German Bundesliga Team of the Week

Gabriel Tan

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund were held to a 0-0 draw by Augsburg while Wolfsburg recorded a hard-fought 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Schalke moved a point behind third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach after beating Hamburg 3-1, while Werder Bremen cruised to a 3-0 win over Hannover.

Here, we take a look at the best performers from the Bundesliga this week.

GK: Michael Rensing (Cologne)

Cologne may have picked up all three points against Hertha Berlin on Saturday, but it was the visitors who looked the more threatening side, and would have recorded an easy win had it not been for Rensing.

The former Bayern man produced a superb save to keep out Roman Hubnik's header in the 31st minute, and just five minutes later, Cologne took the lead through Christian Clemens.

Two minutes before the break, he did well again to push away Pierre-Michel Lasogga's header, before ensuring Cologne held on to the win by keeping out a late Raffael effort.

RB: Florian Dick (Kaiserslautern)

Dick put in an efficient performance on Friday evening, helping his side to a clean sheet as Kaiserslautern played out a 0-0 draw against Stuttgart.

The 27-year-old countered the threat of Shinji Okazaki well all night long, resulting in the Japanese international being hauled off in the 82nd minute, and nearly grabbed all three points for the visitors at the death when his speculative effort sailed inches wide.

CB: Sebastian Langkamp (Augsburg)

Augsburg have now gone three games unbeaten and after Saturday's 0-0 draw against Dortmund, the Fuggerstadter faithful will be starting to believe they can avoid relegation this season.

Langkamp arguably won his one-on-one battle with Robert Lewandowski all game long, but on the one occasion Dortmund's Polish striker managed to find space in the box, the Augsburg centre-back was on hand to clear his header off the line.

CB: Christoph Metzelder (Schalke)

 

Following a terrible spell at Real Madrid, Metzelder is finally regaining the form that once saw him regarded as one of Europe's best young defenders.

He played an integral role in Schalke's run to last season's UEFA Champions League semi-finals, and has been solid at the back all campaign long.

On Sunday against Hamburg, the German international even showed good attacking instincts when he lashed home Jose Manuel Jurado's cross in the 26th minute to make it 2-0.

LB: Filip Daems (Borussia Monchengladbach)

Gladbach's Bundesliga title hopes are all but over after they failed to win for the third game in the row as Freiburg held them to a 0-0 draw on Saturday.

Lucien Favre's men appear to be struggling for creativity in the absence of winger Patrick Herrmann, but Gladbach still almost beat the visitors thanks to an inspirational display by Daems.

The Gladbach captain was unbeatable at the back and charged forward at every opportunity, nearly grabbing an 89th-minute winner although he was denied by Oliver Baumann.

RM: Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

The Dutchman has received plenty of criticism in recent weeks for some selfish behaviour, but there is no doubt he remains one of the most dangerous individuals in the league.

On Saturday, he showed Edson Braafheid no mercy as he tore the Hoffenheim defender to shreds in a two-goal performance. His first came from the spot in the 12th minute, before he rounded Tom Starke and tapped into an empty net for his second. Robben also provided assists to Mario Gomez and Franck Ribery.

CM: Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg)

 

Wolfsburg finally returned to winning ways on Saturday after two losses and a draw in their last three Bundesliga matches, and their victory over Leverkusen was driven by an impressive shift from Hasebe in the middle of the park.

The Japan captain retained possession well for the Wolves, and negated the influence of the normally-dangerous Gonzalo Castro as he shielded his back four tenaciously.

Hasebe also found time to venture forward and whipped in an inch-perfect cross for Patrick Helmes to nod home at the far post, cancelling out Stefan Kiessling's opener in the process.

CM: Mehmet Ekici (Werder Bremen)

Bremen appeared to have had suffered an early blow on Sunday when Marko Marin had to come off in the 18th minute.

However, his absence was hardly felt as his replacement Ekici ran the Hannover midfield ragged. First, he whipped in a perfect cross that was nodded home by Claudio Pizarro in the 31st minute, before repeating the trick for Sebastian Prodl to double Bremen's lead just after the break.

LM: Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)

While Robben has had an interrupted campaign so far owing to injury, Ribery has been one of the stars all season long.

He was at his best on Saturday, running straight at the Hoffenheim defenders who had no answer for his pace and trickery. The Frenchman threaded through a good ball for Robben to score Bayern's fourth, before playing in a perfect cross of Gomez to nod home in the 35th minute.

To cap things off, Ribery went on to score a goal of his own when he raced onto Robben's through-pass and rounded Starke and tapped in from close range.

ST: Markus Rosenberg (Werder Bremen)

Pizarro has been Bremen's leading man in attack this season, but Rosenberg is proving to be a more-than-useful secondary option up front.

The Sweden international was unlucky not to open his account on Sunday when he found the back of the net on the stroke of halftime, only for it to be ruled out after a foul by Pizarro.

However, the Peruvian soon made amends by sending Rosenberg through on goal, and the 29-year-old coolly poked the ball past Ron-Robert Zieler.

ST: Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich)

Germany coach Joachim Low has maintained he is undecided over who will lead his attack at Euro 2012 but based on what happened at the Allianz Arena over the weekend, it is very likely Gomez will get the nod ahead of Lazio's Miroslav Klose.

The powerful striker has the full array of qualities that sees him trouble defenders time and time again, but it is his instincts that make him most deadly, as he showed in the fifth minute when he tapped home after Thomas Muller's shot had been parried into his path.

The 26-year-old is also near impossible to beat in the air and nodded home his second in the 35th minute from Ribery's centre, before powering home another after the break to complete his hat-trick.