Germany: Leverkusen still unbeaten after 8 games

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October 3, 2009

FRANKFURT (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen thrashed Nuremberg 4-0 to go top of the Bundesliga on Saturday, while Bayern Munich was booed off the field after a 0-0 draw with lowly Cologne. Leverkusen, still undefeated after eight games, now has 20 points. Hamburger SV can pull even if it wins Sunday at bottom-placed Hertha Berlin. Schalke, which beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 on Friday, is now third with 16 points after Hoffenheim’s 2-1 loss at Mainz. In other games, defending champion Wolfsburg rallied for a 1-1 draw at 10-man Bochum and Hannover thrashed Freiburg 5-2. Lukas Podolski was welcomed warmly by fans in his first trip to Munich since he left Bayern to return to Cologne in the offseason. But Bayern fans were given little to cheer about by their team, which is now eight points off the lead. Cologne, just two places off the bottom, came to defend and stuck to its game plan for the entire game. “We have to fight for every point because we need them desperately and this point was very important for us,” Podolski said. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose both hit the frame of the goal in the first half and Bayern dominated even more in the second half but without creating many clear chances. Its best came at the end, when Andreas Ottl narrowly missed the target with a long-range effort and then Ivica Olic sent his volley high in injury time. Bayern has now failed to score in three straight games for the first time in nine years. It lost at Hamburg 1-0 last week and drew 0-0 with Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday. Franck Ribery, who injured his knee against Juventus, started the game against expectations but was substituted at halftime. Striker Mario Gomez again came off the bench but never really got into the game. Many fans started leaving the stadium before the end of the match and there were loud boos at the final whistle. Bayern’s mood may improve when the players make their traditional pilgrimage to the Oktoberfest this weekend, but the chances of winning the championship in coach Louis van Gaal’s first season are beginning to look remote. “It’s difficult to play against a wall, when a Bundesliga team only defends, it’s hard to get through,” van Gaal said. “We didn’t have luck to score in the first half and we hardly created any chances in the second. In Leverkusen, the home side opened the scoring against Nuremberg after just three minutes from a free-kick by former Bayern midfielder Toni Kroos. Simon Rolfes and Eren Derdiyok also scored in the first half before Stefan Kiessling completed the rout with his league-high sixth goal of the season. In Bochum, Vahid Hashemian lived up to his nickname “the helicopter” to rise high and put the home side ahead with a powerful header but Bochum then lost Japan midfielder Shinji Ono, who was sent off after 63 minutes in his first start of the season. Edin Dzeko equalized for Wolfsburg with another header and the Bundesliga champion came close to taking all three points when Obafemi Martins’ shot struck the inside of the post, hit the other one, and then bounced out. Andreas Ivanschitz struck a spectacular left-foot volley and Aristide Bance scored with a header to put promoted Mainz two goals up within 11 minutes against Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim stepped up the pressure in the second half but missed several chances before getting a late consolation goal from Andreas Ibertsberger. Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.