Kuranyi proves his worth to fire Schalke second

Ex-Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi proved his worth by sealing Schalke 04’s 1-0 win over Nuremberg on Sunday, to put the Royal Blues second in the Bundesliga, despite nearly being sold over the winter break.

The 27-year-old, who notoriously walked out on the Germany team in October 2008, struck in the 48th minute with his ninth league goal of the season to put Schalke second, a point behind leaders Leverkusen.

Before the game, Schalke coach Felix Magath admitted he had wanted to sell the striker to English side Sunderland earlier this month for a reported four million euros to ease the club’s debts, but the player had scuppered the deal.

“We reached an agreement with a club, but Kevin decided he wanted to stay and achieve something with Schalke this season,” said Magath.

Last December, Kuranyi became one of a select few players to have scored 100 goals in the Bundesliga and is out of contract in June.

On Saturday, VfB Stuttgart kept their unbeaten record under coach Christian Gross with a 3-1 victory over champions VfL Wolfsburg to seal their first Bundesliga win since September.

Former Tottenham boss Gross took over after Markus Babbel was sacked last December and having put his side in the Champions League’s last 16, Gross recorded his first Bundesliga win and it came against the defending champions.

This was Stuttgart’s first win in 11 games with goals by Robert Hilbert, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Timo Gebhart with a consolation from Edin Dzeko.

The win leaves Stuttgart 12th in the league while Wolfsburg are now ninth and will buoy Gross’s side with Stuttgart set to face defending European champions Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League next month.

Earlier, Bayer Leverkusen came from behind to beat mid-table Mainz 4-2 and reclaim top spot after Bayern Munich had temporarily taken charge.

Bayern’s 2-0 win over Hoffenheim on Friday night had briefly given them a one-point advantage, but Leverkusen regained pole position.

Bottom side Hertha Berlin got their 2010 off to a great start as they enjoyed a 3-0 win at Hanover in what was only their second win since the opening day of the season.

Polish midfielder Lukasz Piszczek netted in the 30th minute to get the capital club on the way before Brazil’s Raffael made it 2-0 after 33 minutes and Greek striker Theofanis Gekas hit the third with 10 minutes remaining.

Berlin are still three points from nearest rivals Nuremberg and eight points from escaping the bottom three, but the win will have boosted their confidence.

Hamburg are now fourth after their 2-0 win at home to Freiburg as Germany midfielder Marcell Jansen and Croatia striker Mladen Petric scored either side of half-time.

Werder Bremen are sixth after their 1-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt – their fourth straight league defeat.