I love a good face save and this is a good face save. Hertha Berlin’s Thomas Kraft preserved his clean sheet in his side’s 2-0 win against Paderborn by saving a shot from close range with his nose. He even added in some jazz hands for added flair.
Kraft was able to laugh about the incident as he rubbed his stinging kisser. He was probably just thankful that he didn’t concede a 65-yard goal to Charlie Adam.
Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made a rare error to allow the first goal in his side’s Bundesliga match against Borussia Monchengladbach and now EVERYTHING IS FALLING APART AROUND THEM.
Five months ago, Hertha Berlin midfielder Anis Ben-Hatira met an eight-year-old fan named Jannik. The boy was in the hospital battling Leukemia, but the pair made each other a couple of promises, which Ben-Hatira shared with an Instagram photo.
Down 1-0 to Bayer Leverkusen in the 79th minute, Paderborn goalkeeper Lukas Kruse wasn’t having a great day, but it got a whole lot worse when he was laid out by a Stefan Kiessling shot to the face. The close-range shot appeared to take a deflection off a defender’s boot, leaving Kruse unable to adjust in time and turning the event into something out of a Call of Duty game.
Kruse was flat on his back for a bit, but did get back up and finish out the match. Sadly, having a face that felt like it was stung by a thousand bees didn’t help his cause and Bayer’s Son Heung-Min went on to score twice before the final whistle, giving Bayer a 3-0 win.
Anthony Ujah scored Cologne’s fourth goal in a 4-2 win against Eintracht Frankfurt and he decided to celebrate with Cologne’s live goat mascot, Hennes. But instead of doing something nice like petting the goat or giving it a high five, Ujah went right for the horns and tried to pull Hennes back onto its hind legs.
There was joy for Burussia Dortmund on Friday as they notched their third consecutive win to go from the relegation zone to 10th in the Bundesliga table in that span, but as happy as they were, Stuttgart were equally miserable. The 3-2 loss dropped them to the very bottom of the table and to make matters worse, the decisive goal was scored when 18-year-old defender Timo Baumgartl’s backpass went terribly wrong in the 89th minute.
After the final whistle, the Stuttgart players went and spoke with the home fans, just as Dortmund had done when they hit their low a few weeks ago. Baumgartl was in tears over his costly error, but instead of unleashing hell on him, the fans consoled and embraced him.
This is how you support a club.
Everything is finally coming up Klopp again after a nightmare start to the season for Borussia Dortmund. Jurgen’s boys recovered from conceding a goal to Mainz in the first minute on Friday to win 4-2, giving them two consecutive wins and helping them jump out of the relegation zone to finish a week that also saw Marco Reus turn down bigger money elsewhere to sign a contract extension with the club. Naturally, all of this has Klopp very fired up.
As we have already established, ball boys are duplicitous scoundrels. Kevin De Bruyne learned this during his brief spells with Chelsea in between getting sent out on loan. Another thing he apparently learned at Chelsea: swearing in English.
During Wolfsburg’s 1-1 draw at Frankfurt, De Bruyne was unhappy with the speed at which the local ball boys were moving, so at one point he shouted “Get the ball, you motherf***er.” This was caught by the pitchside mics and now he’s been fined €20,000 for “unsporting behavior.”
De Bruyne said he would apologize to the ball boy, who plays for Frankfurt’s U-16 team, and give him a signed shirt. Hopefully he signs it “To Motherf***er…”
Video via 101GG
By losing 1-0 at home to 10-man Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund remain bottom of the Bundesliga table with an astonishing 11 losses in 19 matches this season. Their baffling tumble from second to worst has their supporters just as frustrated and angry as the players and as the boos rained down after the latest home loss, captain Mats Hummels and goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller took it upon themselves to try and ease tensions between those in the stands and those on the pitch.
After getting thumped by Wolfsburg in their first game back from the winter break, Bayern Munich faced another test against Schalke when Jerome Boateng was sent off in just the 17th minute. Despite this disadvantage, Bayern still managed to score first, prompting Pep Guardiola, who decided to wear a blanket around his neck for some reason, to hug the fourth official.
