Newz Forum: SOCCER: German Bundesliga results 02/04/05

The top of the Bundesliga has a familiar feel to it on Saturday with Bayern Munich and Schalke continuing to give nothing away in the race for the title.

Bayern stay ahead in the standings thanks to a 3-0 result at former table-toppers Wolfsburg in what was only their sixth away win of the season. However, it was a win to be proud of at the VW-Arena with Bastian Schweinsteiger's 29th minute strike giving Felix Magath's side the lead. A Kevin Hofland own goal shortly before the interval gave the visitors an even greater cushion before Torsten Frings wrapped up the win after 55 minutes to keep Bayern at the top by virtue of a better goal difference.

They continue to feel the heat from Schalke however after the Gelsenkirchen club sealed a convincing victory over strugglers Nurnberg. An early injury to Ebbe Sand saw Mike Hanke brought on as a fourth minute substitute for Schalke, and the switch paid dividends as the striker put his side two goals ahead after 36 minutes. Ailton then got in on the act with a third for Schalke four minutes later and, although Samuel Slovak reduced the deficit for the visitors, a strike from Lincoln 16 minutes before time gave all three points to the hosts.

Meanwhile, Stuttgart consolidated third place in the table with a 2-1 win at fellow-Champions League chasing Werder Bremen. With just one point separating the two sides at the start of the day, Stuttgart put the pressure on their opponents with Silvio Meissner's goal three minutes into the second half. Defending champions Werder struck back within minutes through Ivan Klasnic but a second yellow card for Valerien Ismael six minutes from time signalled the end of his, and Bremen's chances, of success. Just two minutes later Christian Tiffert fired what proved to be the winner for Stuttgart to give them a four-point advantage over their rivals.

Hamburg's hopes of earning a UEFA Cup spot suffered a slight setback after they were held to a 1-1 draw at foot-of-the-table Freiburg. Dennis Kruppke gave the hosts a 19th minute lead with Almani Moreira securing a point for Hamburg to move them up to sixth place, level on points with Hertha Berlin who occupy the final UEFA Cup berth. Freiburg, who also finished the match with 10 men after Sergej Barbarez's late dismissal, look certain for the drop however with the club 11 points adrift of safety.

Elsewhere, Hansa Rostock boosted their hopes of survival with a 2-0 win over Mainz. Goals in either half from Thomas Rasmussen and Michael Hartmann handed Hansa the spoils to move them above Bochum in the bottom three.

Radomir Djalovic scored his first Bundesliga goal as Arminia Bielefeld edged closer to the 40-point barrier with a 1-0 win over UEFA Cup hopefuls Bayer Leverkusen. The defeat sees Klaus Augenthaler's Leverkusen side slip down to seventh in the standings but just one point off the top-five.

And Hannover took the honours in their mid-table battle at Kaiserslautern with Jiri Kaufman's second-half double sealing the points.

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