Hamburg stay top of the Bundesliga

Freiburg secured their third win in four German league games on Sunday when they routed Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 while Hamburg stay top of the table after beating Bayern Munich.

All three goals came in the second-half and the win lifts Freiburg up to tenth in the Bundesliga leaving Borussia in 12th before bottom side Hertha Berlin travel to play Hoffenheim on Sunday evening.

Freiburg striker Mohamadou Idrissou netted with a second-half header which gave his side the lead before midfielder Yesane Abdessadki drilled home an unstoppable shot on 72 minutes which took a deflection into the net.

And second-half substitute Julian Schuster made certain of the three pointe when he scored in the games with ten minutes remaining.

On Saturday, Mladen Petric scored 18 minutes from time to earn a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich to end the German giants’ five-match winning streak.

Bayern had French international star Franck Ribery available from the outset for the first time this season following injury but he was unable to prevent the Bavarians from slipping to their second league loss.

Munich are now sixth in the league and trail their northern rivals by six points.

Hamburg have 17 points from their seven games and lead Jupp Heynckes’ Bayer Leverkusen on goal difference after the latter bagged a 1-0 win at Cologne thanks to a late effort from Simon Rolfes.

Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia saluted his side for making amends after a German Cup loss on penalties in midweek at third division Osnabrueck.

“They know they slipped up in the Cup and this was a great riposte,” said Labbadia as Hamburg ended a three-game winless run.

Bayern, who face Juventus in Europe on Wednesday, had been seeking to go top for the first time in some 500 days with a win in Hamburg, coupled with a hoped-for loss for Leverkusen but instead the four-times European champions stand just sixth. Table

Germany international forward Mario Gomez had hoped to make the difference for the visitors from the south after coming on as sub after the break.

Instead it was he who allowed former Bayern veteran Ze Roberto to go down the wing and find Petric ghosting in ahead of defender Philipp Lahm, caught napping in the Bayern box.

Minutes earlier, Petric had come close to deflecting an Arjen Robben free-kick into his own net but the ball bobbled just off target.

With three minutes remaining Lahm tried to make amends but fired wide after Ribery fed him as Hamburg held on.

Earlier, reigning champions Wolfsburg showed their star has not faded with a 4-2 win over Hanover to leap back into contention on 12 points, level with Werder Bremen, 3-0 winners over Mainz, and one clear of Bayern.

The surprise champions have blown hot and cold this campaign, suffering three defeats for as many wins, and had slid down into midtable ahead of next week’s Champions League confrontation with Manchester United.

Schalke stand third on 13 points after Peruvian forward Jefferson netted the only goal away to local rivals and former European champions Dortmund, the South American firing home a left-foot strike following good work by Halil Altintop before an 80,000 crowd.

Elsewhere, Stuttgart ended a four-match winless run with a 3-0 triumph at Eintracht Frankfurt.