EURO BITES: Bundesliga - Batman returns as Dortmund beat Schalke, Christmas surprise for Guardiola’s contract and the truth behind Bayern’s win

A round-up of the weekend’s Bundesliga action as Bayern promise a ‘Christmas Surprise’ on Guardiola’s future, Dortmund take derby win over Schalke and kung-fu Draxler gets his marching orders.

DORTMUND TAKE DESERVED VICTORY IN RUHR DERBY

Bundesliga`s most intense derby ended with the expected winner as Borussia Dortmund celebrated a deserved 3-2 home win over Schalke 04, despite two defensive mistakes that kept the Prussian Blues in the game.

After Shinji Kagawa scored first with a header, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored only his third goal of the season three minutes later. Young national Matthias Ginter gave Dortmund the lead before half time, and quickly after the break Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit his 14th of the season.

After Huntelaars second goal of the match, Schalke’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (one loan from Bayern Munich) missed a good chance for a draw to leave Dortmund the only team keeping the pace with Bayern Munich, still five points ahead.

BAYERN INVULNERABLE, BUT ALSO LUCKY

A 4-0 win over VfB Stuttgart made it look like another dominant Bayern Munich Bundesliga performance, but Pep Guardiola’s team scored all four in the first half and things could have gone differently.

Two goals were scored after a previous offside position, which served as another spark for the week-long discussions about disputable referee decisions.

Also Stuttgart, playing with an extremely risky offensive lineup, had bad luck, with Filip Kostic hitting the post in the 34th minute and a goal whistled dead because of a wrong offside decision.

In the 59th minute, Bayern celebrated yet another comeback as defender Holger Badstuber returned after fighting through a complicated muscle rupture. Badstuber had only played 16 games within three years due to a torn ACL and other injuries and infections.

BAYERN FANS AWAITING A GUARDIOLA CHRISTMAS CAROL

After the Stuttgart game, Bayern Munich´s chief executive officer Karl-Heinz Rummenigge announced that there will be no decision concerning manager Pep Guardiola’s contract extension before the very end of this year.

But he promised a “Christmas surprise – either way”.

The club was expected to go public with the decision during the annual general assembly scheduled for November 27.

On Wednesday, after the impressive 5-1 win in the Champions League against Arsenal, Guardiola again kept rolling his eyes when asked about his future in Munich, stating on television: “This question is prohibited.”

DRAXLER SENT OFF AFTER KUNG FU INTERLUDE

Julian Draxler showed some previously unseen ruthlessness Saturday when he hit Mainz player Gonzalo Jara in the face…with his foot.

Draxler was sent off after just 14 minutes, and it led to Wolfsburg officials bickering with the referee, claiming that Draxler did not see the other player and was just heading for the ball.

Despite being outnumbered for 76 minutes, Wolfsburg still had 65 percent possession but ultimately the repercussions were felt as Mainz secured a 2-0 win.

AUGSBURG KEEPS STRUGGLING

FC Augsburg turned the corner in the Europa League with a 4-1 win over Alkmaar last Thursday – but the Bavarian team remains last in the Bundesliga after a poor 1-2 home loss to Werder Bremen.

The lead came for the travelling team from Claudio Pizarro, who scored his first goal after his comeback to Bremen this summer. While already being the most successful striker in Bundesliga history, the 37-year-old has now scored in 15 different seasons.

Bremen’s Fin Bartels doubled the lead, with the frustrated Augsburg squad only scoring in the first minute of overtime. Their fans, however, remain calm: in a Bavarian radio survey, 78 percent of the supporters believe that Augsburg will not be relegated.

ANOTHER PHOTOGENIC DERBY

Two things will remembered from the 169th matchup between the bitter Ruhr area rivals Schalke and Dortmund:

Firstly, for fireworks at the final Schalke training on Friday, when 3,500 enthusiastic fans turned up to watch and ended the session by lighting up dozens of pyrotechnics around the pitch.

Secondly, for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyangs celebration after taking a 3-1 lead, when he took off his jersey to reveal a T-Shirt with a Batman logo and the English words below: “Do you remember” – a hint towards the last derby in which the Gabonese national put on a Batman mask after a goal.

Ever since, the Batman sign has become a symbol for Dortmund’s recent superiority over their arch rivals. Aubameyang later told reporters he put on the t-shirt in the shower so that manager Thomas Tuchel did not see.