By George Burns Jan 28, 2007, 20:14 GMT
Hamburg - Werder Bremen regained top spot in the German Bundesliga from Schalke O4 with a comfortable 3-0 over Hanover 96 Sunday, while in the day's other match Bayer Leverkusen came from two goals down to secure a 3-2 win at Alemannia Aachen.
Indian school children perform sunflower show during India's 58th Republic Day celebrations in the Northern Indian city of Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir on Friday, January 26, 2007. EPA/JAIPAL SINGH
Goals from Tim Borowski, substitute Hugo Almeida and Per Mertesacker see Bremen move on to 39 points, level with Schalke but ahead on goal difference.
Free-scoring Bremen, who have now netted 50 goals in the Bundesliga this season, could even afford the luxury of a missed Miroslav Klose penalty in what turned out to be a facile win.
Schalke secure a hard-fought 3-1 win away to Eintracht Frankfurt Saturday thanks to a brace from Kevin Kuranyi while champions Bayern Munich crashed 3-2 Friday against Borussia Dortmund and are now six points adrift of the leaders.
Bremen got off to the perfect start when in the fifth minute Klose found Borowski fully free just four metres out and the German midfielder had no trouble converting.
Hanover failed to crumble immediately though and held on until the 67th minute, when Klose was once again the provider, this time finding the unmarked Almeida, who had only been on the pitch for seven minutes.
Klose missed a penalty he won three minutes later after being fouled by Dariusz Zuraw in the area but any concerns Bremen had of a possible Hanover comeback ended when former Hanover player Mertesacker made it 3-0 with 16 minutes remaining.
'We were too lethargic. Hanover put us under pressure time and again,' said a self-critical Mertesacker afterwards. 'We gave away too much.'
In the day's other game, Aachen will be kicking themselves for throwing away a two-goal lead against Leverkusen.
A Laurentiu Reghecampf penalty and a Vedad Ibisevic effort on the half-hour mark looked to have put the home side in the driving seat but a second-half goal from Andrey Voronin sandwiched between two from Bernd Schneider secured an unlikely win for the visitors.
In Saturday action, VfB Stuttgart lost valuable ground on the leaders, crashing 4-1 at Nuremberg in a game that saw Stuttgart finish the game with 10 men after Serdar Tasci see a straight red card for a tackle from behind on Horacio Pinola.
Stuttgart stay fourth on 32 points, two clear of Hertha Berlin, who close the gap in fifth thanks to a 2-1 win over VfL Wolfsburg.
SV Hamburg's relegation woes continued as Thomas Doll's side could only manage a 1-1 draw at Arminia Bielefeld while bottom club Mainz 05 moved level on 14 points with Hamburg after a 1-0 win at fellow strugglers VfL Bochum.
Energie Cottbus moved clear of the relegation zone on 20 points thanks to a 3-1 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach, who remain third- from-bottom on 15 points.
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