Happy Birthday, Real Madrid!

Deportivo La Coruna not only ruined Real Madrid's 100th birthday celebration by beating the Madrid club 2-1 in the Spanish League Cup final, but also shattered Real's dream of winning the triple crown this season. Real's players and executives openly talked about winning the national title, Spanish cup, and Champions League this season, therefore honoring their club accordingly.

Founded in 1902, Real Madrid will receive the Team of the 20th century award on Dec. 18 when it plays a world all-star Team. The people of Madrid want to believe that Real is on its way back to the Golden Era. From 1956 to 1966, the club won the Champions League six times (reaching the finals eight times), featuring Alfred di Stefano and an all-star lineup. Today, Real's starting lineup looks as impressive as it did back then. "We have the responsibility to acquire the best players in the universe," said general manager Jorge Valdano. And they sure did: Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Raul and Fernando Morientes, to name just a few. Happy Birthday, once again!

Now, let's focus on the German Bundesliga. On Tuesday and Wednesday, both Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke 04 reached the German Cup final. First division leader Leverkusen beat bottom club Cologne 3-1 in overtime. Last year's winner Schalke 04 squeezed by Bayern Munich, beating the Bavarians 2-0 in overtime.

Speaking of Cologne, the Rhine club has finally done it. After over 1000 scoreless minutes, the club finally scored a goal against Hertha BSC Berlin last weekend. However, after its 1-1 tie, Cologne still finds itself in last place, 8 points behind the non-relegation zone.

And Bayern Munich is back, besides the latest German Cup defeat! Too bad Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen couldn't take advantage of Bayern's poor play after the winter break. The Bavarian club finally looked like its old self, beating Stuttgart 2-0 last weekend. Unfortunately, star midfielder Mehmet Scholl tore a muscle in practice and will miss the next three weeks.

Last but not least, the German Soccer Federation (DFB) openly debated a change in soccer coverage. After the financial struggles of media mogul Leo Kirch became public, the DFB decided to take a closer look at establishing its own pay-per view channel. I will keep you posted as plans unveil. Now, check out last weekend's scores and stats and the current standings:

Results
VfB Stuttgart - Bayern Munich 0:2
1. FC Kaiserslautern - VfL Wolfsburg 3:2
1. FC Cologne - Hertha BSC Berlin 1:1
Hamburger SV - 1. FC Nuremberg 3:1
Borussia M'gladbach - Werder Bremen 1:0
Borussia Dortmund - FC St. Pauli 1:1
SC Freiburg - Bayer Leverkusen 2:2
Energie Cottbus - Schalke 04 2:0
TSV 1860 Munich - Hansa Rostock 2:0

Standings
POSITION TEAM GP W L T PTS
1. Bayer 04 Leverkusen 25 15 5 5 50
2. Borussia Dortmund 25 14 4 7 49
3. 1. FC Kaiserslautern 25 15 7 3 48
4. FC Bayern Munich 25 14 6 5 47
5. FC Schalke 04 25 13 6 6 45
6. Hertha BSC Berlin 25 12 6 7 43
7. Werder Bremen 25 12 9 4 40
8. TSV 1860 Munich 25 12 10 3 39
9. VfB Stuttgart 25 9 8 8 35
10. Hamburger SV 25 9 10 6 33
11. VfL Wolfsburg 25 8 11 6 30
12. Borussia M'gladbach 25 6 10 9 27
13. Hansa Rostock 25 7 13 5 26
14. FC Energie Cottbus 25 7 13 5 26
15. 1. FC Nuremberg 25 7 14 4 25
16. SC Freiburg 25 5 11 9 24
17. FC St. Pauli 25 3 13 9 18
18. 1. FC Cologne 25 3 15 7 16

Top-5 Scorers
NAME (CLUB) POINTS GOALS ASSISTS
1 Michael Ballack (Bayer Leverkusen) 20 14 6
2 Oliver Neuville (Bayer Leverkusen) 19 11 8
3 Marcio Amoroso (Borussia Dortmund) 15 13 2
4 Claudio Pizarro (Bayern Munich) 15 12 3
5 Giovane Elber (Bayern Munich) 15 12 3