Van Nistelrooy at the double for Hamburg

Former Real Madrid and Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was in double form on only his second run out since joining Hamburg on Saturday.

The Dutch forward scored in the 75th and 77 minutes to add to Marcus Berg’s first half opener to lift Hamburg to a 3-1 win over Vfb Stuttgart to maintain their hold on fourth place.

Van Nistelrooy left Real Madrid on a free transfer in the January transfer window and has made an instant impression for his new team despite being well short of full fitness after spending much of the season in Spain on the bench.

Elsewhere Bayer Leverkusen held on to the Bundesliga lead with a 2-1 win over Vfl Wolfsburg ahead of Bayern Munich’s late kick-off.

Bayern, three points adrift, can claim the summit on goal difference if they notch up their ninth straight league win with a handsome defeat of Borussia Dortmund.

Louis van Gaal’s men go into the match on a high after brushing aside second division Furth 6-2 in the German Cup in midweek and with France international Franck Ribery fit to play after a four-month league lay off with injury.

Leverkusen, who have topped the table since October, kept up the pressure on the Bavarian giants after defeating the reigning German champions at home which put them on 48 points.

Stefan Reinartz gave them a 48th minute lead with an own-goal from Andre Lenz increasing their advantage on 67 minutes when the Wolfsburg keeper knocked the ball over his own line after a rebound from Eren Derdiyok’s header hit his leg.

Bosnia striker Edin Drezko gave Wolfsburg reason to hope 11 minutes from time but Leverkusen held on.

This was Wolfsburg’s ninth match without a win to leave them in a lowly 13th place.

Bottom club Hertha Berlin grabbed a point against mid-table Mainz 05 but remain four points off the second from bottom side Nuremberg who lost 2-1 to Monchengladbach on Friday.

On Sunday third-placed Schalke 04 are out to maintain their dominant position at home to Cologne.