BUNDESLIGA: Title chasers fail to gain ground

BERLIN: Club World Cup winners Bayern Munich stayed seven points clear at the top of the Bundesliga on Saturday after title rivals Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund lost their final matches before the winter break.

Leverkusen, in second spot with 37 points from 17 games, went down to a 74th-minute goal on the break from Santiago Garcia as Werder Bremen won in the league for the first time since November.

It was an even worse day for third-placed Borussia Dortmund who slumped to their third straight home defeat as promoted Hertha Berlin came from behind to win 2-1.

Bayern, who beat Raja Casablanca in the Club World Cup final in Morocco on Saturday, will play their game in hand in January as the Bundesliga takes a five-week break.

Visiting Leverkusen, through to the last 16 in the Champions League, controlled possession against Werder but lacked offensive spark as they slid to their second consecutive defeat.

Werder’s win lifted them to 11th and offered coach Robin Dutt some breathing space after a string of bad results.

Hertha looked to be in for a tough afternoon when 18-year-old keeper Marius Gersbeck, replacing the injured Thomas Kraft, completely misjudged his charge out of goal and allowed Marco Reus to score after seven minutes.

Injury-hit Dortmund were then sent reeling as goals from Adrian Ramos and Sami Allagui, after mistakes from home debutant Marian Sarr and fellow youngster Erik Durm, turned the game for the visitors.

Dortmund remained on 32 points, level with Borussia Moenchengladbach who hosted VfL Wolfsburg late yesterday.

Hertha climbed to sixth while Champions League combatants Schalke 04 dropped to seventh after ending the year with a goalless draw in Nuremberg.

The stalemate means second from bottom Nuremberg, who have drawn 11 of their 17 matches, are the only team in 50 years of the Bundesliga to complete the first half of a season without a victory.

Swiss Admir Mehmedi struck twice in the first half to help third from bottom Freiburg to a 2-1 win over Hanover 96, their third league victory of the campaign.

Shinji Okazaki grabbed a double for Mainz 05, including a stoppage-time winner, as they triumphed 3-2 at Hamburg SV.

Rafael van der Vaart scored one of the goals for Hamburg who had Tomas Rincon sent off eight minutes from time.

Bottom club Eintracht Braunschweig picked up their third win of the season, a 1-0 victory over Hoffenheim. Reuters

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