Bundesliga action
February 20, 2010
Bayern Munich dropped two points away from home against Nuremberg on Saturday, leaving the door open for Bayer Leverkusen to take a two-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga in their Sunday match.
Thomas Mueller, replacing French international Franck Ribery, gave the German giants the lead after 38 minutes, slotting home a cross from striker Mario Gomez into the top right corner.
But Bavarian rivals Nuremberg drew even on 54 minutes when striker Ilkay Guendogan took advantage of confusion in Bayern's defense to tap the ball home from short range.
Bayern now sit atop the league ladder by one point, and will be hoping Leverkusen slip up away to Werder Bremen, who will be looking for three points to push them back up into a European qualifying position. The draw leaves Nuremberg second from bottom on 17 points.
Brazilian flair
In Cologne, meanwhile, Stuttgart ran riot 1-5 against a home team that had no answers to striker Cacau. The Brazilian scored three goals in the first half and a fourth in the second.
Christopher Schorch pulled one back for Cologne just before the break, but striker Pavel Pogrebnyak cancelled that effort out on 70 minutes. The result pushed Cologne into 14th place, two positions shy of the relegation zone. Stuttgart moved up to ninth.
The story was a similar one in Dortmund, where the home team steamrolled Hannover 4-1. Neven Subotic netted late in the first half to give Dortmund the lead going into the break.
Hannover were still in it until, on the 60-minute mark, Mario Eggimann put the ball into his own net, gifting Dortmund a 2-0 lead. Nelson Valdez added a third seven minutes later.
Arouna Kone pulled one back for Hannover in the 81st minute, but Kevin Grosskreutz added to Dortmund's lead two minutes before the whistle. The win moves Dortmund into fifth place and keeps them on track for a position in the next Europe League season, while Hannover stay mired in relegation danger in 16th place.
In the day's other two clashes, Hamburg and Frankfurt, and Mainz and Bochum both played out nil-nil draws. The result means Hamburg stays in fourth place, Frankfurt moves up to sixth, Mainz remains in eighth and Bochum shift up to 12th.
In Friday night's lone fixture, Hoffenheim were awarded an 89th-minute penalty to draw level with Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-2. On Sunday, Freiburg host cellar dwellers Hertha Berlin, Schalke travel to Wolfsburg, and Bayer Leverkusen visit Bremen.
dfm/AFP/dpa
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar