Newz Forum: SOCCER: German Bundesliga weekend results 13/03/06

The title race is back on in Germany after a 3-0 victory for Hamburg over struggling Kaiserslautern. Bayern Munich were seemingly cruising towards another championship when they managed only a draw on Saturday at Wolfsburg to add to their recent dip in form. That has allowed Hamburg to close to within six points with nine games remaining in the Bundesliga. Half-time substitute Benjamin Lauth put the hosts on their way with a 55th minute header and after a Fabian Schonheim own goal, Rafael van der Vaart made sure of the points with a penalty kick four minutes from the end.

Schalke revived their title hopes with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. The hosts continued their impressive run of form under caretaker coach Mirko Slomka after second-half goals from Danish strike pair Soren Larsen and Ebbe Sand. That saw Schalke record their fourth straight Bundesliga win and avenge a 6-0 drubbing by Frankfurt earlier this season in the DFB-Pokal.

Bayern Munich will be eager to see the start of a new week after a disappointing seven-day spell ended with a goalless draw at Wolfsburg on Saturday. Felix Magath's men have lost their way recently with a 2-1 Bundesliga loss against Hamburg last weekend - the first of the season at their Allianz Arena - followed by Champions League heartache at the hands of AC Milan in midweek. The Italians knocked the German giants out of the competition with a 4-1 mauling at the San Siro.

It means Bayern will have to be content with domestic honours again and that is looking like a formality because nearest challengers Werder Bremen lost ground in a 3-0 home defeat to Hertha Berlin and are now nine points adrift of the pace-setters. They, too, will be glad to see a new week. At Juventus in the Champions League, Bremen were just minutes away from advancing to the quarter-finals but Tim Wiese fumbled a cross which allowed Juve to score the winner. Kevin Boateng, Marcelinho and Yildiray Basturk each had second-half goals for Hertha, who are sixth in the standings. Hamburg can pull to within six points of Bayern on Sunday if they beat Kaiserslautern.

Stuttgart are still in fifth place after a scoreless draw with Borussia Dortmund, who are now seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Borussia Monchengladbach are pushing for a place in Europe but on Saturday, they were pushed off the pitch by relegation-threatened Mainz. Michael Thurk was the two-goal hero for the home side, with Mohamed Zidan also contributing to the 3-0 victory as Mainz climbed out of the drop zone.

Arminia Bielefeld took a giant stride out of the bottom three with a well-deserved victory over Bayer Leverkusen. Radomir Dalovic bagged the game's only goal after just five minutes to sink a dismal Leverkusen side.

Nurnberg won a seven-goal thriller at Cologne as Robert Vittek scored a 16-minute hat-trick in the first half and then Ivan Saenko's 58th-minute strike proved to be the decider. The visitors were not able to rest until the final whistle, however, as Marvin Matip and Lukas Podolski scored shortly after Saenko for Cologne but the hosts were unable to find the equaliser.

Duisburg and Hannover shared a point in a goalless draw in Saturday's other game.

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