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November 23, 2009

Germany striker Steffan Kiessling scored to reclaim the Bundesliga's top spot for Bayer Leverkusen, but still said he was disappointed. Further north, there was a shock defeat for Hamburg.

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Striker Stefan Kiessling, with his hand pointing in air, celebrates his goal with Leverkusen teammate Toni Kroos on the right and fans in the background
Leverkusen's Kiessling, left, gestures after scoring his goalImage: AP

Leading Bundesliga scorer Stefan Kiessling propelled Bayer Leverkusen back to the top spot on Sunday, securing a draw against Bayern Munich.

The point meant that Leverkusen could reclaim league leadership from Werder Bremen, who had demolished Freiburg 6-0 on Sunday.

Leverkusen had gone behind when a defensive slip-up allowed Gomez to fire home for Bayern after just eight minutes. But celebrations among most of the 69,000 fans did not last for long.

Kiessling chased down a long ball from Arturo Vidal to beat defender Daniel van Buyten and put the ball past goalkeeper Hans-Joerg Butt. The Germany striker was a threat throughout the match, exposing problems with Bayern's central defense.

Stefan Kiessling with his foot in the air after firing a shot at goal, surrounded by other players in the goalmouth
Kiessling steers his equalizer into the net to win a valuable pointImage: picture-alliance/ dpa

Focus was on defending

Despite this, he failed to capitalize further and expressed disappointment that Leverkusen could not win to open up a two-point lead.

"If we had had more confidence in ourselves, we could have played to win," said Kiessling. "In the second half, we were too focused on defending and we didn't produce as much up front as we had done in the first-half."

The strike took Kiessling's tally for the season to nine. Leverkusen now have 27 points from 13 matches and are one point ahead of Bremen.

Bayern's lack of confidence

Bayern have drawn their last three league games and are in seventh place with coach Louis van Gaal under mounting pressure as the winter break draws nearer.

Guy Demel, right, for Hamburg and Bochum player Marc Pfertzel challenge for the ball in the air with their legs
Hamburg's Guy Demel, right, and Bochum's Marc Pfertzel vye for the ballImage: AP

"We played without any confidence in the first half," said the Dutchman, whose side also face the possibility of elimination from the Champions League this week.

There was disappointment for Hamburg, who had been hoping to join Leverkusen at the top of the table. The fifth place club went down in a shock 1-0 home defeat to second-from-bottom VfL Bochum.

Midfielder Dennis Grote hit the winner after 77 minutes at the HSH Nordbank Arena.

rc/AFP/Reuters

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