Just days after leading his old team Hajduk Split out in Rijeka in the Croatian league on Wednesday, on Saturday Krassimir Balakov was in a different world. He was on the touchline in Freiburg for the first time as a Bundesliga head coach, in charge of Kaiserslautern.

The square-jawed former Bulgarian international's Lautern career got off to a bumpy start, however. His Red Devils lost 2-0 and remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

In truth the match was lost in the first quarter of an hour. First, Lautern's towering Brazilian center back Rodnei muffed a clearance on eight minutes to put Karim Guede through one-on-one with the keeper. The striker, who was making his first Freiburg start since joining in January, converted with aplomb.

Then six minutes later, Lautern 'keeper Tobias Sippel flapped on a corner, giving Cedric Makiadi an open goal to head into.

Kaiserslauternfought back in what was a much more even second half, but could not manage a goal.

It was the kind of performance - goalless going forward, mistake-prone at the back - typical of Kaiserslautern's season, but Balakov looked for positives after the match.

"We made some individual mistakes, and we were made to pay for them immediately," he said. "But I was very impressed with our morale. We need to keep working and keep our cool."

No breaks

A loss to a fellow relegation candidate like Freiburg was bad enough for Lautern, but results from elsewhere in the league added to the troubled club's woes. Hertha Berlin won 3-1 in Mainz and Augsburg got a last-minute goal to earn a 1-1 draw in Bremen, leaving Balakov's men six points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Berlin's Anis Ben Hatira opened the scoring in Mainz on 42 minutes. it was his first goal of the season, and Hertha's first goal away from home since the winter break.

The capital club wasn't done for the day, either. In the 53rd minute, Colombian striker Adrian Ramos took advantage of some listless defending from the Mainz back line to fire home a grass-cutter inside the far post.

Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting got one back for Mainz in the 58th minute, punctuating a streaking run from midfield with a near-post shot that Hertha keeper probably should have stopped. But the fight-back was to stop there.

Jan Kirchhoff, the tall Mainz center back, had been linked in the press with a big-money move to a string of clubs in midweek. But he was at fault in his club's undoing in the 69th minute. Kirchhoff's attempt to play the ball back to his keeper was foiled by Ramos, who chipped Christian Wetklo and fended off an embarrassed Kirchhoff to guide the ball past the line.

In Bremen, all signs pointed to a home win, but it wasn't to be. Deep into injury time and with their keeper Simon Jentzsch forward for a corner kick, Augsburg got the bit of luck it needed and earned a valuable point away from home. Ja-Cheol Koo's shot was blocked off the line by Sebastian Mielitz, but the rebound only made it as far as Augsburg's Paul Verhaegh, who made it 1-1 on what was virtually the last kick of the match.

Earlier in the second half, Niclas Füllkrug had scored to make it 1-0. The joyous Füllkrug, one of a string of Bremen youth players who have been integrated into the first team squad this season, wildly celebrated his first league goal in his first start for the club - and showed a gap-toothed grin that was more in keeping with junior hockey than football.

Shake-up up top

Schalke, meanwhile, rolled past Bayer Leverkusen at home on Saturday night, while Bayern Munich survived a late scare against Hanover to win 2-1 and keep up pressure on Dortmund at the top of the table. Borussia Mönchengladbach blew an early lead to fall 2-1 to visitors Hoffenheim.

As so often this season, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar made the difference for Schalke, netting two picture-perfect headers to lead his team past Gladbach and into third place.

"It was an exciting game for the fans," said Schalke Coach Huub Stevens after the match. "The only quibble I'd have is that we should have scored more."

Indeed, Lewis Holtby went close with a long-range shot and Jermaine Jones and Raul each saw free headers sail over the crossbar rather than into the net.

In Munich, Hanover started cautiously and didn't allow Bayern many clear chances in the early going, but in the 37th minute, the Bavarians broke through.

Franck Ribery sent a cross in from the right which found Arjen Robben lurking in the middle. Subverting his reputation as a me-first player, this time Robben wrapped the ball neatly with his instep over to Toni Kroos, who chipped the onrushing Ron-Robert Zieler for a goal.

Second half substitute Mario Gomez added a second for Bayern on 67 minutes, and Bayern looked like they expected to cruise away with the win, but in the 74th minute Hanover reminded them the game was not yet won. Didier Ya Konan scored on a lovely bicycle kick to make it 2-1, and Mame Diouf went close twice more before the game was out.

Borussia Mönchengladbach weren't so lucky. After making their opponents Hoffenheim look second best all game, the visitors came alive in the final quarter of an hour.

In the 77th minute Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino - helped by a deflection off of Gladbach's Roel Brouwers - cancelled out Marco Reus' first-half strike. And two minutes later, Boris Vukcevic made it 2-1 to the visitors with a header off a corner.

"We should have scored another to make it 2-0," said Brouwers after the match. "We were the better side for 70 minutes, and in the end I think we really felt the effects of the 120 minutes we played on Wednesday."

Gladbach lost on penalties to Bayern in the semifinal of the German Cup at midweek.

Different directions

Now that the German Cup final is set, pitting two sides (Dortmund and Bayern) who will likely qualify for the Champions League against each other, seventh place in the league should be enough to reach Europe.

Wolfsburg, 2-1 winners at home to the flagging Hamburg on Friday, now find themselves just one point back of present seventh-place team Hanover, and a point above ninth-placed Stuttgart, who play at home to Nuremberg on Sunday.

In Sunday's other match, Cologne host league leaders Dortmund.

Author: Matt Hermann
Editor: Andreas Illmer