Bundesliga wrap: Top-three chance goes begging

Mainz 05 and Hannover missed ideal chances to jump into the top three on the Bundesliga table on Sunday.

Mainz’s trip to Cologne was not a pleasant one as the battling 13th-placed hosts inflicted a ninth defeat of the season upon Thomas Tuchel’s side with a 4-2 triumph at Rhein Energie Stadion.

Braces to Lukas Podolski and Milivoje Novakovic sealed the result and gave Cologne a third win from their last four league outings.

Hannover were held 1-1 by relegation-threatened Werder Bremen at Weserstadion.

Didier Ya Konan opened the scoring for the visitors in the 26th minute, only to see his effort cancelled out by Per Mertesacker’s 50th-minute equaliser.

The result sees Hannover sit fourth in the league standings, one point behind Bayern Munich who occupy a Champions League qualifying spot in third.

Bremen move out of the relegation zone and into 14th.