Out of all of Europe’s top divisions the Bundesliga is often considered the least likely to provoke excitement. Not anymore. The arrival of Hoffenheim and its billionaire owner has shaken up a division dominated by Bayern Munich, and made the race for the German championship both thrilling and unpredictable. The race for the Bundesliga crown is especially interesting considering that the English, Spanish, and French leagues consist of a reigning monarchy and a collection of serfs feeding off the scraps from the royal tables of Manchester, Lyon, Madrid, and Barcelona.
Hoffenheim manager Ralf Rangnick has had plenty of money to spend and he has invested in players intent on creating names for themselves, rather than living on past glories. This makes his team refreshing but, unfortunately, slightly naive. To counter recent profligacy, the manager switched from a 4-4-2 to a sturdy 4-5-1, with only the Senegalese Ba up front for the trip to Stuttgart.
The game began at a heady pace with both sides intent on attacking their opponent’s goal. After 24 minutes the game had its first goal. Hoffenheim’s Andreas Beck attacked down the right hand side and found Ba with a low pass. The Senegalese international turned and drove a shot past Jens Lehman in the Stuttgart goal to make it 1-0. However, two minutes later Stuttgart were level through a strike from Cacau.
It would get worse for Hoffenheim after 31 minutes when Mario Gomes scored with a header to give a 2-1 advantage to Stuttgart. As the seconds ticked away towards the end of the first half, Ba rescued his team after being found by Isaac Vorsah. Ba left the Stuttgart defence in his wake and calmly slotted the ball past Lehamn to make the halftime score 2-2.
Stuttgart took the lead once more in the second half after a fantastic volley into the top corner by Gomes that made the score 3-2 to the home team. Hoffenheim’s resolve and determination was once more demonstrated three minutes later when the fabulous Ba completed his hatrick. A long ball out of defence was seized upon by the Senegalese who once again beat his markers and slipped the ball past Lehman.
From this point on it seemed like Hoffenheim might snatch victory. In the final seconds they were awarded a penalty but Sejad Salihovic smashed the ball over the bar and the game ended 3-3. Although Rangnick will be rueing the penalty miss, his team still returned to the top of the no-longer-boring Bundesliga.