Andrei Voronin’s hat-trick for Hertha Berlin in a 3-1 victory at Energie Cottbus shot them four points clear in the German League, while Bayern Munich cruised up to joint second following a five-goal spree.
Bayern Munich’s 5-1 home thrashing of Hannover propelled them three places up the table to tuck in behind Berlin, though they have the same number of points as Hoffenheim, VfL Wolfsburg and Hamburg in a tight pack of clubs at the top.
Ukrainian striker Voronin was in scintillating form for Hertha Berlin in the eastern derby with Energie Cottbus to give him 10 league goals for the season and boost his team’s title chances.
Cagtas Atan gave Cottbus an early lead, before goals in the 34th minute, 45th minute and the 88th minute from Voronin sealed the win in front of a record 20,000-strong crowd.
Relegation-threatened Cottbus suffered their first home defeat in a derby match since October 2002.
Despite the victory, Hertha’s Swiss coach Lucien Favre was refusing to get carried away.
“We have taken three points, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Favre said.
Under-pressure Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann had just the shot in the arm he needed as his side tested the strength of Hannover’s goal netting, blasting five into it.
Bayern, playing without star midfielder Franck Ribery, finally got the victory that staved off a continued crisis of form.
Bayern’s start to the year so far has been poor. Since coming back from the winter break at the end of January, they had racked up just one win combined with three defeats and a draw before their Hannover victory.
It was Hannover who went ahead, however. Jiri Stajner shot the visitors into the lead, though Bayern were soon back on level terms when Belgian defender Daniel van Buyten headed home six minutes later.
By the break, Munich had scored another two goals through Miroslav Klose and Hatim Altintop, before Lukas Podolski hit his fourth goal of the season on 73 minutes and Martin Demichelis finished off the scoring with a minute to go.
Hoffenheim yet again failed to show their early-season form in a goalless draw at home to Werder Bremen.
Hamburg suffered their second successive defeat, losing 4-1 at Borussia Munchengladbach, who moved off the bottom.
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