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Bundesliga: Super Sunday

Jonathan HardingFebruary 28, 2016

With four games on Sunday, matchday 23 had lots of excitement. After two Bundesliga sides exited the Europa League and two marched on, it was back to domestic business for the likes of Dortmund and co.

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Fußball Bundesliga Borussia Dortmund vs. 1899 Hoffenheim
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts/L. Baron

Bundesliga Matchday 23 in 60 seconds

Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Hoffenheim
(Mkhitaryan 80', Ramos 85', Aubameyang 90+1'
- Rudy 26')

For 80 minutes, there was wasn't anything super about Dortmund's display against Hoffenheim on Sunday, but a dramatic final ten minutes turned the game around for the home side.

The visitors subdued the hosts throughout and rewarded themselves by taking advantage when birthday boy Sebastian Rudy tapped in after Roman Bürki's poor save. A whipped free-kick from Marco Reus - wearing the armband for the injured Mats Hummels - was kept out by a sprawling Oliver Baumann as Dortmund ended the half on a whimper.

Ilkay Gündogan came off the bench, beat three players and hit the post in an attempt to rouse the home side, but even after Rudy was sent off for a late tackle, Tuchel's men struggled to find a way through. Half-chance after half-chance came and went, before Henrikh Mkhitaryan dragged Dortmund level with ten minutes to go. Adrian Ramos came off the bench to head home the decisive second and with Hoffenheim desperate to equalize, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added his 22nd Bundesliga goal of the season.

Fußball Bundesliga 1. FSV Mainz 05 vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen looked short on ideasImage: Getty Images/AFP/D. Roland

Mainz 3-1 Leverkusen
(Malli 13', 59' pen., Cordoba 32' - Chicharito 65')

In the battle of the two Schmidts, it was the one in the dugout who was left victorious. Martin Schmidt's Mainz side has quietly been creeping up the table, and this win sent them above Leverkusen.

Roger Schmidt watched on from the stands as his side chased the game. Yunus Malli ended a 742-minute goal drought by dinking the ball over an advancing (and largely unconvincing) Bernd Leno to give the home side the lead. Leverkusen never really recovered, and after a poor header from Wendell, Jhon Cordoba lashed home from the edge of the box to all but end the contest.

Leno went some way to making amends by making a good, close-range save to deny Cordoba in the second half, but moments later Malli converted his first Bundesliga penalty after a Tin Jedvaj handball. There was time for Chicharito to head home and for Leverkusen to flirt with the idea of a comeback, but Mainz's victory was never truly in doubt.

Augsburg 2-2 Gladbach
(Finnbogason 50', Caiuby 53' - Raffael 33', Johnson 55')

There was no winner at the start of the Bundesliga's matchday 23 'Super Sunday,' but the football on show was thrilling all the same.

Fußball Bundesliga FC Augsburg vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
Hazard impressed, but should have scoredImage: Getty Images/Bongarts/A. Hassenstein

Marwin Hitz made a stunning close-range save to keep out Thorgan Hazard, but eventually the home side threw off their sluggishness and came close to taking the lead - the post denying Raul Bobadilla. Despite being the more passive of the two teams, Gladbach took the lead when Raffael rifled home in the box after a neat move. Dominik Kohr should have curled Augsburg level minutes later, but his shot drifted wide.

The second 45 minutes burst into life inside a five-minute spell. First Alfred Finnbogason headed home his first Bundesliga goal to level the score before Caiuby fired in from just inside the box to put Augsburg ahead. Less than two minutes later, the visitors were level though when Fabian Johnson's shot found a way through a crowded area. Oscar Wendt had a glorious chance to restore Gladbach's lead, but blazed his shot wide before Hitz denied Granit Xhaka a winner with another great save. There was time for Finnbogason to hit the post before the final whistle, but in a chance-ridden game, the points deserved to be shared.

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-0 Schalke

All of the superlatives left for Sunday's action were used up by the time Frankfurt faced Schalke. Marco Russ hit the post in the first half in an otherwise drab affair that Frankfurt will perhaps feel more aggrieved they didn't win. Both the result and the performance does little for Andre Breitenreiter, who was already feeling the heat after Schalke's woeful Europa-League exit last week.