Voronin helps send Hertha back on top

Andrey Voronin hit his fourth goal in four games to help put Hertha Berlin back on top of the Bundesliga as the leaders sealed a 2-1 win over bottom club Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.

The Ukrainian striker, on loan from Liverpool, hit a first-half goal, which show-cased his excellent finishing, before Hungary midfielder Pal Dardai put Hertha 2-0 up at half-time.

United States midfielder Michael Bradley converted a penalty for Moenchengladbach on 69 minutes after Hertha’s Germany defender Arne Friedrich brought down international team-mate Marko Marin in the area.

Berlin now have a one-point lead, but their stay at the top of the table could only last 24 hours as second-placed Hamburg face fifth-placed Wolfsburg on Sunday.

Third-placed Hoffenheim missed out on the chance to claim top spot when they were held 0-0 at Borussia Dortmund.

Both sides were reduced to ten men when Hoffenheim midfielder Tobias Weis retaliated after being brought down by Dortmund’s Sebastian Kehl.

Weis was shown a straight red while Kehl was shown his second yellow.

After both sides heroics in Europe in midweek, Bayern Munich on Sunday travel to face Werder Bremen, who are without goalkeeper Tim Wiese, while Bayern are missing striker Luca Toni and defender Daniel van Buyten.

Bayern stunned Sporting Lisbon 5-0 in the Champions League Round of 16 on Wednesday, while Werder Bremen knocked AC Milan out of the UEFA Cup the following day.

Defending champions Munich are now five points behind Hertha in fourth and badly need a win after three defeats in their last four games while Bremen are down in 11th.

Relegation candidates Bochum escaped the bottom three after a 3-2 win over fellow strugglers Energie Cottbus who drop into the danger zone.

Bochum’s Austrian defender Christian Fuchs equalised with a direct free-kick on 54 minutes before French defender Marc Pfertzel converted an 80th-minute penalty to give Bochum three much-needed points.

Struggling Schalke 04 allowed a late equaliser from Eintracht Frankfurt to threaten to share the points before Germany defender Heiko Westermann volleyed into an empty net in the 83rd minute.

The 2-1 win moves Schalke up to seventh in the league with Frankfurt now 13th.

Bayer Leverkusen were shocked by a 1-0 defeat at Hanover which leaves them sixth in the table while Hanover are 12th.

On Friday, Cologne drew 1-1 with Arminia Bielefeld while on Sunday Stuttgart are at Karlsruhe.