Kiessling strike puts Leverkusen back on top

Germany striker Steffan Kiessling hit a first-half equaliser on Sunday which put Bayer Leverkusen back to the top of the Bundesliga and sealed a 1-1 draw at Bayern Munich.

The single point allows Leverkusen to regain top spot from temporary leaders Werder Bremen who had hammered Freiburg 6-0 on Saturday while Bayern are seventh in the table.

Kiessling made his first appearance for Germany for nine months in last Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with the Ivory Coast and he scored his third goal in his third league game to give his side the valuable point.

This was the first time in 13 games Bayern coach Louis van Gaal had kept the same starting line-up for consecutive games and it paid off when his forward pairing combined for Munich’s fastest league goal of the season.

In their previous league game a fortnight ago, Bayern striker Luca Toni stormed out of the stadium at half-time of the 1-1 draw with Schalke after being replaced and the Italian was left on the bench as punishment.

With Toni in the stands, van Gaal opted for Miroslav Klose, who had been quarantined after his twin sons contracted swine ‘flu ten days ago. He showed he is in top form by creating the chance which Gomez gratefully netted.

Having beaten the defence, Klose flicked the ball into the path of his Germany team-mate Gomez who stabbed his shot into the Leverkusen net on eight minutes.

But Leverkusen responded almost immediately when Kiessling latched onto a deep pass from Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal and smashed his shot past Munich goalkeeper Hans-Joerg Butt after 14 minutes.

Kiessling could have had a hat-trick by midway through the first-half as two close chances went begging while at the other end Bayern had their chances to score.

Ukraine midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk fired to the bottom left of the Bayern goal, but Leverkusen’s Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler pulled off a world-class save on 44 minutes.

There were few chances in the second-half as the game’s tempo dropped, but Gomez went agonisingly close in the dying stages with a back-heel flick, but Adler responded with another superb save.

On Saturday, Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida netted twice as Werder Bremen temporarily went top of the Bundesliga thanks to their 6-0 hammering of Freiburg.

Schalke 04 are third after their 2-0 win over grieving Hanover 96, who played their first game since their goalkeeper Robert Enke committed suicide 11 days ago.

Bottom side Hertha were denied their first win since the opening day of the season when they were held 1-1 at Stuttgart.

Hoffenheim are fourth after their 4-0 win over Cologne with star striker Vedad Ibisevic scoring his second goal in two games when he netted a 90th-minute penalty.

Defending champions Wolfsburg were beaten 3-2 at home by Nuremberg after Swiss striker Albert Bunjaku scored twice for the guests before midfielder Peer Kluge hit the winner in injury time.

Mid-table Eintracht Frankfurt were beaten 2-1 by Borussia Moenchengladbach while Dortmund and Mainz laboured to a goalless draw on Saturday night.