Newz Forum: SOCCER: German Bundesliga results 19/02/05

League leaders Bayern Munich inflicted more misery on Borussia Dortmund by hitting the financially-stricken German giants for five on a high-scoring day in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund, Bundesliga winners in 2002 and European champions as recently as 1997, admitted this week that their very existence was hanging in the balance because of their debts and Saturday's result, a 5-0 defeat, will hardly have eased concerns. Dutch striker Roy Makaay led the siege with a hat-trick while Hasan Salihamidzic and Claudio Pizarro were also on the scoresheet for Bayern, who were 4-0 up after just 34 minutes as Dortmund crumbled.


Bayern are now three points clear at the top of the table, although they have played one game more than second-placed Schalke, who travel to Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.


Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen were also amongst the goals as they kept up their respective title challenges at the top of the table.


Third-placed Werder saw off Hannover 4-1 thanks to goals from Ludovic Magnin, Tim Borowski, Fabian Ernst and substitute Mohamed Zidan while Leverkusen moved up to fourth with 4-2 victory at Nurnberg. Dimitar Berbatov struck a brace for Leverkusen with further goals coming from Carsten Ramelow and Jacek Krzynowek. Marek Mintal had twice equalised for Nurnberg but they were unable to get anything out of the game and remain in trouble near the foot of the table.


Hamburg climbed up to fifth after beating Kaiserslautern 2-1 in a clash of two in-form sides at the AOL-Arena. Under the guidance of coach Thomas Doll, who took over the reins in October, Hamburg had picked up 28 points from 13 games going into this match, while Kaiserslautern had won 24 of a possible 33 points. But it was hosts Hamburg who stole the honours on the day with first-half goals from Naohiro Takahara and Moreira too much for Kaiserslautern, whose solitary reply came from Halil Altintop at the start of the second period.


Hamburg are now a point clear of sixth-placed Hertha Berlin, who can reclaim their spot in the top four with victory over fellow high-flyers Stuttgart on Sunday.


In the two other Bundesliga games played on Saturday, Mainz were held to a goalless draw at home by Arminia Bielefeld and Bochum beat 10-man Freiburg 3-1 to boost their hopes of escaping relegation. Bochum, whose goals came from Raymond Kalla, Tommy Bachmann and a Zvjezdan Misimovic penalty, are now three points above second-bottom Freiburg and four points adrift of Mainz and safety. Freiburg's goal came in the 88th minute through substitute Dennis Aogo but they were always up against it after losing goalkeeper Richard Golz to a red card 20 minutes from time following a professional foul.

Results source: Sportinglife.com