German BundesLiga 2009/2010

[abadani69]

Vedad Ibisevic scored two goals as Hoffenheim's impressive in the Bundesliga continued with a comprehensive 4-1 defeat of Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.

Ibisevic scored five minutes into the game and two minutes after the break with Sejad Salihovic and Carlos Eduardo also getting their names on the scoresheet as Hoffenheim moved up to second in the table, a point behind leaders Schalke.

Dortmund's solitary reply came from Felipe Santana in the final minute.

Mario Gomez scored one goal and set up another as Stuttgart held off local rivals Karlsruhe 3-1 at home to move to third place.

Sebastian Freis gave the visitors the lead early on but Sami Khedira tied things up in the 22nd minute and Gomez gave Stuttgart the lead in the 68th before Ciprian Marica (87) finished off Karlsruhe.

Hamburg missed the chance to return to the top of the Bundesliga as a 13-minute goal blitz secured Wolfsburg a superb 3-0 win against the title hopefuls.

Ashkan Dejagah set the ball rolling for the hosts with the opener after 15 minutes before further strikes from Alexander Madlung (23) and Grafite (2 had the game all but wrapped up inside half an hour.

The win was the second of the season for Felix Magath's troops, who are unbeaten after five games and sit sixth in the standings on nine points, while Hamburg drop to fourth on 10 points - level with Hoffenheim and Stuttgart.

On Saturday, Werder Bremen demolished Bayern Munich 5-2 at the Allianz Arena to inflict a first Bundesliga defeat on coach Jurgen Klinsmann since his arrival in the summer.

Markus Rosenberg opened the scoring for Bremen in the 30th minute and thereafter the floodgates opened.

Ronaldo Naldo doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time before Mesut Ozil grabbed a third in the 64th minute.

Rosenberg scored his second three minutes later and two minutes after that, Claudio Pizarro inflicted further damage.

Substitute Tim Borowski pulled two goals back for Bayern (71 and 85) but it was too little, too late for the defending champions.

Schalke moved to the top of the table with a 1-0 win over 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt, for whom Christian Chris was sent off in the 34th minute. Patrick Ochs' own goal in the 41st minute proved decisive.

Energie Cottbus are bottom of the league standings despite earning a point in a 1-1 draw at home to Bochum.

Dennis Sorensen put the hosts ahead in the 13th minute but Anthar Yahia equalised two minutes into the second half.

Arminia Bielefeld left it late to see off Cologne 2-0 and were kept at bay until the 74th minute when substitute Jonas Kamper broke the deadlock.

Artur Wichniarek made the points safe two minutes later.

The win moves Arminia out of the bottom three into 12th, while Cologne slip to 13th.

Hertha Berlin saw off Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 courtesy of Gojko Kacar's 11th-minute effort.

On Friday night, Bayer Leverkusen were comprehensive 4-0 winners over Hannover.

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The Bundesliga’s two Champions League teams had wildly contrasting fortunes on a weekend when the last two unbeaten records in the division fell.

Bayern Munich slipped to ninth place, five points behind new leaders Hamburg SV, when Juergen Klinsmann dropped his most creative players and then, predictably enough, saw the team lose 1-0 at Hanover 96 in a dour game.

Werder Bremen enjoyed a frantic 5-4 win at home to 1899 Hoffenheim, who came back from 4-1 down to draw level at 4-4 only for the 10-man home side to snatch a winner through the outstanding Mesut Ozil.

The sixth round of matches began with leaders Schalke 04 losing 1-0 at Cologne on Friday night and finished with VfL Wolfsburg, the only other unbeaten team before the weekend, going down 2-1 at Karlsruhe.

Hamburg are the new leaders with 13 points after they won 1-0 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach. Bayer Leverkusen are second on 12 points, Werder third with 11.

[abadani69]

Bochum added to the pressure of Jurgn Klinsmann on Saturday by rallying for two late goals to secure a 3-3 tie against Bayern Munich.

Bayern came into the game after two straight defeats in the league had seen them drop down the table, and Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer demanded a response from Klinsmann and his team.

It seemed they had got it as they cruised toward a 3-1 victory but Christoph Dabrowski got a goal back for Bochum in the 83rd minute before Dennis Grote struck the equalizer five minutes from time.

Ze Roberto thought he had set his team on course for victory with goals in the 45th and 68th minutes.

Earlier, Bochum's Sinan Kaloglu scored in the 29th minute to cancel out Daniel van Buyten's opener.

The result leaves Bayern down in 11th place with nine points from seven games, three points and three places better than Bochum.

Surprise-package Hoffenheim have moved into top spot after Bayer Leverkusen lost at home to Hertha Berlin and they heaped misery on under-fire Eintracht Frankfurt coach Friedhelm Funkel with a 2-1 victory.

Demba Ba opened the scoring for Hoffenheim in the 47th minute and although Markus Steinhofer equalized in the 66th minute, Ba grabbed the winner five minutes later.

Winless Frankfurt are second last with three points from six games.

An 89th-minute strike from Andriy Voronin was enough for Hertha to defeat Leverkusen 1-0.

Stuttgart are level on points and goal difference with Hoffenheim after they thrashed Werder Bremen 4-1 to climb up to second.

Sami Khedira opened the scoring in the 18th minute and Christian Trasch doubled the lead just before the half-hour mark.

Roberto Hilbert made it three just after the hour mark, and although Diego got a goal back for Werder, it was Stuttgart who had the last word through Martin Lanig's late strike.

If there is one coach feeling the heat more than Klinsmann and Funkel it is Borussia Monchengladbach's Jos Luhukay, who saw his side lose 2-1 at home to Cologne in a derby match that could be his last in charge.

There was speculation before the match that Luhukay was facing the sack, and Milivoje Novakovic's winner for the visitors two minutes from time only increased the chances.

Cologne had taken the lead through Fabrice Ehret in the fifth minute before Roel Brouwers equalized for Gladbach after 10 minutes.

The result leaves Gladbach bottom in the Bundesliga with three points from seven games

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Bochum moved out of the Bundesliga’s bottom three after playing Borussia Dortmund to a 1-1 draw Sunday.

Tomasz Zdebel scored 27 minutes in to give Bochum hope of recording its first road win of the season, but Mohamed Zidan tied the match just a minute before the break.

Meanwhile, Michael Fink’s goal gave Eintracht Frankfurt a 2-1 over Borussia Monchengladbach, putting more pressure on relegation-threatened Borussia Monchengladbach.

The hosts had taken the lead in the 12th minute thanks to a Marco Russ own-goal but Martin Fenin brought the visitors level a few minutes later.

Fink then scored the decisive goal after 52 minutes to lift Eintracht four points clear of danger and inflict an eighth defeat in 11 games on the second-from-bottom hosts.

[Rasputin]

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1614/americans-abroad/2009/01/19/1068731/donovan-scores-again-for-bayern

[abadani69]

Marcell Jansen struck goals to push 10-man Hamburg back atop the Bundesliga with a 2-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.

Jansen scored his first two goals of the season in the 18th and 66th minutes, sandwiching a 29th-minute reply from Patrick Helmes.

Hamburg played the final four minutes a man down after substitute Jerome Boateng saw his second yellow card following his entry on the hour mark.

The win gave Martin Jol's men a two-point lead over Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin.

Leverkusen, who were coming off a 4-1 win at Hoffenheim, remained fifth but missed a chance to pull within a point of the leaders.

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In spite of good midweek showings from both teams, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich played to a 0-0 draw. Things looked good for Bayern early on as they played attractive attacking football while Bremen looked sluggish. Following Naldo's sending off on 15 minutes, it seemed as though it was only a matter of time before Bayern scored.

Poor execution from Bayern and superb goalkeeping by Bremen keeper Christian Vander denied Bayern a goal. Today's result sinks Bayern to 5th place and Bremen to 11th with just 12 matches to go.

First Half:

With Tim Wiese still recovering from injury, Thomas Schaaf opted to start the same players who lined up in Werder's 2-2 draw in Milan on Thursday. Juergen Klinsmann made several changes to the team that earned a 5-0 victory over Sporting CP last Tuesday.

The Bayern coached scrapped his usual 4-4-2 in favour of a 4-5-1 with Ze Roberto filling in at left back in place of Philipp Lahm, and Hamit Altintop and Tim Borowski as additions in the midfield, leaving Miroslav Klose alone up front. Formally, Franck Ribery lined up in the middle behind Klose, with Altintop on the right and Bastian Schweinsteiger on the left flank.

The match began at breakneck pace. Within the first two minutes, Bayern had earned a breakaway, but Klose's angle was cut off by Per Mertesacker, who also blocked the Bayern striker's subsequent cross.

Two minutes later and on the other end, Diego fed the ball through to Mesut Oezil on the left bye-line. The 19-year-old cut rightward and shot to the near post, but was denied by Michael Rensing. The ball trickled towards the far post where Ze Roberto cleared.

Bayern's experimental line-up was amorphous and tactically reminiscent of the Ajax teams of old where anybody could pop up anywhere on the pitch. Of Bayern's five midfielders, only van Bommel did not move forward.

Instead, Ze Roberto acted like a playmaker coming forward, and van Bommel dropped back to cover the left flank. Needless to say, Bayern's four attacking midfielders, left-back/playmaker and highly mobile forward (Klose) caused all sorts of trouble from the home side.

Things got worse for Bremen after 15 minutes, when Mertesacker slipped and conceded possession to Schweinsteiger deep in his own half. 'Schweini' sprinted forward, but was pushed off the ball by centre-back Naldo. The Brazilian was the last defender and made a clumsy challenge, leaving the referee with no option but to send him off.

Minutes later, Schaaf brought on defender Sebastian Boenisch for forward Hugo Almeida, converting to a 4-4-1 setup.

Going down a man had surprisingly little effect on Bremen's attack, as Diego, Oezil and Claudio Pizarro repeatedly linked up and wrecked havoc on Bayern's back line. Good last-ditch defending denied the home team a lead, however.

Bayern's early dominance cooled off a short while after Naldo's sending off, although the visitors had several good chances. Efforts from Tim Borowski (13, 36, 41) were either close or saved by the impressive Christian Vander.

In spite of fantastic build-up play from Ribery and Ze Roberto, Borowski was the only man ever found open in the penalty area. Klose, as the lone forward, barely touched the ball, and the build-up efforts of Schweinsteiger and Altintop ended short of the 18-yard box.

As a result of both teams' good defensive work in their respective penalty areas, the first half ended in a 0-0 draw.

Second Half:

There was just one change made at the half: Lukas Podolski replaced Bastian Schweinsteiger as a means to prove some support to Klose while maintaining maximum mobility.

Podolski's substitution seemed to do little for his team's cause as Bayern's first-half woes continued. Werder took a more defensive stance in the second period, opting to play for the counterattack. The Bremen defence held despite more good work-up play from Ribery and Ze Roberto.

In fact, the only good chances Bayern had came in the 73rd and 74th minutes when the Brazilian and Frenchman successively put shots on goal from the left side, but were denied by the superb Vander.

As full-time approached, Klinsmann rolled the dice a final time, bringing Landon Donovan on for Altintop and Andreas Ottl for Borowski, leaving Bayern with a sort of 3-4-3 formation with two holding midfielders. Werder stuck to the same formation as Daniel Jensen replaced Alexandros Tziolis in the 70th minute.

Klinsmann's gamble didn't pay dividends as poor work in the penalty area coupled with good defending from Bremen failed to produce a late winner from either side.

Yellow Cards: Pasanen (62) / van Bommel (70)
Red Cards: Naldo (15)

Werder Bremen: Vander - Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo, Pasanen - Frings - Oezil, Tziolis (Jensen, 70) - Diego - Almeida (Boenisch, 17), Pizarro (Rosenberg, 89)

Bayern Munich: Rensing - Oddo, Lucio, Demichelis, Ze Roberto - Altintop (Donovan, 77), Borowski (Ottl, 7, Ribery, van Bommel, Schweinsteiger (Podolski, 46) - Klose

[abadani69]

A Mario Gomez goal two minutes into injury-time kept alive Stuttgart's hopes of Champions League qualification as Hamburg suffered a big blow to their Bundesliga title chances.

The high-tempo match was entertaining throughout but scoreless until Gomez struck the game's only goal in the dying moments.

Markus Babbel's men now have 48 points and lie in fifth place - one point behind Hertha Berlin and three behind Hamburg, who occupy the final Champions League spot.

Hamburg had won three straight games but are now three points adrift of leaders Wolfsburg and behind Bayern Munich on goal difference.

Today's other game saw Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen draw 1-1.

Tranquillo Barnetto put the home side ahead after 11 minutes but Claudio Pizarro levelled matters shortly after the half-hour mark.

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Wolfsburg won its 10th straight game by beating Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 on goals from Grafite to remain three points clear of defending Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich, which won 1-0 at Arminia Bielefeld.

Grafite converted a penalty and then notched the winning goal in the 85th for a league-high 22 goals. Luca Toni scored in the second half for Bayern.

"Our target at the start of the season was to finish in the top 5 and that hasn't changed even with this win," Grafite said. "We have to think from game to game and there are still six games left."

Wolfsburg now has 57 points and Bayern 54, with six games remaining for both sides.

"It was a hard fight, they dominated us in the second half and were clearly the better team," said Wolfsburg's coach Felix Magath, who won two titles with Bayern. "Being in the lead puts you under a lot of pressure, everyone wants to beat you. We were lucky to win. I still think Bayern will win the title, they won 1-0 today and that's their strength, getting the results they need."

Stuttgart moved into third place provisionally by winning 3-0 in Cologne behind a hat trick from Mario Gomez.

The 2007 Bundesliga champion now has 51 points. Hamburger SV also has 51 and can pull ahead of Stuttgart if its beats Hannover on Sunday.

In other matches, Borussia Dortmund won 2-0 at Bochum, Karlsruhe and Hoffenheim drew 2-2 and Eintracht Frankfurt beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-1.

Grafite drew a penalty when he was downed by Manuel Friedrich in the box and converted from the spot himself to put his team ahead after 23 minutes.

Leverkusen goalkeeper Rene Adler made a good save from Grafite and then ran far out of his penalty area to clear in front of the Brazilian striker as Wolfsburg wasted some good chances.

Simon Rolfes hit Wolfsburg's crossbar early in the second half as Leverkusen came out with more ambition in the second half.

Toni Kroos, a Bayern player on loan to Leverkusen, put the visiting team back into the match when he leveled in the 54th. Kroos controlled a pass from Rolfes at the edge of the area and then slotted the ball inside the post.

Patrick Helmes missed another good chance for Leverkusen before Grafite secured the victory. He collected a deep pass from Zvijezdan Misimovic and chipped the ball over Adler to finish a quick counterattack.

Leverkusen had calls for a penalty denied late in the match after Wolfsburg's Alexander Madlung had appeared to handle the ball in front of his goal.

In Bielefeld, Bayern struggled in the first half and goalkeeper Hans-Joerg Butt was forced into a spectacular save when he tipped over a close-range header from Robert Tesche.

But Juergen Klinsmann's team dominated the second half and wasted several chances, including a shot form Lucio that narrowly missed the target.

Goalkeeper Dennis Eilhoff kept Bielefeld in the match with some fine saves. He denied Toni in the 63rd but one minute later the Italian got his 12th goal of the season, knocking down a cross form Franck Ribery at the far post.

Toni was twice foiled by Eilhoff again late in the match and Bielefeld nearly earned a point when a header from Andrej Mijatovic sailed just wide of the post.

"It's a great relief," Bayern's general manager Uli Hoeness said. "Our situation has improved slightly. We have one away game less and Wolfsburg won at home."

Stuttgart got into contention for a place in the Champions League next season with Gomez scoring seemingly at will to raise his season total to 18.

Dortmund got goals from Patrick Owomoyela and Nelson Valdez in each half to remain in the equation for a spot in the UEFA Cup.

Hoffenheim continued its free fall -- after leading the league at the halfway mark, the promoted team now hasn't won in 10 games. Hoffenheim, which had two players sent off last weekend, again finished the match short-handed when Luiz Gustavo was sent off in the final minutes.

Karlsruhe, which had not scored in the previous eight games, came from behind twice to earn the draw that left the team in last place and five points away from safety.

In Frankfurt, home goalkeeper Markus Proll saved a penalty from Michael Bradley as Moenchengladbach remained in the relegation zone. Moenchengladbach's only goal came from its second penalty, converted by Filip Daems, but Frankfurt then scored two late goals to secure its win.

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Bochum rallied from a three-goal deficit at halftime to earn a 3-3 draw against Borussia Moenchengladbach in a wild first-round game in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Mimoun Azaouagh scored twice inside a minute to turn the game around in the second half. Borussia finished the match with 10 men and came close to losing the game after dominating the first half. The two teams barely escaped relegation last season.

"I've rarely seen a game like this, it was very curious," Borussia coach Michael Frontzek said. "We played a great first half, Azaouagh then scores two great goals, we get the red card and at the end we were lucky to get away with a draw."

"There are things in football you can't explain," Frontzek added.

In the second game Sunday, Hamburger SV squandered an early lead and had to settle for a 1-1 draw at promoted Freiburg.

Jonathan Pitroipa put Hamburg ahead after three minutes when the Freiburg defense failed to clear a corner. Tommy Bechmann then salvaged a draw for Freiburg after Mohamadou Idrissou had won the ball from David Rozehnal.

Newly signed Venezuelan Juan Arango scored his first Bundesliga goal in the 19th minute in Bochum, after collecting a pass from Roberto Colautti.

Colautti added the second himself with a header in the 25 and Borussia appeared to be on the way to a rout when Arango crossed for Roel Brouwers to head in the third.

But Bochum were a different team after the break.

Azaouagh missed a great chance for Bochum at the start of the second half, then scored two virtually identical goals inside a minute.

He rifled a shot with his right foot from the edge of the area in the 51st, then found the same upper left corner from a similar distance of around 20 meters (yards) about 50 seconds later.

Bochum weren't finished and Borussia fell apart under pressure.

Defender Dante was sent off in the 60th for pulling down Stanislav Sestak in what turned out to be a costly way of stopping a Bochum counterattack.

Bochum didn't need much time to take advantage and Sestak scored a header inside the far post in the 63rd to tie the game.

The frantic pace dropped somewhat after that goal, although Shinji Ono could have clinched the game for Bochum. The Japanese shot high, however, shortly after coming on as a substitute.

Ten-man Borussia outplayed tiring Bochum late in the game but Arango's effort was tipped over the net by Bochum's goalkeeper Philipp Heerwagen.

Joel Epalle had the last chance of the match but his low header went wide of Borussia's goal.

"Nothing worked for us in the first half but we stepped up the pressure in the second half," Bochum coach Marcel Koller said. "During the break I just asked my players to play the way they can and they did."

On Saturday, Hoffeheim held Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw and Schalke won 2-1 at promoted Nuremberg.

Chinedu Obasi's goal in the 41st minute canceled out Ivica Olic's strike in the 25th and partly spoiled new Bayern coach Louis van Gaal's Bundesliga debut, 58th birthday and wedding anniversary.

Kevin Kuranyi scored twice for Schalke to give Schalke and new coach Felix Magath a winning start with a 2-1 victory at promoted Nuremberg.

Eintracht Frankfurt won 3-2 at Werder Bremen thanks to two goals from Ioannis Amanatidis, Borussia Dortmund beat FC Cologne 1-0, Bayer Leverkusen drew 2-2 at promoted Mainz and Hertha Berlin edged Hannover 1-0 on a goal from Gojko Kacar.

Defending champion Wolfsburg also got off to a winning start Friday, beating Stuttgart 2-0 after second-half goals from Zvjezdan Misimovic and Grafite.

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Schalke beat Bochum 3-0 on Sunday as coach Felix Magath's new team joined his old one - Wolfsburg - atop the Bundesliga.

Magath coached Wolfsburg to its first Bundesliga title last season, then jumped ship to sign for Schalke, which has not won the championship for 51 years.

Wolfsburg and Schalke are the only two teams to have won both of their games in the new season and have six points and identical goal difference.

Schalke dominated Sunday's match and 19-year-old Christoph Moritz, a new signing from second-division Alemannia Aachen who has been surprisingly promoted to the starting lineup by Magath, opened the scoring after 38 minutes.

Heiko Westermann doubled the lead in first-half injury time and Jefferson Farfan completed the victory in the 76th.

Earlier, Borussia Moenchengladbach's new-look team beat Hertha Berlin 2-1 to record its first victory this season and move into fourth place.

Defender Roel Brouwers and striker Karim Matmour got the goals for Borussia, while Gojko Kacar scored his second in two games for Hertha and nearly added a late equalizer when his header struck the crossbar two minutes from the end.

Borussia was helped by the performances of its new signings, Argentine forward Raul Bobadilla and Venezuelan midfielder Juan Arango, who both hit the crossbar.

Brouwers opened the scoring in the 23rd minute after Hertha's defense failed to clear a corner.

Hertha had a clear chance to level within seconds of the second half getting underway, but Borussia goalkeeper Christofer Heimeroth managed to get a hand onto a shot from Cicero.

Borussia doubled its lead in the 52nd minute, with 36-year-old Oliver Neuville providing a perfect cross for Algerian forward Matmour to score.

Hertha was back in the game just a minute later, though, when Kacar rose to head home a corner from Raffael, while teammate Artur Wichniarek later sent a diving header just wide.

At the other end, Hertha goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny made several good saves to foil Borussia's late efforts, while Kacar nearly scored a carbon-copy of his goal when he again met a corner from Raffael but the ball bounced off the bar after Heimeroth had misjudged the cross.

Borussia played without U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley, who is in quarantine after returning from national team duty and a 2-1 loss to Mexico. U.S. forward Landon Donovan was diagnosed with swine flu' after that game.

On Saturday, Wolfsburg rallied with two goals in two minutes to win 3-1 at Cologne and reach six points from two games.

Striker Obafemi Martins, newly signed from Newcastle, secured victory in the 87th minute after coming on as a substitute. Cologne scored four minutes into the second half through Fabrice Ehret, only for Edin Dzeko to equalize in the 73rd and defender Pierre Wome to redirect a cross into his own net a minute later.

Bayern Munich remained without a win in the new season, coming from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at home against Werder Bremen.

Mario Gomez scored his first Bundesliga goal for Bayern in the 72nd minute to salvage the point after Mesut Oezil had shot Werder ahead after 39 minutes.

Hamburger SV scored three goals in the first 12 minutes in a 4-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund. In other matches, Eintracht Frankfurt drew 1-1 at home with promoted Nuremberg, Stuttgart beat promoted Freiburg 4-2, Hannover drew 1-1 at home with Mainz, another promoted team, and Bayer Leverkusen edged Hoffenheim 1-0.

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Hamburger SV beat defending champion Wolfsburg 4-2 on Sunday to move into a three-way tie at the top of the Bundesliga.

Hamburg ended Wolfsburg's run of 16 straight home wins and joined Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke on seven points to lead the league after three rounds of matches.

Wolfsburg, which had not lost at home for 20 games, battled back from a 2-0 deficit with two goals inside four minutes early in the second half but Hamburg struck again twice.

Hamburg's goalkeeper Frank Rost said his team should have secured the victory in the first half, "but when you concede two goals and then come back again, that's great."

In other games Sunday, Werder Bremen beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 and Bochum earned its first victory of the season by beating Hertha Berlin 1-0.

In Wolfsburg, Paolo Guerrero scored in the third minute, his shot first bouncing off the post and then off Wolfsburg's goalkeeper Diego Benaglio and into the net.

Hamburg doubled the lead only four minutes later through Eljero Elia after a counterattack. Benaglio used his foot to save Mladen Petric's shot but Elia was first to the rebound and found the net.

Zvjezdan Misimovic pulled one back in the 52nd and substitute Obafemi Martins completed the comeback in the 56th, heading in a cross from Misimovic.

Ze Roberto then hit Wolfsburg's crossbar and the visiting team piled on the pressure but Benaglio denied Hamburg with several outstanding saves.

Petric scored in the 75th after Ze Roberto had fed Dennis Aogo, who crossed into the box and Petric connected with a left-foot volley. Romeo Castelen completed the victory in the 90th.

"We played against a very strong Hamburg," Benaglio said, while teammate Misimovic said the team had "slept through the first half."

Wolfsburg's first loss of the season dropped the defending champion to fourth place.

In Bremen, Christofer Heimeroth fumbled a free kick from Mesut Oezil and Claudio Pizarro poached his first goal for Werder since getting a permanent contract earlier this week. Pizarro played for Bremen last season on loan from Chelsea.

Pizarro notched his second in the 38th, moments after Borussia had a goal disallowed for offside. Clemens Fritz crossed and Pizarro scored with his heel.

"They were typical Pizarro goals, we are glad he is here again," Bremen's defender Per Mertesacker said.

Pizarro scored 28 goals in 46 matches for Werder last season.

Heimeroth saved Oezil's penalty early in the second half but Naldo completed Bremen's first victory of the season by knocking in the ball at the far post after a free kick from Oezil.

Bochum's Anthar Yahia scored in the 47th minute, shooting past Hertha's wall from 17 meters (yards) out after Joel Epalle had earned a free kick. Epalle rolled a short pass to Yahia, who drilled his shot home.

Bochum nearly doubled the lead before Hertha began to threaten but the home side quickly regained the upper hand and Berlin's goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny was lucky to catch a shot from Epalle that bounced back off the crossbar.

Raffael came off the bench and nearly scored an equalizer following a through pass from Gojko Kacar in the 82nd but Bochum's goalkeeper Philipp Heerwagen made a good save. Heerwagen then denied Cicero as Berlin stepped up the pressure but missed its two best scoring chances.

Berlin, which finished fourth last season, now has one win and two losses.

On Saturday, Bayern Munich lost at promoted Mainz 2-1 to remain without a victory in the Bundesliga under new coach Louis van Gaal.

Andreas Ivanschitz and Aristide Bance scored for Mainz, which had never before beaten Bayern in six previous matches in the Bundesliga.

Bayer Leverkusen thrashed promoted Freiburg 5-0 on the road, Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart drew 1-1, Hannover won 2-0 at FC Nuremberg and 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt held on for a 0-0 draw at FC Cologne.

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Paolo Guerrero scored two goals Sunday to help Hamburger SV beat Cologne 3-1 and take the lead in the Bundesliga on goal difference from Bayer Leverkusen.

The Peruvian international striker now tops the list of scorers with four goals in four games along with Leverkusen's Stefan Kiessling.

In the earlier game Sunday, Mesut Oezil scored one goal and set up another in Werder Bremen's 3-2 win at Hertha Berlin.

Marko Marin set up two goals for Werder, which jumped to third place in the standings. For Hertha, fourth last season, it was its third straight loss and it dropped to 16th place.

Hamburg and Leverkusen have 10 points from four games, three points ahead of Bremen, Schalke and Moenchengladbach.

Guerrero put Hamburg ahead after 19 minutes, seizing on a poor clearance by Cologne's defense. His second goal in the 66th came from a deflected shot.

Cologne, winless and last in the standings, pulled one back in the 76th when Adil Chihi unleashed a powerful shot from 25 meters (yards) less than two minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Cologne continued to press, but Hamburg secured the victory from a penalty earned by Ze Roberto following a challenge from by goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon.

"There was no contact," a furious Mondragon said after the game.

But Piotr Trochowski scored from the spot to complete the victory.

In Berlin, Oezil scored against the run of play in the 57th minute, only minutes after Werder goalkeeper Tim Wiese had blocked a shot by Gojko Kacar. Oezil used a fast counterattack to put his team ahead after a pass from Marin.

Tim Borowski doubled the lead in the 74th after another move by Marin had left the midfielder wide open to tap the ball in.

Three minutes later, Kacar broke through on the left and set up Lukasz Piszczek for Hertha's first goal. But Oezil beat Hertha's defense and passed to the unmarked Naldo, who drove the ball home to make it 3-1. Patrick Ebert scored in injury time for Hertha.

On Saturday, Arjen Robben scored two goals in his debut for Bayern Munich in a 3-0 victory over defending Bundesliga champion Wolfsburg. Mario Gomez also scored in Bayern's first league victory of the season.

Wolfsburg fell to its second straight defeat.

Also Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen rallied to beat Bochum 2-1, Hoffenheim won in Hannover 1-0 for its first victory of the season, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund played to a 1-1 draw and Stuttgart was held to a 0-0 draw at home by promoted FC Nuremberg.