Grafite sparkles as Wolfsburg win again

Brazilian striker Grafite scored twice including a late winner as VfL Wolfsburg beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 on Saturday to maintain their three-point lead in the Bundesliga from fellow winners FC Bayern München.

Winning run
Wolfsburg grabbed the lead through Grafite, who converted the penalty he was awarded on 23 minutes, but Leverkusen levelled with a Toni Kroos shot early in the second half and looked set to end Wolfsburg's winning streak. However, Grafite slotted in against the run of play five minutes from time to take his tally to 22 and extend his team's winning run to ten games.

Toni goal
Champions Bayern, in second place with 54 points, edged past hosts DSC Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 thanks to a 64th-minute Luca Toni header to stay in the hunt with six matches remaining. VfB Stuttgart striker Mario Gómez scored a hat-trick against 1. FC Köln to give his team a 3-0 win that lifted them over Hertha BSC Berlin and Hamburger SV, who both play on Sunday, into third place with 51 points. Hamburg, also on 51 points, play Hannover 96 and Hertha, fifth on 49, host Werder Bremen.

Dortmund rise
Karlsruher SC remain adrift at the bottom of the table despite twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, while BV Borussia Dortmund kept alive their hopes of clinching a UEFA Europa League spot by winning 2-0 at VfL Bochum 1848 to rise to seventh. The biggest winners of the day, however, were Eintracht Frankfurt as they beat struggling VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-1.