Germany: Leverkusen ties Hamburger, still leads

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October 17, 2009

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen remained top of the Bundesliga after a lackluster scoreless draw Saturday at second-place Hamburg. The showdown between the league’s best defense of Leverkusen and its best attack of Hamburg — the only two remaining undefeated teams — was a tactical stalemate between Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes and his counterpart, Bruno Labbadia. “It was a very high quality game,” Leverkusen goalkeeper Rene Adler said. “Tactics are part of a game between the top two teams. We didn’t have to play forward, being the away team. So we did everything we wanted to today, but the main thing was to keep a clean sheet to have a chance to win.” The result left both teams on 21 points from nine matches, with Leverkusen one goal ahead of Hamburg. The hosts had more chances but Leverkusen pushed forward late and Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost made several saves. “I thought this could happen today as many of the players were tired from their national team games,” Heynckes said. “But we wanted to stay focused on our defensive organization.” Bayern Munich struggled before winning 2-1 at Freiburg in the Bundesliga to snap a three-game winless streak. Bayern’s Thomas Mueller scored in the 42nd minute, and an own-goal by South Korea international Cha Du-ri gave Louis van Gaal’s team a two-goal lead. Stefan Reisinger pulled a goal back for Freiburg two minutes into injury time. “We have been missing a bit of the luck in the last couple games but now things are looking up,” said Mueller, who scored from the rebound of a shot by Italy forward Luca Toni. Freiburg coach Robin Dutt was unimpressed with Bayern, which had not even scored a goal in its previous three games, played in the Bundesliga and Champions League. “We gave them two goals. If we don’t give them away and then get our late goal then we win,” he said. Van Gaal was happy with his team’s performance. “We were very dominant throughout the game, especially in the second half,” Van Gaal said. “Though we did not play well in the final minutes.” The victory was all the more important for Bayern as some of its title contenders also won: fourth-place Werder Bremen beat No. 5 Hoffenheim 2-0 at home and No. 3 Schalke won 2-1 at Stuttgart. Schalke is third with 19 points, followed by Bremen with 18 points. Bayern is fifth with 15 points. “Of course it’s good. I hadn’t scored for a while, so it’s good. And also for our team to stay among the leaders,” said Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi, who scored his first Bundesliga goal since the opening weekend to beat his former team Stuttgart. Stuttgart stayed on eight points, just one from 17th place, and coach Horst Heldt spoke of fighting relegation. “We are definitely moving in the wrong direction in the Bundesliga,” Heldt said. “And we have to watch out that we’re not concentrating too much on the Champions League.” Cologne earned its first victory at home this season, beating Mainz 1-0, while Eintracht Frankfurt held off Hannover 2-1. Nuremberg extended Hertha Berlin’s nightmare start to the season as Albert Bunjaku scored twice in a 3-0 win. Berlin is last in the league following its eighth straight loss. Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.