Bundesliga wrap: Podolski brace earns points

Two goals by Lukas Podolski earned Cologne their second home win of the season beating Hannover 2-0 on Sunday.

Podolksi opened his account in the 24th minute when he scored from a free kick with a left-foot shot.

The Polish-born striker scored his second four minutes from time with another left-foot drive from a corner.

The victory moved Cologne to 10th place on the Bundesliga table while Hannover’s second loss of the season kept them in seventh, trailing runaway leaders Bayern Munich by seven points.

Hamburg recorded a crucial away win over Freiburg to move to joint 16th position in the Bundesliga table.

The guests started the match the better side of the two and needed only 12 minutes to break the deadlock. The Freiburg defence allowed Heung-Min Son too much space and the South Korean gifted HSV the lead with his third league goal of the season.

Freiburg then took over the initiative a bit and the inevitable Papiss Cisse restored parity shortly after the break with a good finish.

Nevertheless, Hamburg would take all three points home courtesy of substitute Ivo Ilicevic. The Croatian came off the bench in the 66th minute and found the net only seven minutes later after being set up by Gokhan Tore.

Cisse should have made it 2-2 in the closing stages of the game, but the prolific attacker failed to convert a spot kick in the 81st minute.