Bundesliga rookies 1899 Hoffenheim are the surprise leaders
in the German Bundesliga after scoring twice in two minute to come from behind
and beat Hanover 96 5-2 on Saturday, reports dpa.
Hoffenheim, who are in their first-ever season in Germany's top flight having
gained promotion last season after spending only one season in the second
division, took the lead in Hanover through Vedad Ibisevic after completely
dominating the first half.
Hanover, however, came back strongly in the second half and went ahead through
Christian Schulz and Jiri Stajner, but a goalkeeper mistake from Florian
Fromlowitz, who was playing his first Bundesliga game for the injured Germany
keeper Robert Enke gave Hoffenheim the chance to draw level.
Fromlowitz palmed a long range effort to the feet of Nigerian striker Chinedu
Obasi, who made no mistake in the 70th minute. Two minutes later Sejad
Salihovic put his side ahead.
Demba Ba and Ibisevic with his ninth goal of the season, which takes him to the
top of the scorer charts, added to Hanover's misery, before Arnold Bruggink
compounded the disaster for the home side with a red card shortly before the
end of the game.
Bayer Leverkusen moved to third in the table with 15 points - one point behind
Hoffenheim and SV Hamburg - after winning 2-0 at bottom- placed Eintracht
Frankfurt.
Patrick Helmes opened the scoring with his eighth goal of the season in the
sixth minute from the penalty spot. Arturo Vidal added a second on the hour.
In Bremen fans were treated to a pulsating 3-3 draw between Werder Bremen and
Borussia Dortmund in which three goals were scored in the last two minutes.
Alexander Frei's opened the scoring for the visitors with a second half penalty
after a foul by Frank Baumann.
Baumann then equalized for Bremen, but Mats Hummels put Dortmund back in the
lead in the 72nd minute. Two minutes from the end Dortmund goalkeeper Roman
Weidenfelder gifted Bremen an equalizer through Claudio Pizarro.
The Peruvian international thought he had given his side the victory in injury
time with a brilliant individual goal, but former Bremen player Nelson Valdez
managed an equalizer for the visitors after a mistake by Bremen keeper Tim
Wiese.
VfL Wolfsburg managed to beat Arminia Bielefeld 4-1 through goals by Zvjezdan
Misimovic, who scored twice, Alexander Madlung and Grafite. Alexander Laas
pulled one back for Bielefeld.
Elsewhere Bayern Munich bounced back from their poor start to the season,
winning 1-0 at SC Karlsruhe through a late Miroslav Klose goal, while Cologne
beat a ten-man Energie Cottbus by the same score.
The final game of the round ended in a 2-1 victory for Hertha Berlin against
VfB Stuttgart.
On Friday VfL Bochum drew 2-2 with Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Table toppers SV Hamburg can move back to the head of the standings on Sunday
if they manage to beat Schalke 04 at home. A victory would take the team from
northern Germany to 19 points and give them a three point advantage over
Hoffenheim.