“One expected a comedown after the midweek Champions’ League quarter-final heroics against FC Porton, and this was clear as FC Bayern took on strugglers Hertha BSC at a packed Allianz Arena. The tight 1-0 win was enough to send Bayern fifteen points clear of second-placed VfL Wolfsburg with four matches remaining, and the Wolves’ defeat by the same score in Mönchengladbach was enough to ensure a record-extending twenty-fifth Bundesliga crown (and twenty-sixth German championship in all) for Die Roten.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“It was: The Week That Shook German Football (RealD 3D). First, late on Tuesday night, Bruno Labbadia was appointed manager of the bottom team, Hamburger SV. The former Kaiserslautern striker and inventor of the fist-pump goal celebration had already graced (?) the AOL/Nordbank/Imtech/Kühne-Palace/Whatever-Arena bench five years ago and the sporting director, Dietmar Beiersdorfer, had no choice but to go back to a familiar face in the club’s hour of need: HSV had run out of the German-speaking coaches that had not yet been hired at some point over the last two decades. Within a few hours, however, the new/old messiah’s wings – messiahs do have wings, don’t they? – were already clipped when Beiersdorfer involuntarily dispensed with the charade that the hot contender Thomas Tuchel had been turned down by the club the night before.” Guardian

“Borussia Dortmund have announced the departure of their manager, Jürgen Klopp, at the end of the season. The BVB manager has asked the club to be released after enduring a difficult season and Dortmund called a press conference at 1.30pm (12.30pm BST) on Wednesday, where chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke confirmed that the club had agreed to release him early from his contract.” Guardian (Video)

“Wolfsburg’s 4-1 demolition of Bayern Munich at the end of January sent shock waves through the football world, announcing Wolfsburg to the neutrals who hadn’t yet noticed their success this year. Despite a Bas Dost double, including a beautifully ambiguous intentional volley, one man stole the show – Kevin De Bruyne, his assist and brace exemplifying his role as the star man of the team.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“Having booked my trip to Munich to see FC Bayern take on Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Allianz Arena, I started to consider my schedule for the weekend. With Bayern playing on the Sunday evening and my arriving on the Saturday morning, my immediate thought was to look for a game taking place in the city that afternoon. Having trawled through the fixture list, I found two matches: Regionalliga Bayern side VfR Garching against FC Eintracht Bamberg 2010, and the third division match between SpVgg Unterhaching and Stuttgarter Kickers.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“The long and illustrious history of football is now and again graced with men of pure genius. Footballing giants whose exploits are carried like a torch by fans from around the world; men who wrote their name in gold, footballers who live on in the memories of countless fans long after they have left behind this mortal coil. One man who deserves his place amongst this celebrated band of players is a virtual unknown outside his own country yet his story is one of the most compelling. A story that deserves to be heard, the tale of a great footballer and a great man, of loyalty, triumph and sadly, tragedy. Matthias Sindelar was his name and this is his story.” Football Pink

“Shit happens. As much as you scheme and plan, measure and predict, train and prepare, the games still have to be played — and balls will bounce the wrong way, key players will get hurt, and opposing keepers will make incredible saves. This season, nowhere has more shit happened than at the Westfalenstadion, the 80,000-seat home stadium of Borussia Dortmund. As the Bundesliga returns from its winter break this weekend, Dortmund sits in 17th place out of 18 teams. If the season ended today, the 2013 Champions League runners-up would be relegated. It’s a stunning fall for a team that finished second in both of the last two seasons and first in the two years before that. So, it’s time to ask …” Grantland (Video)

“It’s the first game of the 2012 Rückrunde and bottom side SC Freiburg are facing FC Augsburg at home and neither side have found a way to score as the clock ticks down to 90 minutes. Trainer Christian Streich decides on a final throw of the dice and sends on eighteen year old academy graduate Matthias Ginter for his debut. Two minutes from time the substitution pays off as Ginter heads home the winner from a Michael Lumb freekick. Fast forward to last summer and having just been a non-playing member of Germany’s World Cup winning squad, Ginter sealed a €10 million switch to Borussia Dortmund. Not a bad piece of business for the Breisgau club and absolutely fitting with the way the club is run.” Bundesliga Fanatic

“After having been perennial title challengers over the past three seasons, Borussia Dortmund find themselves in the horrible and unexpected position of ending the Hinrunde in the relegation spots. In a word, the campaign so far has been a catastrophe – Riddled with a number of false starts and illusions of a new hope that simply did not materialize. Manager Jürgen Klopp undoubtedly still has the complete support of everyone at BVB, but the question is whether the manager can steady a ship that has been punctured below the water-line through a number of factors, physical and mental.” Vavel

“The most charismatic manager in soccer is at a crucial crossroads. Borussia Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp was once considered the hip, whip-smart up-and-comer, storming onto the European scene. His designer glasses, stylish stubble, enormous wry grin, and animated sideline behavior were all a heavy breath of fresh air in a managerial landscape filled with grey-haired curmudgeons, unsmiling and monotonously professional.” Soccer Pro

“For most fans, supporting their club conveys pride and joy, to see the fruits of their youth team set up burgeoning is the greatest feeling on earth. They will follow their team through its highs and its lows. They will travel hundreds of miles to watch them playing, be they opposing Slavia Prague, or Real Madrid’s ‘Galacticos’. Supporting a football club is almost akin to marrying; you know, at the point you start supporting a team, that you will dedicate the rest of your life to watching them play. However, if you happen to be supporting a team going by the name of FC St. Pauli, the fact that you are supporting them at all may have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you’re passionate about football; supporting St Pauli is about making a statement.” THE FOOTBALL PINK

“We are back with the 2014-15 Bundesliga Power Rankings – the post-Match Day 14 edition. Since our last edition, Bayern mocks the others, FC Augsburg reaches historic heights, Eintracht decides it might really want to challenge for Europe, darkness shrouds the middle table, while old faces revisit the relegation zone. Hold onto your butts, kids. The Power Rankings do not necessarily reflect the current table standings, since they account both for form and expectations, all the while acknowledging the fluctuation and random effects riddled through a single match day weekend, yet also acknowledging that the weekly randomness does something like work itself out over the long run. Thus, we proudly present our Match Day 14 Power Rankings. Debate. Discuss. Rinse and repeat. Huzzah! Bundesliga Fanatic

“So you’ve heard about Bayern Munich, and what the Bavarian titans are doing to the Bundesliga? Vacuuming up the league’s best players. Hiring the brainiest guy in soccer, then letting him pull all kinds of tactical stunts. The club’s paid off all it’s stadium debt and now is now stacking money higher than the Allianz itself. It’s as if Bayern’s tap-dancing in golf shoes on the Bundesliga’s helpless mug. Just think of the puncture wounds when Dortmund star Marco Reus arrives this summer.” Soccer Gods