Dortmund respond to Leverkusen victory
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Article summary
Borussia Dortmund restored their 11-point lead at the Bundesliga summit with a 2-0 victory against SV Werder Bremen after Bayer 04 Leverkusen had cut the gap with a win of their own.
Article top media content
Article body
Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund remain undefeated in the league since the opening day after beating SV Werder Bremen 2-0 to restore their 11-point cushion, which had been cut by Bayer 04 Leverkusen earlier in the day.
Dortmund took just nine minutes to find their stride against Bremen, Nuri Şahin firing in direct from a free-kick. They were forced to wait until 20 minutes from time to make the game safe, though, Shinji Kagawa finding the net from close range.
Leverkusen, meanwhile, moved up to second with a 4-2 win at Hamburger SV. Arturo Vidal set up Sidney Sam to open the scoring on the half-hour, before the Chile midfielder put through his own net (48). Vidal soon made amends, however, heading in (61) before Renato Augusto (66) and a Frank Rost own goal (78) rendered Eljero Elia's 79th-minute reply for the hosts academic.
FC Bayern München returned to winning ways with a 3-0 success against FC St Pauli, Hamit Altıntop giving Louis van Gaal's men the lead (16) before Philipp Lahm's penalty (72) and Franck Ribéry (79) capitalised on Thomas Kessler's dismissal (68). The UEFA Champions League hopefuls move up to fifth place, two points ahead of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, who were held to their third successive league draw when 1. FC Nürnberg substitute Christian Eigler (87) cancelled out Marvin Compper's header (55).
VfL Wolfsburg are the Bundesliga's draw specialists, however, their 0-0 stalemate with 1. FC Kaiserslautern taking their sequence of ties to five. Elsewhere, 1. FC Köln leapfrogged VfB Stuttgart into 16th place with a 1-0 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt, while Hannover 96 are now third, a point behind Leverkusen, following Friday night's 2-1 win against struggling Stuttgart.