What a year it’s been. We’ve had our final dose of Bundesliga action for 2012, and matchday 17 did not disappoint as Borussia Monchengladbach continued their good form against Bayern Munich by drawing 1-1 at the Allianz Arena and Borussia Dortmund brilliantly beat Hoffenheim 3-1.
The big news of the weekend came at the Veltins Arena, though, where Schalke were beaten 3-1 by Freiburg, leading the club’s hierarchy to dispense with the services of Huub Stevens. Despite that though, there were plenty of glittering performances from Germany and Goal.com was on hand to rate all the talent and pick out the best XI from this week.
In goal, we have Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who made a string of fine saves for Gladbach at Bayern on Friday as Lucien Favre’s side claimed a credible point.
Protecting his goal are Vegar Eggen Hedenstad, who helped keep Schalke’s all-star front line quiet and put the final nail in the coffin of Stevens’ rein, and Dante, again on song for Bayern against his old club. The back line is completed by Mats Hummels, who marked his 24th birthday with a fine showing for Dortmund.
Another Freiburg star to make the cut (despite his eventual red card) is midfielder Jan Rosenthal, who scored twice at the Veltins Arena. Alongside him, we have Mario Gotze, who opened the scoring with a fine shot, Pirmin Schwegler, who helped Frankfurt beat Wolfsburg, and Nicolai Muller, who notched twice for Mainz against Stuttgart.
Two Leverkusen stars are part of our front three: Andre Schurrle, who scored one of their goals against Hamburg, and Stefan Kiessling, the scorer of the other two. Finally, we have Xherdan Shaqiri, who equalised for Bayern on Friday.