always have to go for the title." Several more key players, including Arjen Robben, Miroslav Klose and defender Holger Badstuber will be back from injury in January.
There is also growing speculation that Bayern, who made no transfers in the summer, will go shopping for defenders in the winter transfer window to strengthen their erratic backline and their chances of climbing the table.
Schalke dig deep to keep 'world best' 'keeper Neuer
Schalke dig deep to keep 'world best' 'keeper Neuer
10 December 2010
Schalke 04 are to offer their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer (seen here in November) a massive pay rise in order to stave off interest from the likes of Bayern Munich or Manchester United, a report here Friday suggested.
BERLIN (AFP) - Schalke 04 are to offer their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer a massive pay rise in order to stave off interest from the likes of Bayern Munich or Manchester United, a report here Friday suggested.
The 24-year-old Schalke captain's annual salary could jump from two million euros to five million euros, according to Bild. Schalke manager Felix Magath has confirmed that the Ruhr club will hold talks with their prized stopper, whose contract expires in 2012, during the winter break.
"It's obvious that we want to hold on to the best goalkeeper in the world. It would be good to fix things up before the second half of the season begins," Magath said.
Neuer, a product of Schalke's youth academy, starred for Germany at this year's World Cup in South Africa, but Schalke are worried that their poor start to the season could tempt him to look elsewhere in search of Champions League football next season.
Schalke are struggling this season, fourth from the foot of the table, four points off the relegation zone, but after a disastrous start have won six of their last 10 games and have reached the last 16 of the Champions League.
Bayern have been wooing Neuer for the past two years as a successor to 36-year-old Jorg Butt, while Manchester United are also admirers as they look to life after 40-year-old Edwin van der Sar.
Schalke fans have made their feelings clear with an internet petition already boasting 2,000 signatures calling for "Manu, a child of the Ruhr, to remain".
Dortmund boss Klopp dismisses Bundesliga title talk
Dortmund boss Klopp dismisses Bundesliga title talk
11 December 2010
Dortmund´s Mats Hummels celebrates with supporters after their German first division Bundesliga match vs FC Nuremberg, in Nuremberg, southern Germany, on December 5. Runaway leaders Dortmund take on erratic Werder Bremen on Saturday with coach Jurgen Klopp dismissing any title talk.
BERLIN (AFP) - Runaway leaders Dortmund take on erratic Werder Bremen on Saturday with coach Jurgen Klopp dismissing any title talk while Bayern Munich try to bring their Champions League form to the Bundesliga.
Klopp's side have a ten-point lead at the top of the table, with two league matches left this year, and will start 2011 as the team to beat here. Dortmund have won their last six games and their only defeat came at Bayer Leverkusen on the opening day of the season back in mid-August.
Since then they have won 13 of their 15 league matches and while his side have been dubbed Autumn champions, Klopp refuses to talk titles until next May. "That title really has zero meaning for us," said Klopp. "In any case, I have never seen a banner or trophy which says Autumn champions 2010."
His side is full of young talented players who have all come of age this season and Klopp finds himself in the unusual position of fielding questions about Dortmund's chance to win their first league title since 2002. "It is more important we keep playing well. Every game is like a final for us, the next game is always the most important for me," said the 43-year-old.
Bremen are tenth in the league, but are having a poor season by their own standards and went out of the Champions League on Tuesday, despite a 3-0 win over holders Inter Milan. Thomas Schaaf's side are erratic, but were buoyed on Wednesday by the news striker Hugo Almeida, who is out of contract in June, has said he will not leave in January's transfer window.
The Portugal star is suspended for Saturday night's game, while Klopp can expect to select from a virtual full-strength side. With five months still left of the season, defending champions Bayern are already waving the white flag in terms of the title race as coach Louis van Gaal said last weekend the 17-point gap behind Dortmund looks to big to close.
Bayern host St Pauli on Saturday at Munich's Allianz Arena and, after last Saturday's shock 2-0 defeat at Schalke in Gelsenkirchen, van Gaal's side need to get back to winning ways as they are seventh in the league.
Munich remain without their trio of injured stars in Ivica Olic, Miroslav Klose and Arjen Robben, who are all expected back in the new year with Bayern through to the last 16 in Europe.
After a disastrous start to the season, Schalke have won six of their last 10 games and despite being 15th in the league have reached the last 16 of the Champions League.
Their 2-0 defeat of Munich took the league by surprise and second-placed Mainz will have their work cut out to cope with them on Sunday. Having started the season with a hiss and a roar, Mainz are faltering and have lost four of their last six league games.
Hannover director Joerg Schmadtke hailed his side's 'exceptional' start to the Bundesliga season following Friday's 2-1 win over Stuttgart.
Hannover director Joerg Schmadtke hailed his side's 'exceptional' start to the Bundesliga season following Friday's 2-1 win over Stuttgart. The victory, Hannover's fifth in a row, saw the Lower Saxony club better last season's nine-win tally and rise to second on the table behind Borussia Dortmund.
Ivorian striker Didier Ya Konan scored in either half for the hosts, who will enter the mid-season break after a trip to Nuremberg one week from Saturday. "It is exceptional what we have achieved in the first half of the season," Schmadtke, Hannover's technical director, said.
"We are very stable as a team and as we showed today we can always deliver more." Coach Mirko Slomka was full of praise for his charges, who have rebounded superbly from back-to-back 4-0 losses at the hands of Hoffenheim and Borussia Dortmund last month.
"There's a certain ease and calm within the team," Slomka said. "To be able to turn the game after the equaliser was very good. The team believes in itself, it is tied together and not affected by anything from the outside."
For Stuttgart, their 10th loss of the season leaves the 2006/07 champions flirting with the relegation zone and heaps further pressure on under-fire coach Jens Keller. "I am deeply disappointed by the team, especially in the first half," Keller said.
"If we play like we played today there is no need to look higher up the table. We have to stop thinking we are better than our place in the standings." "As for my position, this is not something I think about. I believe I am doing a good job but I cannot influence other things."
Stuttgart have now gone five league games without a win, and Brazilian-born Germany international Cacau said he and his team-mates shoulder the blame. "It's our own fault," Cacau said. "It's the same problem. When we lose this kind of game and go into a game in this manner, that can't happen."
"We have to apologize to everyone, the fans, the club. The attitude has to change. It has to improve. It has to change in every player." Stuttgart captain Matthieu Delpierre concurred, saying: "It is more critical than it has ever been. There's a lot to do, we are not at the physical level necessary."
German side Stuttgart have dismissed manager Jens Keller after only two months in the job following their dismal start to the Bundesliga season.
Keller's last match in charge of the 2006-07 German champions was Friday's 2-1 away defeat to Hannover - a result that left the side second from bottom in the standings and four points behind 15th-placed Schalke, who are outside the relegation zone.
The 40-year-old German has been replaced by Bruno Labbadia, 44, once manager of Bayer Leverkusen, and who was dismissed from his job as boss of Hamburg in April.
Keller, a former Stuttgart assistant manager, took over from Christian Gross on October 13, but despite two wins and a draw from his first four league games in charge, the side is winless from their last five.
Labbadia has reportedly been offered a contract until the end of the current season with the option to extend the term if he is successful in avoiding relegation.
His first match in charge will be a Europa League clash with Danish outfit Odense on Thursday, with Stuttgart safely into the next round, before he takes the reins for the side's final Bundesliga match before the winter break - against reigning champions Bayern Munich.
Dec 12, 2010 8:46 AM | By Reuters <hr class="space"> Borussia Dortmund notched their seventh straight league win on Saturday, overcoming Werder Bremen 2-0 to extend their lead at the top to 11 points with their 14th win in 16 Bundesliga games.
<hr class="space">
Werder Bremen's Torsten Frings and Borussia Dortmund's Sven Bender (L) jump for a ball during their German Bundesliga soccer match in Dortmund December 11, 2010. Dortmund won the match 2-0. Photograph by: INA FASSBENDER Credit: REUTERS
Dortmund’s Turkey international Nuri Sahin threaded a beautiful left-foot freekick over the wall into the top corner to set the home side on their way in the ninth minute. Japanese Shinji Kagawa saw his shot deflected by team mate Robert Lewandowski in the 70th minute to double their lead after Bremen stepped up the pressure in search of an equaliser.
The win lifted Dortmund, who have only conceded nine goals so far, to 43 points and another victory in their last match before the winter break next week would see them break the Bundesliga points record at the halfway mark.
Bayern Munich hold the record with 44 points from the 2005/6 season. “We started really well but then allowed Bremen back into the game,” said Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp. “We lost our calm at times in the second half but in the end we deserved to win.”
Mainz 05, on 30 points, can cut Dortmund’s lead back to 10 with a win against visiting Schalke 04 on Sunday.
Bayer Leverkusen crushed hosts Hamburg SV 4-2 to move into second place while Bayern Munich recovered their domestic form with a 3-0 victory over St Pauli to move up to fifth.
OWN GOAL
Leverkusen’s former Hamburg striker Sidney Sam struck on the half-hour but Arturo Vidal’s own goal gave the hosts some hope before the Chilean made amends in the 61st minute.
Renato Augusto added two more to pile on the misery for Hamburg, who pulled a goal back in the 79th through Eljero Elia, and lift Leverkusen to second place with 32 points.
Bayern took the lead through a thundering drive from Hamit Altintop against the run of play and needed a penalty plus a red card, awarded for goalkeeper Thomas Kessler’s foul on Thomas Mueller, to make things safe. Philipp Lahm converted from the spot before Franck Ribery completed a victory that lifted the Munich side to 26 points.
Their Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger gave the 69000 Bayern fans more joy by announcing over the stadium microphone that he had extended his contract to 2016. “I am a coach who has long-term targets and Bastian Schweinsteiger’s signature is important,” said Bayern coach Louis van Gaal. “It is a very good sign that a world class player stays at Bayern.”
Hoffenheim conceded an 87th minute equaliser as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Nuremberg to remain sixth on 24 points, while Steve McClaren’s VfL Wolfsburg drew their fifth straight game, a 0-0 stalemate at Kaiserslautern, to stay 13th.
Surprise package Hanover are third after moving to 31 points with a 2-1 win over visitors VfB Stuttgart on Friday.
Dec 12, 2010 8:52 AM | By Reuters <hr class="space"> Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has extended his contract with the German champions by four years until 2016.
<hr class="space">
Bastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich punches the air after he announced that he renewed his contract with the club for another five years after their German Bundesliga first division soccer match against FC St Pauli in Munich December 11, 2010. Photograph by: MICHAEL DALDERCredit: REUTERS
Grabbing the stadium microphone minutes after their 3-0 Bundesliga win over St Pauli, the German international told the fans: “I have extended my contract and will stay here until 2016. Long live Bayern”.
Schweinsteiger, 26, has become an influential figure for club and country and helped Germany to a third-place finish at the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.
Bayern coach Louis van Gaal recently urged the club to consider selling Schweinsteiger at the end of the season should he refuse to sign an extension, so as not to lose out on a transfer fee worth tens of millions of euros.
The player, who has been at Bayern since the age of 14 and has won five German championships and five German Cups, hinted earlier this season that he could leave. According to media reports, several top European clubs were interested in signing him.
Bayern had already extended contracts to 2014 or beyond with several other leading players including Franck Ribery, Philipp Lahm, Thomas Mueller and Holger Badstuber.
BERLIN, Dec 12 (Reuters) - VfB Stuttgart have sacked coach Jens Keller two months after his appointment and have hired Bruno Labbadia to rescue them from the drop, the club said on Sunday.
Two days after their 2-1 defeat at Hanover 96, Stuttgart unveiled the 44-year-old Labbadia, who had previously coached Hamburg SV and Bayer Leverkusen, as their new coach, the third this season.
"This is an interesting task and one I have great respect for," Labbadia told reporters in a hastily arranged presentation. "I am aware of the difficulty of the situation where we are not five minutes before 12 but a step beyond that. But I am convinced we can do it and we will. I hope we can allow the sun to shine again in half a year."
Keller had succeeded Swiss Christian Gross in mid-October but was unable to lift the club off the bottom spots in the Bundesliga.
While Stuttgart are cruising in the Europa League, topping their group with 12 points and four wins from five games, they are stuck in 17th spot with 12 points from 16 games in the 18-team domestic league.
Under Keller they won just two of their nine league games. The last time the 2007 Bundesliga champions were relegated was in 1975 after they conceded 79 goals in 34 games.
Mainz´s striker Sami Allagui (R) and Schalke´s Japanese defender Atsuto Uchida vie for the ball during the German first division Bundesliga football match Mainz 05 vs Schalke 04 in the western German city of Mainz. Schalke won 1-0.
BERLIN (AFP) - Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was the hero for Champions League last 16 qualifiers Schalke on Sunday as his second-half penalty save sealed his side's 1-0 win at Mainz.
After striker Jefferson Farfan put Schalke ahead with a goal after 30 minutes, there was drama when Neuer had a penalty awarded against him after he brought down Hungary striker Adam Szalai with just over 20 minutes left.
But he saved the day for the Royal Blues when he stopped the spot-kick from Mainz's Germany squad member Andre Schuerrle to give Schalke their fourth win from their last six league games. Victory saw Schalke move up to 10th in the German league, while Mainz stay fourth as leaders Borussia Dortmund finish the weekend with an 11-point lead.
"We got off to a very good start," said relieved Schalke coach Felix Magath, whose striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar hit the post with his first-half penalty. "We were clearly the better team and could have led 2-0 early on. "We controlled things for large parts of the game and gave very little away."
Earlier Freiburg knocked defending champions Bayern Munich down to sixth following their 3-0 win over bottom side Borussia Moenchengladbach. Senegal striker Papiss Cisse netted either side of half-time to join Frankfurt's Greek star Theofanis Gekas as the league's joint top scorer with 13 goals from 16 games.
Meanwhile strugglers Stuttgart sacked Jens Keller and immediately named Bruno Labbadia as their third coach of the season. Keller, 40, had taken over from former Tottenham Hotspur manager Christian Gross in October, but Stuttgart only managed to garner nine points from nine league games under his leadership.
Stuttgart's 2-1 defeat to Hanover on Friday left the 2007 German champions one off the bottom and was the final nail in Keller's coffin. He becomes the third Bundesliga coach to lose his job this season after Gross and Zvonimir Soldo (Cologne).
Labbadia, a 44-year-old former German international, now takes over having been out of work since his sacking from Hamburg in April. "I am aware of how hard the task will be, but I'm confident we'll achieve our goal," he said at a press conference.
On Saturday, Dortmund picked up their seventh-straight win with a 2-0 victory over Bremen. A superbly struck free-kick after nine minutes by Dortmund's Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin put the leaders ahead before Poland striker Robert Lewandowski netted in the 70th minute as Dortmund took all three points.
It was their 14th win from 16 games with the only defeat coming on the first day of the season back in August. The result leaves Dortmund 11 points clear of second-placed Leverkusen who beat Hamburg 4-2.
Bayern remain 17 points behind the leaders, but they were buoyed by the news Bastian Schweinsteiger will stay until 2016 following their 3-0 win over 10-man St Pauli. The 26-year-old has signed a four-year extension and looks set to end his career in Munich, dealing a blow to a host of reported suitors including Real Madrid.
Cologne enjoyed a rare win as teenage midfielder Christian Clemens scored his first Bundesliga goal when he netted in the 56th minute to seal a 1-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Hoffenheim were held to a 1-1 draw by Nuremberg while Wolfsburg had a goalless draw at Kaiserslautern.
German sides deny match-fixing claims in Bundesliga
German sides deny match-fixing claims in Bundesliga
15 December 2010
BERLIN (AFP) - Allegations of match-fixing in Germany's Bundesliga were on Tuesday denied by both clubs involved after claims implicated a top-flight game between Energie Cottbus and VfL Bochum.
Both teams, who now ply their trade in Germany's second division, reacted with surprise to claims from Italy suggesting their Bundesliga match on February 28 2009 may have been fixed.
In that match Bochum beat Cottbus 3-2 with a controversial 79th-minute penalty. Cottbus were relegated at the end of the season, while Bochum stayed in the top flight by two points.
The German Football Federation (DFB) have also issued a statement saying they have no concrete evidence of match-fixing from the game, despite investigations.
Both Cottbus and Bochum have said they are shocked after Italian sports daily newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport carried claims from an anonymous former player at one of the clubs who said he had known the match result from the start.
The source of the claims is said to have made the allegations in a conversation monitored by Italian authorities prior to the player's arrest as part of a match-fixing probe.
"We were surprised to be confronted with this outrageous allegation," said Cottbus president Ulrich Lepsch on Tuesday. Lepsch said the club may now take legal action. "Of course, we would have to clarify first if there was any match-fixing," he said.
"But if this is not the case, we would consider how to proceed further." Cottbus manager Claus-Dieter Wollitz also dismissed the claims. "My first reaction was 'you have got to be kidding me'," he said. "For a small club like Cottbus, that would be a stupid way to be thrown out of the league."
A Bochum spokesman said that his club had also learnt about the issue via the media and knew nothing about it. Prosecutors in Bochum, already investigating corruption as part of a Europe-wide case, said they had no concrete information regarding match-fixing in this particular game.
"We are surprised. So far we have no evidence at all about the game between Bochum and Cottbus," Bochum prosecutor Bernd Bieniossek told German sports agency SID, an AFP subsidiary. "We have heard nothing from our Italian colleagues."
Best for the team?: Bayern München's Bastian Schweinsteiger has supported his club for a move to land Schalke 04 and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, pictured here.
(GSM) - Bayern München midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has supported his club for a move to land Schalke 04 goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Schweinsteiger, who himself signed a new contract with the Bavarians until 2016, believes that the arrival of Neuer would strengthen the German champions.
Neuer, who has over a year left on his contract with Die Königsblauen, joining Bayern is an opportunity for Schweinsteiger who would relish playing alongside his national team colleague.
"We don't have a problem in goal at the moment but with Manuel Neuer, we would have the opportunity to bring the best German goalkeeper to the club,'' he told Sport1 television.
"I am always in favour of FC Bayern having the best German players.'' Bayern, who accounted for eight of Germany's squad at the 2010 World Cup last summer, could increase that tally with the arrival of Neuer.
However, the 24-year-old shot stopper has yet to make up his mind about his future while hinting at the weekend that he "expects to be still playing for Schalke next season.''
Robben boost as Bayern bid to finish 2010 in style
Robben boost as Bayern bid to finish 2010 in style 18 December 2010
Bayern Munich´s Franck Ribery (left) celebrates scoring with teammates Diego Contento and Hamit Altintop during their German first division Bundesliga match vs St Pauli in the southern German city of Munich, on December 11. Defending champions Bayern face strugglers Stuttgart on Saturday hoping to end their 2010 Bundesliga campaign on a high.
BERLIN (AFP) - Defending champions Bayern Munich face strugglers Stuttgart on Saturday hoping to end their 2010 Bundesliga campaign on a high, but with one eye on next year as Arjen Robben returns to training.
Bayern are sixth in the table and lag 17 points behind leaders Dortmund, but are set to welcome back injured stars Robben, Germany veteran Miroslav Klose and striker Ivica Olic after the Christmas break.
The Bundesliga finishes for the year on Sunday evening with Bayern's game and coach Louis van Gaal wants three points from Stuttgart to close the gap. The champions are expected to launch a title surge next season, especially with chief playmaker Robben due back in January.
The flying Dutchman has been out since July's World Cup with a torn hamstring, but resumed training on Thursday and said he is looking forward to his anticipated Bundesliga return against Wolfsburg on January 15.
"I'm part of the team again," the Dutch ace enthused after his first session back with the squad. "I?ve worked towards this for a long time, being back on the pitch with the lads is an indescribable feeling. "I'm not 100 percent fit yet, I still have a lot of work ahead of me."
After seeing Stuttgart win 5-1 in Europa League action on Thursday night against Danish club Odense, coach Bruno Labbadia faces Bayern in his first league game in charge since taking over from Jens Keller, who was sacked last weekend.
Although coach Jurgen Klopp refuses to talk about Dortmund winning their first Bundesliga title since 2002, his young side are 11-points clear of second-placed Leverkusen.
They wrap up the first half of the season on Saturday against Frankfurt and face rumours Germany defender Mats Hummels is being courted by Bayern with a view to a transfer over in the January break.
Frankfurt have the league's top scorer Theofanis Gekas, who has netted 13 goals this season, in their side, but with 39 goals already this season, Dortmund are flying high.
Leverkusen are at home to fifth-placed Freiburg on Sunday and will be without Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler, who has a knee injury.
Fourth-placed Mainz are at Hamburg-based St Pauli on Saturday with coach Thomas Tuchel desperate to avoid a third-straight defeat.
Mid-table Bremen are home to Kaiserslautern with 34-year-old captain Torsten Frings admitting he is considering retiring at the end of the season when his contract expires. Bremen are without striker Hugo Almeida, who is suspended for a red card, while ex-Chelsea star Claudio Pizarro is expected to play.
Hoffenheim are at Wolfsburg on Saturday with both sides facing speculation involving Bayern.
While Munich captain Mark van Bommel has been linked to a January switch to Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim defensive midfielder Luiz Gustavo is reported to be a target to replace the Dutchman in Bayern.
Hoffenheim are without midfielder Tobias Weis who has a thigh injury. After their terrible start to the season which saw them lose their first four games, Schalke 04 are up to mid-table and chasing their third-straight win when they play Cologne on Saturday.
Coach Felix Magath has reacted calmly to the latest rumours about goalkeeper Manuel Neuer being set to join Bayern in 2012. "Speculation in the papers doesn't interest me," he said. "I am only concerned with something if it is put to me directly."
Cologne are without forward Milivoje Novakovic who has a thigh injury.
BERLIN, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Hamburg SV grabbed a 2-1 victory at bottom-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday to edge up the table as their opponents sunk deeper into crisis at the start of the Bundesliga's winter break.
Gladbach, who are anchored in last place with 10 points from 17 games, twice came close early on with Michael Bradley and a 40-metre Juan Arango lob that sliced just wide of the post.
Hamburg, now in eighth place with 24 points, then took the lead when Eljero Elia slotted in from 12 metres in an explosive start to the second half.
The hosts levelled in the 48th minute when Igor De Camargo met a Bradley cross to head in but Piotr Trochowski fired in a freekick in the 72nd minute to offer Hamburg coach Armin Veh some respite.
The defeat will be a further blow for Gladbach coach Michael Frontzeck, already under great pressure after a disappointing first half of the season.
Second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, on 32, are hosting Freiburg on Sunday.
Following the weekend matches, the league will resume on Jan. 14.
BERLIN, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Leaders Borussia Dortmund failed to break the record for the most points in the first half of the Bundesliga season after conceding a late goal in a 1-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday just before the winter break.
Dortmund, who had won 14 of their 16 previous games and lost just one, needed only a point to equal Bayern Munich's 44 points from 17 games in the 2005/6 season but with a better goal difference.
Bundesliga top scorer Theofanis Gekas scuppered Dortmund's plans when he completed a swift attack with a classy left-footed finish four minutes from time for his 14th goal of the season.
Seconds earlier Dortmund striker Lucas Barrios fired high over the bar from only seven metres to squander the visitors' best chance of the game. It was Dortmund's first defeat on the road this season after winning a record eight out of eight away games. They have already set the record for the biggest lead ever going into the winter break.
"There was no team that deserved to win it," said Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp. "We missed the huge chance a minute earlier with Lucas and if he had scored we would have won it. But we should not lose our optimism. Luck was just not our side today."
Schalke 04 won their third game in a row when they beat Cologne 3-0 courtesy of a Raul hat-trick to move up to 10th place while VfL Wolfsburg needed a stoppage time goal to snatch a draw 2-2 with Hoffenheim after being 2-0 down.
Werder Bremen's disappointing season continued with a 2-1 defeat against visitors Kaiserslautern with both teams finishing with 10 players.
Third-placed Hanover 96, on 31, suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat at Nuremberg, snapping their five-game winning streak.
Mainz 05, on 30 points, can provisionally go into second place and cut Dortmund's lead to 10 with a win over St Pauli on Saturday with Bayer Leverkusen, on 32, hosting Freiburg on Sunday.
Champions Bayern Munich travel to VfB Stuttgart on Sunday, the hosts' first league match under new coach Bruno Labbadia.
Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez claimed a hat-trick as an early Christmas present in an eight-goal thriller on Sunday as the German champions routed struggling Stuttgart 5-3 at home.
This was the Germany star’s second Bundesliga hat-trick of the season as he capitalised on a poor Stuttgart defence to leave him with 12 league goals and 19 in all competitions for Bayern.
All five of Bayern’s goals — especially Gomez’s three — came from mistakes in the Stuttgart defence as coach Bruno Labbadia had a baptism of fire in his first league game in charge since taking over from Jens Keller last weekend.
Gomez opened the scoring with a well-taken strike on 31 minutes after Bayern’s Thomas Mueller latched onto a mistake in midfield. Gomez then returned the favour to set up his Germany team-mate as Mueller netted Munich’s second just five minutes later.
France midfielder Franck Ribery then scored a superb individual effort when he took on the defence before unleashing an unstoppable shot on 43 minutes as it stayed 3-0 at the break.
Stuttgart fought back when second-half substitute striker Martin Harnik pulled a goal back for the hosts on 50 minutes, but Gomez struck twice in two minutes to complete his hat-trick just five minutes later. Harnick grabbed a second before Germany squad member Christian Gentner made it 5-3 with 20 minutes remaining.
The result leaves Bayern fifth and 14 points behind leaders Borussia Dortmund, who lost 1-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, as the Bundesliga signs off for its customary winter break while Stuttgart are second from bottom.
Earlier Germany striker Patrick Helmes came off Bayer Leverkusen’s bench to score the late equaliser which sealed a 2-2 draw with Freiburg to keep his side third. The result leaves Freiburg sixth while Mainz went second on Saturday after a tense 4-2 win at wintry St Pauli.
Fourth-placed Hanover were stunned 3-1 at mid-table Nuremberg, while Champions League last 16-qualifiers Schalke picked up their third-straight league win with a 3-0 win over Cologne as Spain striker Raul hit a hat-trick.It was his second in the German league since joining Schalke from Real Madrid at the start of the season and put his side 10th in the table.
Hoffenheim allowed a 2-0 lead to slip to a 2-2 draw at Wolfsburg as ex-England manager Steve McClaren’s side fought back. The result leaves Wolfsburg 13th in the league and just four points from the relegation zone, while Hoffenheim are eighth.
Werder Bremen slipped further towards the relegation zone when they were beaten 2-1 by Kaiserslautern to suffer their second straight defeat. Both sides had players sent off in a bad-tempered match. It was Bremen’s eighth reversal of the season in 17 games and they are 14th in the league, four points above third from bottom Cologne.