Bayern draw at Wolfsburg, earn their 21st title

Bayern ended their afternoon in their traditional malty shower of Paulaner Hefe-Weizen, but only just. They needed a draw to become champions, and they served up a truly unexciting, scoreless one.

Their opponents Wolfsburg were, in truth, as much to blame for the lack of fireworks as were Bayern themselves. The Volkswagen company team’s top striker, Brazilian Grafite, missed a host of good chances in front of goal, including a couple that looked easier to make than miss.

In Bremen on Saturday, second-half goals by Swedish striker Markus Rosenberg and Portugal's Hugo Almeida were enough to give Werder a 2-0 win over Energie Cottbus. Germany midfielder Torsten Frings was yellow-carded in the second half and will now miss his side's midweek game at Hamburg through suspension.

But Hamburg have been struggling lately. Saturday’s 3-1 win against second-from-bottom Rostock was the first time that they had taken all three points in seven matches.

Hamburg took an early lead with a pair of goals from Croatian striker Ivica Olic before captain Rafael van der Vaart stepped up to make it 3-0 after 51 minutes. Hamburg defender Joris Mathijsen turned the ball into his own net in the second half.

Hamburg are currently fourth in the table with three matches remaining in the 2007/2008 Bundesliga season.

Coach Huub Stevens is returning to the Netherlands at the end of the season. He knows his team is capable of achieving better results.

“We've been unlucky in the second half of the season and perhaps some of our players haven't taken it too well”, said Stevens.

But Hamburg will definitely have to step up another gear if they want to keep their European hopes alive.

In Gelsenkirchen, Schalke had to settle just one point after being held by Hanover. Arnold Bruggink opened the scoring for the visitor in the eighth minute for Hanover. The goal was at first claimed and accredited to former Schalke striker Mike Hanke, but after the match it was given to the Dutchman.

Schalke, hadn’t dropped a point in their two previous matches since firing coach Mirko Slomka. The royal blues got back in the game five minutes from the break through Halil Altintop.

Schalke's midfielder Jermaine Jones admitted that his side was very disappointed with the draw. "We wanted to win the game and we needed to get the three points, so we are obviously disappointed that we failed to achieve those objectives."

Last season’s champions Stuttgart strolled to a 4-1 victory at home to Eintracht Frankfurt. Turkey international Yildiray Basturk scored two as the home side notched up a three-goal lead in the first 18 minutes. Mario Gomez and Cacau scored the others for Stuttgart, while Ioannis Amanatidis pulled one back for Frankfurt.

Bayer Leverkusen, level on points with Stuttgart and Hamburg going into the weekend, fell to relegation candidates MSV Duisburg 3-2. The game was a see-saw battle from start to finish and wasn't decided until injury time.

The result means Leverkusen’s dreams of playing in Europe next season hang on the fortunes of Stuttgart and Hamburg, neither of whom is scheduled to play the pharmaceuticals in the season’s last three matchdays.

Hertha Berlin beat SC Karlsruhe 3-1. Gojko Kacar, Marko Pantelic and Rudolf Skacel scored for the home side, while Edmond Kapllani replied for the visitors.

Bielefeld managed to put some distance between themselves and the relegation places with a 2-0 victory against Bochum. They have a four point lead over Nuremberg.

Down at the bottom Nuremberg were held to a goaless draw at Dortmund on Friday.

The visitors came closest to scoring with a header from Czech international Jan Koller, who was not given a warm welcome at his old club by Dortmund’s fans.

Bayern Munich 67
Werder Bremen 57
Schalke 04 55
Hamburg 51
VfB Stuttgart 51
Bayer Leverkusen 48
VfL Wolfsburg 45
Hanover 96 43
Eintracht Frankfurt 43
Karlsruhe 42
VfL Bochum 38
Hertha Berlin 38
Borussia Dortmund 36
Energie Cottbus 32
Arminia Bielefeld 32

Duisburg 29

Nuremberg 28
Hansa Rostock 27