Bundesliga wrap

Hamburg has defeated Werder Bremen 2-1 at home to move up to fourth place, while Cologne took down Nuremberg 3-0 to propel them out of the relegation zone going into the league's four-week winter break.

Hamburg had to fight hard for the win after going a man down just after the half-hour mark when Jerome Boateng was shown a straight red for bringing down Bremen dynamo Marko Marin on a breakaway.

At that point Hamburg had already taken the lead when center back Joris Mathijsen, unmarked at the far post, latched onto a looping headed ball on nine minutes and struck with his own header.

Marcell Jansen was the goalscorer in the 36th minute when he beat the charging Bremen keeper Tim Wiese to the ball after being put through by a devastating pass from midfielder Eljero Elia.

An unlucky Bremen hit woodwork three times in the match, and did manage a consolation goal in second-half injury time. But the fight-back came too late, with the loss pushing the club back into sixth place heading into the winter break.

Cologne bounce back

Meanwhile at the Rhein Energie Stadion in Cologne, the home side finished 3-0 victors against fellow strugglers Nuremberg.

Geromel opened the scoring after 37 minutes, and Slovenia striker Milivoje Novakovic added two second-half goals to propel Cologne up to 12th place.

Bavarians Nuremberg finished the match with 10 men after Juri Judt was shown his second yellow in the 84th minute. The loss leaves Nuremberg languishing second from bottom.

Leverkusen on top, for now

Earlier in the round, Bayer Leverkusen's 3-2 home win over Borussia Moenchengladbach restored their place at the top of the Bundesliga table, and in doing so crowned the club the so-called “autumn champions.”

Bayern Munich stayed within two points of the top in third place, pummeling Hertha Berlin 5-2.

Borussia Dortmund are in fifth after beating SC Freiburg 1-0, while VfL Wolfsburg lost ground in a 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt.

Hannover 96 blew a two-goal lead over VfL Bochum eventually going down 2-3, and VfB Stuttgart took a 3-1 victory over Hoffenheim.

On Friday night, Schalke 04 locked in second place after overcoming Mainz 1-0 at home.

dfm/dpa/AFP
Editor: Wilhelmina Lyffyt