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Hamburg end nine-year wait to top Bundesliga
AP
Monday 15 September 2008
HSV Hamburg rallied from a two-goal
deficit and beat 10-man Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 on Saturday
to seize the lead in the Bundesliga for the first time
in nine years.
Fellow goalscorer Paolo Guerrero
congratulates Hamburg's match-winner Mladen Petric during
the 3-2 victory.
Martin Jol's Hamburg opened a two-point lead over
a group of three teams, including defending champions
Bayern Munich, who won 3-0 at promoted Cologne with
two goals from Luca Toni.
Schalke wasted a 3-0 lead at Borussia Dortmund and
had to settle for a 3-3 draw after having two men sent
off.
Hamburg have 10 points after four rounds, with Bayern,
Schalke and Dortmund all on eight.
Last season's runners-up Werder Bremen picked up a
first victory by routing last-placed Energie Cottbus
3-0.
In other games, Hertha Berlin drew 2-2 at home to Wolfsburg
and promoted Hoffenheim drew 0-0 with Stuttgart.
Hamburg overcame a two-goal deficit for the second
time this season, with Croatia striker Mladen Petric
securing the victory in the 72nd minute.
Tranquillo Barnetta and Patrick Helmes scored early
goals for Leverkusen, who lost defender Manuel Friedrich
to a red card in the 41st minute.
Paolo Guerrero in the 37th minute and Petric's compatriot
frontman Ivica Olic in the 51st got Hamburg back into
the match.
Bayern won a second straight time
by rolling over Cologne as Italy striker Toni scored
in the 53rd and 60th minutes and Germany forward Lukas
Podolski completed the victory in added time.
Podolski came on for the ineffective Miroslav Klose
-- a hat-trick hero for Germany against Finland on Wednesday
-- shortly before Bayern's second goal and scored against
his old club.
Unhappy with not becoming a starter at Bayern even
under new coach Juergen Klinsmann, Podolski has been
linked with a possible return to Cologne, although Bayern
officials have told him to stop "whining"
and work harder.
Before 80,552 fans at Dortmund,
Fred Rutten's Schalke 04 got off to a roaring start
in a match between two bitter rivals and neighbors.
Former PSV player Jefferson Farfan,
making his Bundesliga debut after overcoming a shoulder
injury, converted a penalty and Rafinha and Heiko Westermann
added goals to put Schalke 3-0 up before an hour was
over.
Defender Neven Subotic began Dortmund's rally and Alexander
Frei, the Switzerland striker who was playing his first
match after a knee injury at the European Championship
in June, scored twice to salvage the draw. His second
came from a penalty in the 89th minute.
Schalke's Fabian Ernst and Christian Pander were sent
off inside four minutes, between the 73rd and 77th.
In Berlin, Wolfsburg went ahead in the first minute
through Ricardo Costa, before Hertha replied with goals
from Gojko Kacar and Cicero. But Sascha Riether clinched
the equalizer for Wolfsburg one minute from time, after
Hertha striker Marko Pantelic missed a penalty.
Diego, Torsten Frings and Boubacar Sanogo scored for
Bremen against struggling Cottbus, still without a win.
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