Bundesliga wrap: Leverkusen, Bayern make their move

Bayer Leverkusen eased to a comfortable 4-2 victory over Hamburg on Saturday to climb to second place on the Bundesliga table.

Leverkusen were fourth at the beginning of Saturday’s fixtures, but with Hannover and Mainz not scheduled to play until Sunday, Josef Heynckes’ side had the ideal opportunity to move up the table and they did so with relative ease.

Sidney Sam sent the visitors ahead at the Imtech Arena, but Leverkusen undid their hard work when midfielder Arturo Vidal took the last touch into his own net to equalise for Hamburg.

Vidal made up for it, however, when he scored for Leverkusen just 14 minutes later, giving them a lead they did not relinquish.

Brazilian midfielder Renato Augusto then hit a 12-minute brace to seal the three points, before striker Eljero Elia scored a consolation goal for the hosts.

Elsewhere, Bayern Munich climbed into the top six of the Bundesliga with a 3-0 thrashing of St Pauli.

Midfielder Hamit Altintop put the hosts in front after 17 minutes at the Allianz Arena before St Pauli’s hopes of an equaliser took a jolt when goalkeeper Thomas Kessler saw red for his foul on Thomas Muller.

Philip Lahm converted the penalty kick, before Franck Ribery added a third in the 79th minute to help Bayern climb to fifth place.

Hoffenheim lost their spot in the top six on Saturday, denied the three points by a late Nurnberg goal in their 1-1 draw at the Rhein Neckar Arena.

Defender Marvin Compper put the hosts in front shortly after the break, assisted by Sejad Salihovic, and it looked to have been the match-winner until substitute Christian Eigler struck in the 87th minute.

Cologne’s Christian Clements struck the only goal in their 1-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, giving the hosts at Rhein Energie Stadion valuable points in their relegation battle.

And Kaiserslautern and Wolfsburg played out a scoreless draw at the Fritz Walter Stadion.