Wolfsburg leave it late to take sole charge

VfL Wolfsburg are the outright leaders of the Bundesliga after leaving it late to defeat struggling VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 on Saturday, although FC Bayern München remain three points behind following a 4-0 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Winning run
Felix Magath's team seemed set for just a point after Dante (79) cancelled out Edin Džeko's 16th league goal of the season on 20 minutes. With six minutes remaining, however, Sascha Riether struck to bring up nine successive Bundesliga wins for Wolfsburg, who would be rejoined at the summit by Hamburger SV on Sunday if the UEFA Cup contenders triumph at VfB Stuttgart.

Early goal
Bayern moved above HSV on goal difference after banishing their midweek UEFA Champions League thumping at FC Barcelona with an equally emphatic victory at the Fußball Arena München. Franck Ribéry's third-minute goal gave the champions the perfect start before Luca Toni (17), Lucio (36) and Bastian Schweinsteiger (48) completed the scoring.

Hertha lose again
Hertha BSC Berlin lost further ground in the title hunt with their third defeat in a row when they were stung 2-0 by hosts Hanover 96 to drop to fourth. The dismissal of striker Andriy Voronin a minute from time compounded Hertha's misery. The win gave Hannover a six-point cushion over Mönchengladbach, occupants of the final relegation place. Meanwhile, Stanislav Sesták scored a hat-trick as VfL Bochum 1848 won 3-0 at nine-man TSG 1899 Hoffenheim – without a win since late January – while FC Schalke 04, one place below, beat bottom side Karlsruher SC 2-0.

Energie boost
Elsewhere, BV Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a 3-1 home defeat of 1. FC Köln and second-bottom FC Energie Cottbus boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation by overcoming fellow strugglers DSC Arminia Bielefeld 2-1. Sunday's other game pits Bayer 04 Leverkusen against UEFA Cup quarter-finalists Werder Bremen.